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

[skinnee]

Spoke with Vincent on Monday, he expected to ship by Friday. I guess a small update is in order to keep your patience and wants in check...

Now that stock and allocation on the cards is loosening up, our hardware sponsor MSI has the package en route and arriving on 05/10/2010.

Aqua Computer: should be arriving any day now (need to confirm)
Bitspower: shipping Friday
Danger Den: Have
EK: arriving 05/06/2010
EVGA/Swiftech: should be arriving early next week (need to confirm)
Koolance: Have
Watercool: No response.
XSPC: Shipped today.

So much work involved in a round up before any real testing begins, thanks for being patient through the process though.

[Martinm210]

Keep up the great work!!! Pics are always perfect too!

[DoggRoger]

Really looking forward to this, keep up the good work.

[bundymania]

I´m not sure, if you guys have seen the XSPC block somewhere - it looks like this:

[ottoyu34]

Interesting approach for XSPC.
I like how it has dedicated water channel for VRMs.
and the block is dirty/grease-less.

[DarthBeavis]

we want results!! get testing

[skinnee]

EK's block arrived this past thursday and thanks to the Plexi top, I don't have to take the block apart to show the flow channels.

[skinnee]

Sorry for the back to back posts here, but I have been a little behind in keeping this thread updated as work has been taking up way too much of my time.

Blocks:
Aqua Computer: Shipped, DHL has it leaving Germany on 05/08/10
Bitspower: Shipped, presently in Alaska via UPS
Danger Den: In house
EK: In house
EVGA/Swiftech: Shipping this week
Koolance: In house
Watercool: Finally got sort of an email response, we'll see what happens.
XSPC: Didn't ship as I expected last time. I have photos from XSPC, but I'll wait to post until I have the retail sample in hand.

More importantly, MSI has sponsored the testing and provided a GTX480, of course there will be some LN2 benching after testing has wrapped. I planned on using Afterburner 1.60 Beta 5 for voltage control and clock tweaking anyhow, and Kombustor is a FurMark clone. And of course we have some shots...

Don't worry, there are many more shots of the card to come... we will be doing a full photo session on removing the stock heatsink and will be experimenting with video as well.

Yes, prepping the Torture Rack and pretesting has been going on behind the scenes (bonus of being able to participate on conference calls and still tinker in the lab). So far in pretesting I am not see a bit of difference between Furmark and Kombustor, even with "Xtreme Burning mode" enabled. I'll verify before finalizing the procedure on the GTX480 and not just a low watt 9600GT. Some shots of the bench and pretesting...


The GPU loop consists of a DDC3.2 with EK V2 top, 2 dual temp probe T's(block in and block out), Koolance VL3N QDC's, XSPC RX360 V1 with Triebwerk 121's in push at full RPM, and the EK 400 Res. All BP 1/2" High Flow barbs except for the QDC's and 2 BP rotary 90's on the GPU block. The radiator has 12 temp sensor total, 6 air in and 6 air out.

As usual, all temp sensors and fan RPM are monitored and logged by a CrystalFontz and GPU-Z will be used for logging all GPU sensors and data points. So far through pretesting, the RX360 has kept a 2C delta but that is using a 9600GT @ 825 Core / 1130 Memory at stock volts. I am sure that will change once we loop up the MSI card and start tweaking with Afterburner. Although, my current plan is to log two runs per block mount... 1 stock clocks and voltage and 1 with my max stable OC and adjusted voltage.

Anyhow... time for me to get some sleep, but wanted to update everyone on the progress.

[Philwong]

I doubt there will be any active flow over the vrm area?

Phil

[crash5s]

Must say I'm waiting on the results, looking at the EK and BP myself. I think one of my 8800's gave up the ghost (it's not showing up in device manager) so I'm looking to move up to a 470/480. So far liking the looks of the EK and BP blocks... but that's just asthetics for now.

[Boulard83]

I doubt there will be any active flow over the vrm area?

Phil

I think YES. If you look carefully, the chanel is connected to the fitting hole makgin the "spash" that hit teh block being forced into the channel. I diffinetly think that YES.

[facboy]

I think YES. If you look carefully, the chanel is connected to the fitting hole makgin the "spash" that hit teh block being forced into the channel. I diffinetly think that YES.

say what?

seems to me that there wouldn't be much flow either, the other sider path over the core seems much lower restriction.

[skinnee]

Bitspower block makes the long trip from Taiwan to Minnesota safely and here are the standard shots for your viewing pleasure.

[Shoggy]

Aqua Computer: Shipped, DHL has it leaving Germany on 05/08/10

According to DHL the regular shipping time to you should be 6 days but from my experience it always takes a bit longer because of the customs.

[EnJoY]

Bitspower block makes the long trip from Taiwan to Minnesota safely and here are the standard shots for your viewing pleasure.

Sorry Bitspower, but those internals look so half-assed.

[skinnee]

According to DHL the regular shipping time to you should be 6 days but from my experience it always takes a bit longer because of the customs.

Customs always seems to screw things up. I missed the package yesterday since I had to go into the office, should be redelivered today.

[DarthBeavis]

Sorry Bitspower, but those internals look so half-assed.

prepare to get flamed by douchebags elsewhere

[BlueAqua]

Sorry Bitspower, but those internals look so half-assed.

My thoughts exactly. Even the externals look half-assed. Aren't the Bitspower blocks usually around $150? Who buys these things?

[DarthBeavis]

My thoughts exactly. Even the externals look half-assed. Aren't the Bitspower blocks usually around $150? Who buys these things?

let's see some performance numbers before attacking. It's not like Skinee is a shill with Bitspower Banners on his webpage. I think his review will be objective.

[Waterlogged]

Sorry Bitspower, but those internals look so half-assed.

Glad I'm not the only one that thought this. I opened the topic last night, looked at the pics and went ", wtf" and closed the tab shaking my head.

[Boulard83]

I doubt there will be any active flow over the vrm area?

Phil

Forgot something ... you NEED to use the right fittings in the pic as teh INLET.

[Conumdrum]

Where is the Swiftech block? I know it's in the mail, but I wanna see it.

[skinnee]

Where is the Swiftech block? I know it's in the mail, but I wanna see it.

patience... UPS delivers the EVGA/Swiftech block tomorrow.

[facboy]

is mcw-80 included under swiftech?

[skinnee]

Aqua Computer block makes the long swim across the Atlantic...