Skinnee Labs - GTX480 Block Round-Up (working thread)

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07-22-2010, 04:36 AM
naokaji

Quote:

Originally Posted by luke997

Click
Although the conclusion is favourable for the product, to me personally it's pointless...
Such a small improvement for that kind of money :shrug:

Looking at how they tested it seems cool it told them to test it all wrong so they would have some excuses if anyone runs into problems:rofl:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexandr0s

I remember a few people not being big fans of CoolIt, mostly due to leaking systems I believe.

There was a nice little fall out between bit-tech and cool it a while ago over the cpu version where the review samples kept failing on bit-tech, i'll see if I can dig up the link.
nvm, found it: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/coo...t-domino-alc/5
07-22-2010, 05:07 AM
cstkl1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxforces

Skinnee is this you??
http://hwbot.org/article/news/remova...m_loc_incident
herefore, we issue a 1-year ban to all the people involved: AndreYang, Hiwa, eXtremetweaker.de, KJ and Skinnee.

Quote:

Originally Posted by p2501

Check post one, he's banned already. Good thing he has his own site so we still can read the review when it's done.

lol..
u think all that free stuff he got is to post on his site??

lol
this review aint gonna happen
and when it does i think we will have a new gc already.
07-22-2010, 06:17 AM
sirsiddius

So this was why our GTX 480 waterblock results were taking so long. While we were begging you for results and while you were assuring us you were working you ass off, you and your cronies were actually messing around with LN2 and conspiring to cheat your way to a win when you figured out you could'nt achieve one legitmatly.

However look at bright side, now that your banned you can devote more time to review testing stuff; I still have enough faith in you to not automatically assume that your test results are 'tweaked' like your 3Dmark score.
07-22-2010, 06:55 AM
the_dope_chaud

How can you have faith in any information he hands out after what just happened ? Everything he post/review :( now, I will take with a HUGE grain of salt....
07-22-2010, 07:04 AM
Camaroz06

Well color me disappoint...
07-22-2010, 07:11 AM
p2501

Screwing up a competition and his hardware reviews don't really need to be connected. I'm inclined to trust the review data he puts out, Vapors and his testing were profound and I trust that will stay the same.

I'd be really interested in hearing his side of this story. No reason in building up a name in the community and then smashing it to pieces with a pulling a stunt like that. No need to burn him at the stakes IMO.
07-22-2010, 07:56 AM
sirsiddius

Here's his story: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...15#post4479815 post number 114
07-22-2010, 08:34 AM
Waterlogged

Cam, I'm only gonna talk about this "incident" once. If we were standing together in a room right now, I would :slap: you, and ask "why weren't you thinking?".

Pull yourself together, recommit yourself to getting reviews done and hopefully when you come back, we can move forward like nothing ever happened.:up:
07-22-2010, 08:41 AM
p2501

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirsiddius

Here's his story: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...15#post4479815 post number 114

Must have missed that, thank you.
07-22-2010, 08:51 AM
JoeChuo

This is bad! Broke my heart!
07-22-2010, 09:12 AM
Alexandr0s

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waterlogged

Pull yourself together, recommit yourself to getting reviews done and hopefully when you come back, we can move forward like nothing ever happened.:up:

+1. Hope to see you back soon ;).
07-22-2010, 09:55 AM
Boogerlad

I hope skinnee doesn't get pissed off and join rrr/cause more drama.
07-22-2010, 11:07 AM
Vapor

Quote:

Originally Posted by cstkl1

lol..
u think all that free stuff he got is to post on his site??

lol
this review aint gonna happen
and when it does i think we will have a new gc already.

Review IS going to happen (the data has been done for awhile, just the writing is what's holding it up)....and yes, the review sample blocks were sent for the review to be posted on skinneelabs. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boogerlad

I hope skinnee doesn't get pissed off and join rrr/cause more drama.

Never happening :p:

Anyway, he's asked me to post part of the final review data so that you guys know he isn't gone or leaving or any of that. The time away from the forums (and even longer away from benching) does mean more time for watercooling :up:

Below is the chart for flowrate, stock GPU temperatures, and stock VRM temperatures.

Compared to the graph he posted a few hundred posts back, VRM temps differ slightly on some blocks because in the initial runs, the temperature probes used to measure VRM temperatures were making contact with the block, artificially lowering VRM temperature readouts. Not all blocks had thermal tape on the chokes so not all blocks were effected--those that were effected were rerun with individual pieces of thermal tape just on the chokes, rather than one long strip over the entire area.

Flowrate:
http://skinneelabs.com/assets/images...0_flowrate.png

Stock clock/voltage GPU Temps:
http://skinneelabs.com/assets/images..._stock-gpu.png

Stock clock/voltage VRM Temps:
http://skinneelabs.com/assets/images..._stock-vrm.png
07-22-2010, 11:17 AM
Hondacity

crap evga is good - gpu

crap evga is bad - vrm lol stupid...but 66c isn't bad...

