Swiftech Komodo HD7970 Preview

[Kenjiwing]

The 1u bracket should be standard the backplate should be optional just my opinion

[CornerJack]

Very nice !
And include it

[gabe]

Gabe, any plan to support the upcoming Asus 7970 DirectCu II?

Reference designs supported only at this point. But if Asus asks me to make them a Radeon block, I will be happpy to oblige :-)

Today i tried to redesign my loop on paper in order to be ready when swiftech waterblocks arrive. I think i am stuck since i have no idea of the bridges design (input, output, serial, parallel etc)
Gabe, it would be nice to have a preview of those bridges in order to be able to prepare accordingly...

Regarding churchy's post about the bridges, please allow me to add another parameter to the cf bridge "equation"... and that parameter is "efficiency". GPU waterblocks are restrictive, especially in crossfire or even quadfire. So, right angles might be an "effective" idea, but not sure if its going to be efficient as well, since these will cause even higher pressure drop...
http://martinsliquidlab.org/2011/01/...elbow-impacts/

Re. FC GPU being restrictive
- when setup in parallel, 2 blocks in SLI/CF are much less restrictive than a single CPU water-block, even less so in triple or quad
- with highly efficient Swiftech blocks, and given the low heat flux of modern GPUs, they are much less sensitive to flow than CPU's, so parallel setup is always preferred.
- I design our blocks with the least possible restriction, for instance, I calculate my channels cross section to be equivalent to that of 1/2" ID tubing or more whenever possible.

I believe that what Martin was referring to in the quoted article is excessive use of elbows.

[D749]

Reference designs supported only at this point. But if Asus asks me to make them a Radeon block, I will be happpy to oblige :-)

I appreciate the direct answer - thanks. Now send me the number for the person as Asus that I need to speak with.

[cartago2202]

very very nice !!!!

[Sailindawg]

Damn nice block Gabe. Adding in the extras just makes this block all the sweeter. How can we get ASUS to work with you on a DCII block?

[gabe]

Damn nice block Gabe. Adding in the extras just makes this block all the sweeter. How can we get ASUS to work with you on a DCII block?

cc'd my contact at Asus, let's see if something can be done.

[lilmanmgf]

It looks fantastic gabe! Any idea when you will be coming out with universal heatsinks for the 7900 series?

[D749]

cc'd my contact at Asus, let's see if something can be done.

That's the spirit. I'd rather spend the cash on a couple of blocks from this side of the pond.

[gabe]

Looks like Mid March given current workload.

[Kayin]

I agree with the blocks from this side of the pond sentimentality. I've a large amount of Swiftech stuff for that reason. Blocks like this make the decision far easier.

[mav2000]

Beautiful work Gabe. Really like this block. Unluckily it gets a whole lot more expensive once shipped to Asia from the US. I wish you had more UK dealers, or better support for shipping from your site.

[RCG_Bex]

O-M-G!

Providing I can rotate the led bit so it's the right way up in my case then it's stunning!

[kintaro]

very nice...price wise

[maanyak]

very very nice bridge

[WrigleyVillain]

Wowza

[D749]

very nice...price wise

Where did Gabe state a price?

[Sadasius]

I like the block on the outside but don't like the internals at all. More chance for a leak with a remote little island. With a block like that people will pay the extra from material to go all the way.

[gabe]

I like the block on the outside but don't like the internals at all. More chance for a leak with a remote little island. With a block like that people will pay the extra from material to go all the way.

Not sure about other manufacturers, but you might want to checkout both Koolance and EK that feature very similar design, which is necessitated by the card layout.

[Church]

gabe: it's true, that >2 gpu blocks in parallel are very unrestrictive .. but at the expense of very low flow through each of blocks. IIRC i've seen someone stating that block needs 0.3-0.4 gpm minimum, with noticeable temp worsening @.25-.2 gpm. Imho in single loop everything with cpu block & motherboard full cover flow of around 1gpm might be common .. then with 1gpm/4, not much of it will go through each of gpu block. Even worse if splittable flow already is part of all flow by eg. using multiple outlets of swiftech's new HD cpu block. What's then - 0.1-0.2 flow?
So imho 4-way bridges should be 2parallel-serial-2parallel, 2-way bridges parallel or serial, hmm, don't know what would be best choice for 3-way :/ - all parallel? - or two parallel and last one in serial?
P.S.
Imho you hit the nail with waterbridge design . Yours is another one i'd consider alongside EK's looks-wise (i don't like Aquacomputer's on that account).
P.P.S.
I wonder if it's possible to make bridges configurable to have parallel or serial by user choice. Eg. by changing block "inlet ends/adapters" to bridge? One with one of inlets closed for serial (though maybe another one in mirror config with another one closed), another with both open for parallel.
EDIT
Hmm, now that i think of writtings on the front of bridge regarding specific CF or SLI and specific blocks. Will it be exchangeable (by eg. stickers? and if by those, maybe include stickers of specific type in set of specific blocks?)?

[stephenswiftech]

I'd think that anyone who is planning on building a 3-way / 4-way GPU system shouldn't be looking at building a liquid cooling systems that can "only" push 1 GPM. I am not saying it wouldn't work with 1GPM because it actually would but I am saying that if someone is spending over $2,000 in VGA cards only (not even counting VGA blocks) should run two pumps in series just for redundancy (and you'll get quite a nice performance boost at the samem time). If you use an MCP35X2, an Apogee HD and 4x VGA blocks in parallel you'll be much closer than 2GPM than 1GPM... And at .5GPM per GPU you're good to go. You should even be able to add chipset and mosfet blocks in parallel without any problem.

That being said... I could make these bridges configurable in a blink of an eye

[D749]

Gabe/Stephen, a suggestion for the bridge... don't limit the in/out ports to the top/bottom of the bridge. Please consider adding in/out ports on the side of the bridge (e.g., perpendicular to the current in/out ports). This will allow for greater flexibility in terms of what fittings are used and how tubing is routed, etc. Thanks.

[Sadasius]

Not sure about other manufacturers, but you might want to checkout both Koolance and EK that feature very similar design, which is necessitated by the card layout.

I did not look at the naked card yet. Will check that out now.

*edit* Yeah your right and my bad. Looks like you pretty much have no choice with those caps in the way like that. Not enough room to go around or anything. Damn!

[Church]

stephenswiftech: there are few very resistive blocks around, with which even dual pumps may show <1gpm. eg. I recall few motherboard full cover blocks at skinneelab roundup, or in another one forum very recently there was one guy with single MCW80 and cpu block. With two D5 Varios in series he got 0.41 gpm

[MisterMagoo]

Any updates on these guys?