4870 Waterblock Options

[gabe]

ok i fired up the card today. Not so good. With ram sinks and mosfet sinks the card crashes 30 seconds into any 3d. The gpu itself was idling at 38 degrees with the Aquaxtreme MP-1 waterblock and 43 degrees at full load.

I reinstalled the factory heatsink over the ram and vrm's, it helped. Card was able to run stably, but with only passive cooling the metal plate was getting VERY hot really fast.

Conclusion, I will not be running any non full cover waterblocks on this card, they are just too hot.

Will be ordering some EK blocks when they arrive state side.

How about something like this?

If you want, email me your address (gabe@swiftech.com) , I'll send you some samples to try out and report result on this forum.

[leo_bsb]

Gabe, I already have some sinks like those, I'll try them but we need some forced air circulation over them for sure.

[Kaane]

no ammount of passive cooling will cool those Voltage regulators, also on the 4870's they are so damn small you can't attach anything big enough.

[gabe]

Gabe, I already have some sinks like those, I'll try them but we need some forced air circulation over them for sure.

"some circulation" is key word; in practice a well designed system should include a low flow fan for HD's, or a side panel fan typically placed in the neighborhood of the VGA. all these sinks need is air circulation, nothing more.

[dnottis]

I've got the Swiftech 8800GTX mosfet coolers all over mine with airflow. The Vitecs get smoking hot and in fact the back side of the 4870 where the vitec chips are is the hottest spot.

Here's a pic of mine with the MP-01. Idle 32, load 38c. The only issue I have is Furmark will crash, always had even stock settings / cooling. Would get a black screen after about a minute. I can game for hours without an issue.



Gabe, I wouldnt mind testing something a bit more robust for the mosfets and vitec chips. I would have no problems reporting here. I've got a hand held thermal sensor to test temps with.

[evilrad]

I received my Asus 4870 today. I was going to use the stock plate to cool the ram and vregs and use the D-Tek Fuzion GFX 2 to cool the GPU. There is just one problem with that idea: The stock plate does not even touch the ram and vregs! Anyone else experience this problem? Now I'll have to wait until iandh comes out with his custom sinks, or D-Tek makes a uni-sink for it (if they will). I should have just bought the EK full cover like I was originally going too.
iandh, where are those custom sinks!!!!????

[jcool]

"some circulation" is key word; in practice a well designed system should include a low flow fan for HD's, or a side panel fan typically placed in the neighborhood of the VGA. all these sinks need is air circulation, nothing more.

Only that "some circulation" doesn't cut it. I tried with an Accelero S1, big fat Thermalright heatsinks on the pwms and vitec chip and 3 (!) medium speed 80mm fans on top blowing down, still blackscreened after 2 mins of FUR or 10 mins of ATITool. It's either Delta fan, stock cooling or full cover block.

[leo_bsb]

OK, I did the guinea pig move and ordered the koolance 4870 block. Pictures next week.

[CCC]

can anyone confirm whether or not the new D-TEK FuZion v2 gpu block will fit on the 4870??

[evilrad]

can anyone confirm whether or not the new D-TEK FuZion v2 gpu block will fit on the 4870??

Yes, it does fit.

[philbrown23]

wow maybe I will the the 4850 and not the 4870 if there are heat problems like this.

[babalouj]

I am milling a dtek unisink like heatsink for my 4870 (to accompany my mcw60) this weekend from a large chunk of aluminum. I will post back when I have results and pictures. It will cover the ram, VRMs, and the inductors in one continuous piece. Hopefully this will solve the heat problem.

[jonny_ftm]

I am milling a dtek unisink like heatsink for my 4870 (to accompany my mcw60) this weekend from a large chunk of aluminum. I will post back when I have results and pictures. It will cover the ram, VRMs, and the inductors in one continuous piece. Hopefully this will solve the heat problem.

Based on previous reports and many other forums, no passive cooling will do it

[flopper]

Its a high end card, ofc it needs some active cooling.
using waterblock as mcw50 and heatsinks on the mosfets and ram and a fan that blows air from the outside in a small manner I get temps of 32c or so.
No issue with heat as it is.

Passiv cooling using watercooling seems like silly for me due to your changing the original cooling system that obviously cools well.
I can run my system almost totally passive and silentless doing everyday activities, gaming, its all active and a bit more noisy, but then headphones works well.

