XSPC 4870X2 Delrin block mini-review

Well I thought I would share some info on this block, as there seems to be a lack of hard data around forums/reviews.

This block has a Delrin top, and the water channels are machined on the Delrin side (which most likely accounts for the awesome price of $100.)
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3...board01yk0.jpg

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/8...board02pf9.jpg

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/980/xspc2an4.jpg

I feel that it's worth mentioning that the supplied thermal pads are very brittle, so you may want to order some better ones with it. I used the extra thermal pads from my THermaltake Spirit RAM cooler.....it made the installation much easier. As you can see on the first pic, the pad on the VRMs (right hand side near the copper flange) slipping and tore a little on installation.
I ordered this block from Jab-Tech and it had a stripped thread on one of the barbs. I contacted customer service with a picture of the problem and they promptly replaced it. :clap:

I am thoroughly impressed with the performance of this block. It maintains excellent temps and is very aesthetically pleasing to boot.

I have some preliminary air tests in Call of Duty World at War at stock clocks. I didn't feel like overclocking the card until I got the water, as this card is already hot as it is. I collected the data using GPU-Z, exporting the temp diode data to a .csv file.
Please note that the ambient temp may vary +-3-5C, as I foolishly forgot to record ambient temps.
Here are the results:

http://www.overclock.net/attachments...-graph-air.jpg

As you can see this thing is HOT on the stock cooler....mind you this is in a case with excellent airflow.

Here are the water results. This is in COD: WaW running an OC of 862/950.
http://www.overclock.net/attachment....1&d=1230837873
I have achieved a Vantage stable OC of 862/1000 MHz and climbing.....we'lll see where I max out. At 900 MHz I locked up almost immediately.

862/1000 with no voltmod that is pretty impressive. i have the same block and my Sapphire x2 wont get anywhere near those speeds. did you flash the bios on your x2?

Do you have any internal pics of that?

Good job testing and ty for posting. Small request though, could you resize the pics or make them a thumbnail link? The pics are stretching my page hardcore. Also, could you post temps of stock clock with WCing for comparison sake?

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Originally Posted by faster3200

Good job testing and ty for posting. Small request though, could you resize the pics or make them a thumbnail link? The pics are stretching my page hardcore. Also, could you post temps of stock clock with WCing for comparison sake?

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Sure thing. Give me a minute.....I normally upload large pics because I like to have a high res photo (even at work on my little 17" monitor), as I can just ctrl+mouse wheel and get the full view. I resized to %50. :up:

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Originally Posted by CCC

862/1000 with no voltmod that is pretty impressive. i have the same block and my Sapphire x2 wont get anywhere near those speeds. did you flash the bios on your x2?

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Thanks man....I'm pretty surprised myself. Here is a Vantage run at 862/1000:
http://www.overclock.net/attachments...2-862-1000.jpg

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Originally Posted by headala

Do you have any internal pics of that?

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What do you mean internal pics? I have some more pics of it installed with a flash if you mean....

But you are not using the Sapphire Stock bios right?
Because you can go to 900/1000 in CCC

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Originally Posted by Bla$nA

But you are not using the Sapphire Stock bios right?
Because you can go to 900/1000 in CCC

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hes using the asus top bios


I think he has a glitch in vantage though, thats a really low score for an x2

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Originally Posted by binormalkilla

What do you mean internal pics? I have some more pics of it installed with a flash if you mean....

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Pics of the block, disassembled.

Ok here are the temps with stock clocks and water in COD:WaW. Unfortunately the ambients are different, so I'm going to run the temp monitoring again for the OCed run. More to come soon....

BTW on these graphs I'm starting out with a huge data set (something like 4500 columns worth of data) and finding the most informative part of the graph. This is the hottest part, and it's normally in the middle of the data set. Just thought it was worth mentioning, as some might think I just started the game and let it run for 1 minute.....the graph isn't intelligible it I use the entire data set.

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Originally Posted by DeathWalking

Pics of the block, disassembled.