EVGA FTW!!!

thanks for posting
07-22-2010, 11:17 AM
Church

Finally! :)
To me it looks that overall desirability (temps vs flow) Koolance #1, EK #2. EVGA #3 because of top temps (but what's with that monstrous restriction? Now sum that restriction up in fermi-sli setups .. :shrug:)
07-22-2010, 11:19 AM
Vapor

For a clarification: "All TIM" means that TIM was used on the VRMs/chokes rather than thermal tape. Not all blocks can be run like this due to clearance issues....but if it can, it definitely shows an improvement in VRM temps :up:
07-22-2010, 11:26 AM
Alexandr0s

The Danger Den looks like a great block :D.
07-22-2010, 11:31 AM
Vapor

Quote:

Originally Posted by churchy

Finally! :)
To me it looks that overall desirability (temps vs flow) Koolance #1, EK #2. EVGA #3 because of top temps (but what's with that monstrous restriction? Now sum that restriction up in fermi-sli setups .. :shrug:)

Ah, in SLI you can (and should, at least with the eVGA and other restrictive blocks) run the GPUs in parallel, which lowers restriction a HUGE amount.
07-22-2010, 11:58 AM
Vapor

Also, the VRM temps reported are from Dallas One Wire probes hot-glued and TIM'd between the chokes. They're not software VRM temperatures, but temperatures of the nearest area the temperature probes would fit. The readouts are indicative of VRM temperatures but are not a perfect representation.

Also the importance of the readings is much more difficult to quantify than just straight GPU temperatures. Basically, they need to be held within thermal spec (100+C) to maintain stability. When overclocked and overvolted, that becomes increasingly difficult to do and when it fails to control the temperature, you get runaway power draw and temperature and ultimately failure. So they ARE important, but their stability is a nearly-binary entity. At all test settings, all blocks passed. But at higher settings (above what the Overclocked test settings were), not all blocks could handle the load and that did negatively effect overclockability.

http://skinneelabs.com/assets/images...-vrmprobes.jpg
07-22-2010, 12:43 PM
Wryknow

Can you share how high you went on the overclocks?
07-22-2010, 12:44 PM
Systemlord

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vapor

Also, the VRM temps reported are from Dallas One Wire probes hot-glued and TIM'd between the chokes. They're not software VRM temperatures, but temperatures of the nearest area the temperature probes would fit. The readouts are indicative of VRM temperatures but are not a perfect representation.

Also the importance of the readings is much more difficult to quantify than just straight GPU temperatures. Basically, they need to be held within thermal spec (100+C) to maintain stability. When overclocked and overvolted, that becomes increasingly difficult to do and when it fails to control the temperature, you get runaway power draw and temperature and ultimately failure. So they ARE important, but their stability is a nearly-binary entity. At all test settings, all blocks passed. But at higher settings (above what the Overclocked test settings were), not all blocks could handle the load and that did negatively effect overclockability.

I'm just dying to see which blocks coundn't handle higher overclocks! I think the Danger Den and EK blocks came out on top because of higher flow rates, GPU and VRM temps with flow rate being very important! The highly restrictive blocks in my opinion are not desirable!
07-22-2010, 12:50 PM
Vapor

877 core @ 1138mV (set....drooped to 1070-1075mV or so under load)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Systemlord

I'm just dying to see which blocks coundn't handle higher overclocks! I think the Danger Den and EK blocks came out on top because of higher flow rates, GPU and VRM temps with flow rate being very important! The highly restrictive blocks in my opinion are not desirable!

All the pretesting to decide final settings was done on the Bitspower and at voltages above like 1180mV (set, not actual), it was having runaway issues (i.e., failure).

All blocks passed the overclocked settings for this test (877 core at 1138mV), but better blocks can definitely take more voltage. I don't know where the eVGA block would begin to fail, but it was really close to 100C for VRM temps at the standard overclocked settings, so possibly not much more than that. Putting a fan on it helps significantly though :)
07-22-2010, 12:54 PM
Wryknow

Awesome. Thanks for posting this and please pass the appreciation on to Skinnee!
07-22-2010, 01:02 PM
Systemlord

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vapor

877 core @ 1138mV (set....drooped to 1070-1075mV or so under load)

All the pretesting to decide final settings was done on the Bitspower and at voltages above like 1180mV (set, not actual), it was having runaway issues (i.e., failure).

All blocks passed the overclocked settings for this test (877 core at 1138mV), but better blocks can definitely take more voltage. I don't know where the eVGA block would begin to fail, but it was really close to 100C for VRM temps at the standard overclocked settings, so possibly not much more than that. Putting a fan on it helps significantly though :)

So if someone wants the highest overclock on their water cooled GTX 480 should we just flash the BIOS with at setting of 1.2v and hope for the best? I've never flashed a graphics card BIOS before, but would like to learn. :) I expected by now a guide with pictures showing beginners how to set voltages and flash a graphics cards BIOS.
07-22-2010, 01:03 PM
Vapor

Use MSI Afterburner....much easier than flashing BIOSes :p:

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