[BulldogPO]

Im going to test MCW60 at different radeon cards pretty soon, so do I need those extra heatsinks or do I manage with one 120mm fan?

[jonny_ftm]

Im going to test MCW60 at different radeon cards pretty soon, so do I need those extra heatsinks or do I manage with one 120mm fan?

When you see people not getting it with heatsinks+fan... guess...

[jcool]

wow maybe I will the the 4850 and not the 4870 if there are heat problems like this.

Yes, the 4850 works fine with gpu only blocks. No digital PWM, no headaches.

[babalouj]

Based on previous reports and many other forums, no passive cooling will do it

Of course it will need airflow.

[santiagodraco]

Why anyone would use a GPU only block is beyond me (unless maybe that extra 40 bucks is just tooo much).

Why leave all that heat inside the case (where you are trying to evacuate it from, as well as using sinks where, contrary to what some would state, circulation is usually poor (thats why the card manufacturers use FULL COVERAGE fans and sink units).

Use a full coverage block. It's simply far better than a single block with sinks, it means you wont have to blast your case fans and your card will be much happier overall.

The Koolance blocks kick ass btw.

[jonny_ftm]

Why anyone would use a GPU only block is beyond me (unless maybe that extra 40 bucks is just tooo much).

Why leave all that heat inside the case (where you are trying to evacuate it from, as well as using sinks where, contrary to what some would state, circulation is usually poor (thats why the card manufacturers use FULL COVERAGE fans and sink units).

Use a full coverage block. It's simply far better than a single block with sinks, it means you wont have to blast your case fans and your card will be much happier overall.

The Koolance blocks kick ass btw.

For people changing their VGA card regularely and not liking to spend 80$ on a FC WB each time
Furthermore, you get a so better GPU cooling and OC than with FC WB

Finally, cooling RAM chips used to be useless without a vmod

Now, it looks like the PWM of this card are too much for passive or small airflow

Better they fix it or you wait for GT300

[santiagodraco]

For people changing their VGA card regularely and not liking to spend 80$ on a FC WB each time
Furthermore, you get a so better GPU cooling and OC than with FC WB

Finally, cooling RAM chips used to be useless without a vmod

Now, it looks like the PWM of this card are too much for passive or small airflow

Better they fix it or you wait for GT300

Fix what? The fact that the chips generate heat? O.o

As for better GPU cooling and overclock... the imrovement is so marginal imo that the benefits of full coverage far outweigh any small temperature drops with a single coverage block.

As for cost and reuse, sure that's a definite advantage over a full coverage block, but I've never had a problem reselling one for a decent amount on ebay, so I think it's well worth it.

[RickCain]

wow maybe I will the the 4850 and not the 4870 if there are heat problems like this.

I have one 120mm fan blowing down on the mosfets and such with great sucess. Granted this is with 4850's but it does work.

[v0dka]

Wow, there's a lot of people getting scared because iof this thread. Care to hear some other findings? These chips are typically rated to very high temperatures. Yes the card gets hot around the power circuit area, even in idle mode. But nothing a 12v 92mm fan cant take without crashing, even at 850Mhz core. And that's without extra heatsinks by the way.

I dont understand how you are not able to run 3dMark @ stock without a full cover solution. There must be some other problem.

Ofcourse, lower temps are better as always - lifespan is influenced. But throwing away your MCW60 and buying a fullcover is nonsense.

[jonny_ftm]

Wow, there's a lot of people getting scared because iof this thread. Care to hear some other findings? These chips are typically rated to very high temperatures. Yes the card gets hot around the power circuit area, even in idle mode. But nothing a 12v 92mm fan cant take without crashing, even at 850Mhz core. And that's without extra heatsinks by the way.

I dont understand how you are not able to run 3dMark @ stock without a full cover solution. There must be some other problem.

Ofcourse, lower temps are better as always - lifespan is influenced. But throwing away your MCW60 and buying a fullcover is nonsense.

People are not talking about 3DMark and games, it's about benching crash: Für mainly, ATItoll in a secondary importance

[Kaane]

I had mosfet sinks on the voltage chips and a 120mm fan sitting on top and it still crashed after 2-3 minutes in furmark on my 4870.