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Ah I see. Well I didn't take pics personally, but another guy at overclock.net did.

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Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

hes using the asus top bios


I think he has a glitch in vantage though, thats a really low score for an x2

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How so? I score 2K higher than my 4850 setup.....
What do you get in Vantage on performance preset?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bla$nA

But you are not using the Sapphire Stock bios right?
Because you can go to 900/1000 in CCC

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I'm running the ASUS TOP BIOS. I'm not stable at 900....I get a BSOD during Jane Nash in Vantage.

All right so 862 isn't stable 24/. My PC froze and rebooted (no BSOD) after playing CODWAW for about 20 minutes. I still have the temp data for that session though....here it is.


http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/313...codwawpks6.jpg



The graphs are practically identical for the different frequencies, which makes sense because I'm not running higher voltage.

869 max on Core? What is the standard overclock for a 4870X2? running mine @ 850 on AIR.

I havent run vantage on my x2 by itself, but On 4870 512mb @ 870 I got 16700.

that was a 200mhz higher CPU clock, but 200mhz is not a 1700 point difference. I think you need to raise your ram speed, 846 5-5-5-15 is terribly slow... either tighten timings to 4-4-4-12 or go to 4:5 divider to get your bandwidth up

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

I havent run vantage on my x2 by itself, but On 4870 512mb @ 870 I got 16700.

that was a 200mhz higher CPU clock, but 200mhz is not a 1700 point difference. I think you need to raise your ram speed, 846 5-5-5-15 is terribly slow... either tighten timings to 4-4-4-12 or go to 4:5 divider to get your bandwidth up

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What? How did you get that score with a single 4870? I seriously doubt it's the RAM, as I scored ~14K with 2 4850s and DDR2-1129 5-5-5-15. The bandwidth on those modules was over 9500 MB/s.
I just got this RAM so I haven't tweaked it yet.

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Originally Posted by Overgloc

869 max on Core? What is the standard overclock for a 4870X2? running mine @ 850 on AIR.

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did you also flash to the asus top bios?

Damn I love the block but only problem is that it doesn't work with SLI/XFire connectors because of the little nubs on the inlet and outlet holes :(.

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Originally Posted by binormalkilla

What? How did you get that score with a single 4870? I seriously doubt it's the RAM, as I scored ~14K with 2 4850s and DDR2-1129 5-5-5-15. The bandwidth on those modules was over 9500 MB/s.
I just got this RAM so I haven't tweaked it yet.

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I meant 2 4870's, forgot to put CF in there ;)

I seriously think it is the ram, you really need to raise the speed or cut latencies, your everest benchmark right now is probably sub 8000 on all fronts which is whats hindering your performance.

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Originally Posted by CCC

862/1000 with no voltmod that is pretty impressive. i have the same block and my Sapphire x2 wont get anywhere near those speeds. did you flash the bios on your x2?

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it depends on the cards
i've tested 3xdifferent cards and all could bench 860/970 on stock cooler :shrug:

there is no advantage in clocks with Asus top bios

i flashed one of my cards with that bios the other day
same clocks as Gigabyte bios but using different software to OC obviously

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Originally Posted by FrostyPanda

Damn I love the block but only problem is that it doesn't work with SLI/XFire connectors because of the little nubs on the inlet and outlet holes :(.

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It does work - I have these blocks for crossfire

~Bex

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Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

I havent run vantage on my x2 by itself, but On 4870 512mb @ 870 I got 16700.

that was a 200mhz higher CPU clock, but 200mhz is not a 1700 point difference. I think you need to raise your ram speed, 846 5-5-5-15 is terribly slow... either tighten timings to 4-4-4-12 or go to 4:5 divider to get your bandwidth up

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Well I ran Vantage with my Geil Esoteria that were clocked to DDR2-1128 at 5-5-5-15 and got about the same score.......but I suppose I'll go ahead and run it to ease your mind.
THere is no way that 1500 MB/s of memory bandwidth will affect a 3dmark score by that much.
I'm not stable at DDR2-10XX, but I'll go ahead and run it for testing.

