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

[Shoggy]

Not one single gram.

[gosmeyer]

heatkiller?

^+1^

[urgrandpasdog]

Ahhh, that is such a bad photo (done by the boss *g*). Here are much better pics

Do the "wings" on that back plate conflict with the card in the slot above?

[hokiealumnus]

Heatkiller?

^+1^

See quote below.

We received confirmation from all but Watercool, no email response what so ever.

Looking forward to seeing how these stack up against each other!

[Shoggy]

Do the "wings" on that back plate conflict with the card in the slot above?

If you are using another graphics card that would be no problem since the waterblock is much smaller than the stock fan.

For any other cards (soundcard for example) it will depend on its height but normally there should be no problem. The wing towards the board will also be a bit modified for the regular production since we had one old board in our company where it interferes with the lock mechanism of the RAM slots. With other boards we had no problems.

[TradeWind]

Some of you may know that we (Skinnee Labs) are running a GTX480 Round-Up with a planned start for the first week in May. Now I say planned start due to stock availability of both the GTX480 as well as blocks.

This thread will be sort of a catch-all, discussion and feedback type of thing, we'll take a look at each of the blocks as they arrive, installation and a variety of other things I am sure. We'll add links to specific posts in this opening post for ease of finding information as this thread grows.

In short, we're trying something a bit different from our norm, and we'll see how this goes as to whether to incorporate something like this in the future.

Thanks Skinnee.

Hope to see your results ASAP. Also excited that you included the EVGA/Swiftech solution in your round-up. Since they are using a "hybrid" design, it will be interesting to see if it will cool the VRMs well enough. I'm also curious to see if their thin pin matrix performs notably better than some of the more standard GPU cooling options.

I think I'm rooting for DD in this one though. Their product coverage, YouTube tutorials, and interaction with customers has been great. I just feel like they supported their launch so well.

Enjoyed the Koolance 360 review too. Nice work.

[anzial]

How about non-fullcover blocks? with stock plate

[Pekalion]

Hey Skinnee, are you going to ask to Swiftech for a MCW80? It would be amazing to compare all those water blocks to that universal water block, at least, in gpu temperature concerns.

Keep it good

[marxviper]

I cant wait for the showdown between blocks.

I saw the bitspower waterbloack for 480, man it looked so good. If its temp are as good as it look.. I am getting it and selling my ekwaterblock which I havent used it yet.

[skinnee]

There will be another block arriving today, and some more trickling in over the next few days.

This week I am prepping the bench and going to work out my test procedure with my trusty 9600GT.

[eva2000]

sweet looking forward to this one

[H20Cooled]

I finally have my first 480 FTW HC infront of me and it looks real good. Now I just need to wait for EVGA to release the next batch so I can at the very least have two allowing me to start putting together my new builds GPU loops. I just pulled my 296GTX out and its going back tomorrow for a stepup to a vanilla 480, so I can't wait to see the results as I will need to grab a block for it shortly as I know running it on air will last a week or 2 before I gone nuts by the fan and heat compred to WCing.

[gosmeyer]

Go get em skinnee

[Stealth42o]

Thanks Skinnee, holding of on my purchase until this review, your the best!

[skinnee]

Thanks folks!

And to show my gratitude, Danger Den was the next block to arrive.

[DarthBeavis]

Thanks folks!

And to show my gratitude, Danger Den was the next block to arrive.

480s will be here tomorrow

[xguntherc]

WOW..

I got my Nickel+Copper DD in and I'm going to be adding it to my card today. It's a pretty one also.


I do have a question. I'm worried about the Weight of this Block. it is very, very heavy. This will be my first GPU to be watercooled so maybe I'm just worried. but it sure is way heavier than i thought it would be.. Do people use a support bracket coming up from there PSU or anything. lol

[DarthBeavis]

wow, copper plus nickle is sexier . . .

I have been contemplating a support bracket. Let me see what I can come up with. If it is good I will make you one as well.

[Boulard83]

I like the DD !!!!

[terente0081]

By the looks of the blocks, I like the Aqua Computer one the most. Looks solid, the base looks like it's been well polished, I like the fine fins in the GPU area. It's all copper and stainless steel, it would match the HK3 just fine.
I think this is what I will go with, I am waiting for my 3 480's to arrive, just had to decide what blocks to go with....

[snoro]

WOW..



I do have a question. I'm worried about the Weight of this Block. it is very, very heavy. This will be my first GPU to be watercooled so maybe I'm just worried. but it sure is way heavier than i thought it would be.. Do people use a support bracket coming up from there PSU or anything. lol

Its either you get a horizontal motherboard stand or you can make something like the lian-li gpu support link on some of the high-end lian-li case.

[Soulwind]

Do all of these blocks get water over the voltage regs, or are any of them just passive cooling on the vregs?

[xguntherc]

Yea Darth.. it's very sexy looking huh. haha. I like your shot of all 3 though

yes I'm pretty worried about the weight. It's going in my HAF, obviously I'm not using the Tool-less design things. but I'm still thinking a simple 2 screws wont hold this up. I think the bracket will break. haha. it's really heavy

[snoro]

Do all of these blocks get water over the voltage regs, or are any of them just passive cooling on the vregs?

Fro what i have seen everybody except swiftech have a water channel going over the vrm. Swiftech instead use a heatsink applied on the vrm with a heatpipe connected to the waterblock and that heatpipe get cooled off by water channel if i remember well.

[Factotum]

And this?