EVGA GTX 970 HSF - Defect?

[Vario]

http://www.eteknix.com/evga-gtx-970-feature-manufacturing-defect/

 

[Animalpak]

I dont think so, the die of the GPU is on direct contact with the biggest heatpipes.

And the third small heatpipe takes care of excess heat is not well defined...

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Its not like this is the first time something like this has happened, I remember reading something about a 290 or 780 that.... Not really a defect - the AIB just tried to save a little money by placing a cooler that was already in production on their cards instead of going back to the drawing board & having to tool up a new one that fits perfectly.

 

[OneMoar]

doesn't really matter all the heat is gonna be near the center of the core anyway
if its under performing its because the cooler is crap

 

[15th Warlock]

And this is a defect why? W1zzard reviewed this exact same card and the cooler was more than capable to keep the GPU at low temperatures, if I recall he only mentioned the fact that the cooler was louder than the stock cooler, but that's just how ACX work.

BTW, my Asus 290X DCUII has this same "defect" and the cooler is waaaay more efficient than the stock cooler in both terms of thermals and acoustics.

Manufacturers use a single after market coolet design for all GPUs to cut costs, regardless of the size of said GPUs.

 

[Vario]

I agree, doesn't seem like the article used the correct term.

 

[RCoon]

I agree, doesn't seem like the article used the correct term.

This. It's not a defect if it was done on purpose.
Nobody is stupid enough to put a cooler on a card and not check things like that, especially not EVGA. The cooler performs fine, the card performs fine, it's just a little louder than the rest because it's an ACX.

Honestly it's probably just clickbait like a lot of these people use to generate views.

 

[Vario]

Still its good to know about. If I was in the market for a 970, I'd avoid EVGA until they design a better cooler. If its a touch hotter than the rest, its probably not a good choice over the rest.

 

[erocker]

Perhaps it is better that it is mounted that way? You have two heatpipes that fully cover the GPU with one strip of aluminum between them. If it was more centered, you would have less heatpipe directly contacting the GPU. eTenix's article seems to not be based real knowledge, facts, engineering or thermodynamic principals.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Perhaps it is better that it is mounted that way? You have two heatpipes that fully cover the GPU with one strip of aluminum between them. If it was more centered, you would have less heatpipe directly contacting the GPU. eTenix's article seems to not be based real knowledge, facts, engineering or thermodynamic principals.

But the 8mm pipes aren't even exactly centered, and the heat spreader cap covering the GPU dissipates the heat a lot as well. So more of that 6mm pipe touching it would add more heat transfer.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

They say images courtesy reddit when one is from tpu.

I wouldn't have bought EVGA unless you're removing the stock cooler. Compare it to the Asus one that runs cooler and radically quieter at the same time and it makes EVGA's look like a lemon. The difference is comically large.

 

[erocker]

But the 8mm pipes aren't even exactly centered, and the heat spreader cap covering the GPU dissipates the heat a lot as well. So more of that 6mm pipe touching it would add more heat transfer.

I don't remember seeing a heat spreader on the GPU.

Either way I don't see anything wrong with the cooler, other than one heatpipe not being used.. which is still drawing heat away in some form from the block.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

They say images courtesy reddit when one is from tpu.

I wouldn't have bought EVGA unless you're removing the stock cooler. Compare it to the Asus one that runs cooler and radically quieter at the same time and it makes EVGA's look like a lemon. The difference is comically large.

You need to look at more reviews to get a broad scope of things. Guru3D's review of the Giga 970 is eye opening. That thing loads at 60c @ only 39db. It's an insane OCer too, even at stock volts. My money's on Giga so far, good CS too. Probably better than ASUS or EVGA.

They show it performing at 42 FPS in Crysis 3 even at 2560x1440.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_970_g1_gaming_review,17.html

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

You need to look at more reviews to get a broad scope of things. Guru3D's review of the Giga 970 is eye opening. That thing loads at 60c @ only 39db. It's an insane OCer too, even at stock volts. My money's on Giga so far, good CS too. Probably better than ASUS or EVGA.