BTW did you change the image quality settings in CCC to lower IQ for a higher score? I keep all of mine at "Let app decide"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by binormalkilla

Well I ran Vantage with my Geil Esoteria that were clocked to DDR2-1128 at 5-5-5-15 and got about the same score.......but I suppose I'll go ahead and run it to ease your mind.
THere is no way that 1500 MB/s of memory bandwidth will affect a 3dmark score by that much.
I'm not stable at DDR2-10XX, but I'll go ahead and run it for testing.

BTW did you change the image quality settings in CCC to lower IQ for a higher score? I keep all of mine at "Let app decide"

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disable catalyst AI is all I do.... Idk maybe I'm wrong about whats causing score issues, you dont need to raise to 10XX if you just run 4-4-4-12 tho.

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Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

disable catalyst AI is all I do.... Idk maybe I'm wrong about whats causing score issues, you dont need to raise to 10XX if you just run 4-4-4-12 tho.

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Oh you disable Cat AI? Huh....from my experience in the past that effectively disables Crossfire as well. Maybe that's just on games (maybe 3dmark always works)
It may be also worth mentioning that I am running the advanced edition, so it's going through all of the feature tests.
Well I increased my FSB to 475*8 (huge bandwidth boost versus DDR2 freq. increase), so I'm running Vantage at DDR2-950 5-5-5-15.
I may try to get these sticks up to 9K MB/s, but it will be hard considering that they're an 8GB kit and occupy 4 slots. I have my NB on water so I can give it all the NBV it needs. Unfortunately I don't have the time/patience to mess with the timings, so unless it's killing my performance I won't bother.

Attachedf are bandwidth benches to compare until Vantage finishes


If need be I can always swap the Geil Esoterias (freaking golden 4GB kit, but requires too much VDIMM) out of my wife's PC and run DDR2-1128. That yields ~9500MB/s, but I wanted to get an 8GB kit for my rig.

well hmmm, I think you should check your performance level because auto PL's can be very high (use memset)

those benches look much better the higher IO speed from the rasied FSB should help the x2 greatly, you can also try playing with your trfc timings as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

well hmmm, I think you should check your performance level because auto PL's can be very high (use memset)

those benches look much better the higher IO speed from the rasied FSB should help the x2 greatly, you can also try playing with your trfc timings as well.

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I'm planning on flashing back to the Rampage Formula BIOS so I can change the CH pull off options, etc. I used to run it but flashed back thinking it was the BIOS causing problems, but it was actually something entirely different.
I could break 10K MB/s with that BIOS but it wasn't stable.

Well I couldn't even finish the physics test at that FSB and frequency....I'm running SuperPi 32M at DDR2-1016 with a bit more VDIMM and NBV. If I can finish 32M then it should be stable enough for 3dmark.....

If not then I'm just going to say screw it.

Man, they need to make this block for the 4850x2....:shakes:

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Originally Posted by CCC

did you also flash to the asus top bios?

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Nope stock Diamond OC Bio.

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Originally Posted by Overgloc

Nope stock Diamond OC Bio.

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Do the Diamond cards run at 1.2625 as well? I don't have a steady enough hand to volt mod a card.....I may attempt sometime, but it will be tough. I have a little experience with a soldering iron.....but not enough to be confident at soldering such small components.

Ok I have my PC stable at 475 with the Rampage Formula BIOS. I checked my old CPU scores with the stock 4870X2 and they are slightly lower, IIRC 300 points or so. Every little bit counts, so I'm going to get this RAM sorted out.
I was planning on pushing it, but you reminded me to get on the ball! :clap::p:

GPUZ report VDDC @ 1.06

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Originally Posted by Overgloc

GPUZ report VDDC @ 1.06

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That's the 2D voltage. What you can do is set the option to log to file, then check the box to monitor the sensors while GPU-Z is in the background. Select the file path for the log and run any game/3dbench. It should show your 3d voltage in the log file.

