Swiftech Releases Komodo HD5800 F/C Waterblock For ATI

[dejanh]

Ok, I sorted through the photos and my notes and I think this one illustrates the best the lack of contact. I needed to put on a lot of paste to get anything to come across onto the VRM cooling area. The block was compressed as much as it can be to the graphics card.



Notice that the GPU die and the single VRM in the lower right corner have good compression, but the VRMs at the rear of the card barely make contact, and definitely do not have any compression.

And another screenshot following maximum compression of block to card, this time with abut 1/2-3/4 of the thermal paste; notice one of the VRMs has no more contact at all. Also notice the scratches around standoffs as a result of trying to tighten them down as much as possible to get the block to make proper contact in vain.



Now, I have measured the PCB height, VRM height, standoff height when fully screwed in and standalone, VRM plateau height, and determined that the VRMs cannot be cooled with the paste method on either of my Komodo blocks with this card. All measurements have a margin of error +/- 0.05mm due to human error and were done with a digital caliper.

PCB, VRM dimensions:

PCB thickness: 1.55mm - 1.6mm
VRM (rear) thickness: 0.85mm
VRM (front, single) thickness: 1.1mm

Block dimensions, around rear VRM area:

Top-left corner + standoff: 15.30mm
Bottom-left corner + standoff: 15.1mm
VRM plateau height (average): 14.15mm
Difference: 0.95mm - 1.15mm

As you can tell from these dimensions it is not possible to make good contact with the VRM using paste only as the difference between the VRM thickness and where the plateau sits once mounted ranges from 0.1mm to as much as 0.3mm.

The second block is more or less the same, having dimensions 15.05mm/14.75mm/13.9mm (avg); net difference 0.85mm - 1.15mm. Furthermore, on the second block even the single VRM would not make proper contact as the net difference in height between the standoff and plateau height is 1.2mm - 1.3mm, larger than 1.1mm height of that VRM.

Furthermore, the screw-in depth for standoffs and standoffs themselves are not equal. They range in height from 3.85mm to 4.1mm in no practical order. The screw in depths appear to do the same and are uneven. I took a 4.1mm standoff and placed it into the center hole by the DRAM cooling pad near the inlet/outlet and the PCB would still warp here because the screw in depth was deeper by about 0.3mm than other areas. This would happen every time but if the fastener was loosened to eliminate the warping insufficient contact with the DRAM would be made. Finally, around the single VRM area the board warps significantly once the card is mounted in the case as the perpendicular forces exerted by the weight of the block pulling down and away from the mounting slots on the PCB.

Two blocks later I would say that using this block without thermal pads and instead using thermal paste is strongly not recommended, at least with MSI R5850. I will test things out on the Asus EAH5850 as well once it is here in a few more days. The MSI R5850 is now off for an RMA and I really, really hope I actually get the replacement.