They show it performing at 42 FPS in Crysis 3 even at 2560x1440.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_970_g1_gaming_review,17.html

That's good too but it looks like they chose to focus more on temp and Asus on noise, and both showcasing what a failure EVGA is.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

That's good too but it looks like they chose to focus more on temp and Asus on noise, and both showcasing what a failure EVGA is.

Yeah it's too bad most reviewers will take a card like the ASUS and run it at stock fan settings instead of bumping them up to a noise level equal to the next quietest ones (a lot of them run at 39db), then see how cool it runs, or how well it OCs for that matter.

What I like about the Giga though is it runs cool right out of the box, and OCs high on stock volts, not to mention probably the best support in the biz. On noise level it's equal to my 7970, and I'm not sure the ASUS even stock would seem quieter, since much of what I hear when things are quiet and the sys is idling are the push/pull fans I have on my CPU rad.

This is why when it comes to load scenarios I pay more attention to temps than noise. Barring the GPU fan sounding like a friggin airplane when it's under load, which mine doesn't, nor most anymore for that matter, you'd typically not hear it much anyway unless you're playing a very quiet game. There's also the fact that a lot of such games are better played with headphones to hear footsteps, conversations, creatures, etc.

So yeah, in this day and age with small die, cool running chips and high tech custom air coolers, it's more about temps than noise I think. This is just one of the many ways Giga is forward thinking.

 

[z1tu]

Yeah it's too bad most reviewers will take a card like the ASUS and run it at stock fan settings instead of bumping them up to a noise level equal to the next quietest ones (a lot of them run at 39db), then see how cool it runs, or how well it OCs for that matter.

What I like about the Giga though is it runs cool right out of the box, and OCs high on stock volts, not to mention probably the best support in the biz. On noise level it's equal to my 7970, and I'm not sure the ASUS even stock would seem quieter, since much of what I hear when things are quiet and the sys is idling are the push/pull fans I have on my CPU rad.

This is why when it comes to load scenarios I pay more attention to temps than noise. Barring the GPU fan sounding like a friggin airplane when it's under load, which mine doesn't, nor most anymore for that matter, you'd typically not hear it much anyway unless you're playing a very quiet game. There's also the fact that a lot of such games are better played with headphones to hear footsteps, conversations, creatures, etc.

So yeah, in this day and age with small die, cool running chips and high tech custom air coolers, it's more about temps than noise I think. This is just one of the many ways Giga is forward thinking.

Agree. This is why I almost bought that card, I opted to upgrade my cpu and mobo instead but I'll get it if I get a buyer for my 780

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Agree. This is why I almost bought that card, I opted to upgrade my cpu and mobo instead but I'll get it if I get a buyer for my 780

I'd been planning over two yrs ago to get a high end Maxwell when they dropped in price, or even when they debuted if launched at a great price, but after spending $330 on my 7970, I kinda want to get more life out of it (less than 2 yrs so far).

I'll probably just use the 7970 as a backup card, since the only other acceptable one I have is a GTS 250, which lets face it, would be disappointing to go back to if I ever had to wait for an RMA.

I don't really NEED to upgrade just yet. I may wait up to a year then just upgrade my CPU, MB, RAM and GPU all at once. There's too many upcoming choices and possible price drops and latency improvements in CPUs, RAM and MBs to make a decision just yet. I'm not counting on 1150 MBs ever supporting DDR4 though, but 1151 might.

Who knows, by then there might be an affordable 970 Ti too! Personally I think they'd be foolish NOT to make a 970 as well as it will likely sell. A Ti version of the 970 could very well push it up into more acceptable frame rates @ 1440p, which is what I may shoot for with my next display if I can get a 4k TV in a small enough size that will support that res. Then again, supposedly you can sit closer to a 4k screen, so I may not need to bump my desk back 1'.