I had walked the path of OC with the 4870X2 as well.
I managed to OC it very well I think, both cores benched 3DMARK06 and Vantage @ 880/1080.
The slave core was quite stunning alone and managed to bench @ 907/1125, but when both cores were OCed I had to lower the clocks as it wasn't stable.

I own the Sapphire card, flashed it with the 900/1000 limit using the RBE tool (not the ASUS Top bios).
I tried to raise the voltages to 1.35v, as it uses 1.25v (GPU-Z shows 1.265) in 3D mode, and 1.05v (GPU-Z shows 1.06v) in 2d mode.
Unfortunately that didn't do it and the card was still getting 1.25v, so it appears to have no effect in reality.
I then Overclocked the card using rivatunner, each component at it's own time, meaning GPU#0 memory, GPU#0 Core, GPUE#1 Memory and at last, GPU#1 core.
After all that I gave the card a few runs with 3D 06' and eventually came down to some stable and benchable clocks.

I use the EK block to cool the card, so far it has amazing temps (below 40c) even under OC.

binormalkilla, you need to disable CCC at the startup (use msconfig) as sniiipe suggested.
Otherwise you won't be able to Overclock beyond the bios limit (800/1000), CCC checks for the clocks in realtime and if you go above those clocks you get the card unstable/artifacting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The-Fox

I had walked the path of OC with the 4870X2 as well.
I managed to OC it very well I think, both cores benched 3DMARK06 and Vantage @ 880/1080.
The slave core was quite stunning alone and managed to bench @ 907/1125, but when both cores were OCed I had to lower the clocks as it wasn't stable.

I own the Sapphire card, flashed it with the 900/1000 limit using the RBE tool (not the ASUS Top bios).
I tried to raise the voltages to 1.35v, as it uses 1.25v (GPU-Z shows 1.265) in 3D mode, and 1.05v (GPU-Z shows 1.06v) in 2d mode.
Unfortunately that didn't do it and the card was still getting 1.25v, so it appears to have no effect in reality.
I then Overclocked the card using rivatunner, each component at it's own time, meaning GPU#0 memory, GPU#0 Core, GPUE#1 Memory and at last, GPU#1 core.
After all that I gave the card a few runs with 3D 06' and eventually came down to some stable and benchable clocks.

I use the EK block to cool the card, so far it has amazing temps (below 40c) even under OC.

binormalkilla, you need to disable CCC at the startup (use msconfig) as sniiipe suggested.
Otherwise you won't be able to Overclock beyond the bios limit (800/1000), CCC checks for the clocks in realtime and if you go above those clocks you get the card unstable/artifacting.

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Right, that's why I flashed the TOP BIOS, which set the CCC limits to 900/1000. I may try disabling CCC if I can get it stable past 900 in Vantage, but I'm not 24/7 gaming stable at 862. I would like to raise the memory OC limit though, as the TOP BIOS only allows 1000 in Overdrive.

I wonder if a BIOS flash past the Overdrive limit will cause instability?

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Originally Posted by binormalkilla

I wonder if a BIOS flash past the Overdrive limit will cause instability?

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no, only raising clocks beyond the supplied voltage limits causes instability

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Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

no, only raising clocks beyond the supplied voltage limits causes instability

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So this isn't true?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The-Fox

binormalkilla, you need to disable CCC at the startup (use msconfig) as sniiipe suggested.
Otherwise you won't be able to Overclock beyond the bios limit (800/1000), CCC checks for the clocks in realtime and if you go above those clocks you get the card unstable/artifacting.

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BTW last night I went ahead and flashed my board to the Rampage Formula and it's fully stable at 475*8 DDR2-950. I'm going to try for higher frequencies tonight and see how it goes.


So Snipedogg, what sort of voltages/frequencies have you achieved with that volt-mod?

