Reviews on water blocks for HD 5970 ???

[gallinazo]

Does anybody knows if some site has already posted review/comparisons between water blocks for the Radeon HD 5970???
I can't see to find any, and would like to see some performance comparisons.

 

[douglatins]

Buy ek ones for the best, and dont forget the bp, or dd for a cheaper one

 

[t_ski]

There aren't many out there, but they are there if you look. I have the EK nickel/acetal and the dang thing cools so well I found a cold-bug on my card! (graphics trouble below 28C)

 

[gallinazo]

Yeah, I know there aren't many out there & I know that there are a few. But that was not what I mean, my question was, if there's some site ANY site, that has already run a series of test to give a coparison/review, wether ananad, hexus, Tom's whoever, that did something like what some did with CPU water blocks like the Swiftech Apogees, reviewing'em and comparing'em to other CPU cooling options (?)

 

[PaulieG]

I haven't really seen this. CPU blocks themselves are just barely mainstream enough to justify comparative reviews like this. With GPU blucks, there are literally only 3 companies making them, and the are a very specialized item.

 

[gallinazo]

HMMMM, interesting point, if such is the general policy of reviewers; it's a pity.

 

[pabloc74]

see here...

http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/wate...ater-block-installation-guide-ati-hd5970.html

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/powercolor_hd5970_lcs/

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=335323

 

[PaulieG]

see here...

http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/wate...ater-block-installation-guide-ati-hd5970.html

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/powercolor_hd5970_lcs/

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=335323

You will certainly find reviews, just rare to see head to head reviews like they do with CPU blocks or air coolers.

 

[pabloc74]

i think because its brand new product for now, i'll be waiting for more official reviews

 

[fern420]

I've been searching for some too and found a few. I think the consensus is right though, go for the EK. I found one review for the $89 XSPC and it seemed to have pretty dismal performance compared to the EK reviews.

XSPC 5970 review

 

[t_ski]

With GPU blucks, there are literally only 3 companies making them, and the are a very specialized item.

Three companies? How about these:

Swiftech
XSPC
Bitspower
Koolance
Danger Den
EK

 

[gallinazo]

Thanks for the replies guys, I saw the review on overclockers before...."trouble" is that it was a basic review on the card, rather than the benefits advatages-performance of the block. But thanks anyway.
I checked the..."reviews" you have listed guys and it seems that the EK- specially the cooper+nickel+acetal- version is the best offering right now out there. Hopefully more reviews on the koolance, swiftech, heatkiller etc will appear and we can come with better essstimates.

 

[gallinazo]

As a side note...& question; Do you guys know what's the great advantage of adding the EK backplate? http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10336/ex-blc-723/EK_Radeon_HD_5970_VGA_Liquid_Cooling_RAM_Backplate_-_Black_EK-5970_RAM_Backplate_-_Black.html?tl=g30c309s1072
I thought the EK was already a "full" block.

 

[ml2517]

I initially used Koolance blocks on both of my 5970's but the VREG temperatures sucked. I switched to EK Nickel/Acetals and it is like night and day.

 

[t_ski]

The backplate is a smaller version of the stock ATI backplate. You need to use one or the other with an EK block (possibly others). It's supposed to help with cooling, but I'd love to see it have some fins or something on it to make it work even better.

 

[gallinazo]

I initially used Koolance blocks on both of my 5970's but the VREG temperatures sucked. I switched to EK Nickel/Acetals and it is like night and day.

Is that so? dude, could you provide a little more info on your experience?

 

[ml2517]

Is that so? dude, could you provide a little more info on your experience?

Well I still have to two blocks sitting in boxes. I really loved the looks of the blocks but after reseating them twice and going with/without thermal paste it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I ended up ordering the EK Nickel/Acetal which brought me way down on temps. Even with Furmark running for 15 minutes the VREGs stay under the temperature they need to hit in order to throttle the card down (They are usually around 100C after that long of a run, and I'm in a fairly high ambient temp room).

The Koolance blocks just weren't getting the job done on my VREGs. I was around 30C higher on the Koolance (which meant that I reached the point where the card started throttling down due to the VREG temps). What was nice was that I *knew* it wasn't a bad seating or something like that because I was running two cards and they were both behaving exactly the same. I also verified that the thermal pads were making contact after I tried using the thermal paste. After using thermal paste it reduced it by about 10C but it was still too high for my liking.

 

[gallinazo]

Ouch! tha sucks. 30 degrees (fahren or celsius?) is a lil tooooo much.
I guess that puts Koolance on my no-no list.
Thanks for sharing the experience

 

[ml2517]

Ouch! tha sucks. 30 degrees (fahren or celsius?) is a lil tooooo much.
I guess that puts Koolance on my no-no list.
Thanks for sharing the experience

Celsius.

To be fair, I use their Mosfet/Vreg blocks on my mobo and they work great. They need to re-evaluate their HD5970 blocks though.