Hey, run furmark for me. Under furmark all my temps look good but man does my vddc temps shoot up, into the 80's. Curious as to what the XSPC block gets.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by binormalkilla

So this isn't true?



BTW last night I went ahead and flashed my board to the Rampage Formula and it's fully stable at 475*8 DDR2-950. I'm going to try for higher frequencies tonight and see how it goes.


So Snipedogg, what sort of voltages/frequencies have you achieved with that volt-mod?

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I am still waiting on fittings to finish my build, you guys should have some example clocks by next Friday (in my build log).

on the 4870, a voltmod with 30ohms of resistance got me to 900 core clock, but I didn't push it because I was using fixed resistors.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SNiiPE_DoGG

I am still waiting on fittings to finish my build, you guys should have some example clocks by next Friday (in my build log).

on the 4870, a voltmod with 30ohms of resistance got me to 900 core clock, but I didn't push it because I was using fixed resistors.

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Nice. I've seen a few modded 4870X2s around. I'm really not skilled enough with a soldering iron (yet) to be comfortable soldering such small components.

Thanks for posting this test! I think the XSPC blocks are very interesting but as you mentioned, it's hard to find reviews.

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Originally Posted by HESmelaugh

Thanks for posting this test! I think the XSPC blocks are very interesting but as you mentioned, it's hard to find reviews.

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You're welcome:up:

Nice block and nice benchies, I am looking hard at a x2 before I go through all the trouble building a watercooled system.

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Originally Posted by Jonni Nitro

Nice block and nice benchies, I am looking hard at a x2 before I go through all the trouble building a watercooled system.

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I'm very pleased with the performance of this block. It keeps all of the components much cooler than the factory cooling solution (as you can see by the graphs.)
I normally go with the GPU block and RAMsinks, but this is much easier.....plus it's only $99.

Does anyone know of a workaround to make Furmark work with Crossfire? I only get GPU1 loaded when I run it. I wonder if renaming to something like Oblivion.exe works. I would post the temp data for this bench but it's not going to be very accurate due to 1 GPU being loaded.
I normally don't even bother with it for this very reason, but it has been requested...

have you tryed full screen mode?
As a past owner of this block, I agree 100% with your mini-review.
The thing is just such a beast in your hand all that copper :)

i really would be careful with furmark, weve all seen the problems it can cause. but when u run it for the one card, do you still get the temp readout properly? thats all that was asked

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Originally Posted by Bobbylite

have you tryed full screen mode?
As a past owner of this block, I agree 100% with your mini-review.
The thing is just such a beast in your hand all that copper :)

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Yes, I have to manually type in the screen res for 1920x1080. It only loads one core.

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Originally Posted by Manicdan

i really would be careful with furmark, weve all seen the problems it can cause. but when u run it for the one card, do you still get the temp readout properly? thats all that was asked

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Well I suppose you're right, but it really just seems like a moot point since the other core and VRMs are adding heat to the block. I guess I'll run that and post results.

wait HD4870X2 by itself has crossfire option in CCC? I thought that PLX chip did all the Xfire communication.

Because i dont see it in CCC until i dropped in my second HD4870X2.

4870x2 single has no CCC CF option, I just confirmed with permafrost up and running :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NaeKuh

wait HD4870X2 by itself has crossfire option in CCC? I thought that PLX chip did all the Xfire communication.

Because i dont see it in CCC until i dropped in my second HD4870X2.

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You're right, there is no CF option, but when I run furmark I only see 1 GPU being loaded. I monitor this on my G15.

Yes, had the same problem myself. You need to disable Catalyst AI to get it to load both cores. Kind of a pain but...

Ok I apologize....I forgot to upload the Furmark results! I'll have them up in a few.
Well I tried disabling Catalyst AI and it still only loads on 1 GPU. I renamed the .exe file to prevent the driver-leve throttling. Keep in mind that my ambient temp is a few degrees lower than the previous tests. According to my infrared thermometer it's ~19C