Swiftech Releases Komodo HD5800 F/C Waterblock For ATI

[dejanh]

Look guys, let me make this very clear...

Pads work just fine on this block. The VRM temperatures with pads are far from optimal, but they are under control and can hold a very decent OC just fine. Having said that, on to my results...

Mounting the block with paste at VRM areas instead of pads does significantly reduce the VRM temperatures as stated by Gabe, up to 20C in fact. The standoff reduction that is needed around main VRM area is 0.5mm, and around the single VRM at the front of the card minimum 0.25mm. It also requires full compression of the PCB to the standoffs. However, this is not without issues.

I reported earlier that my card appears to be locking up and I thought that the card was faulty. However, it turns out that was not the case and in fact it was the reduced standoffs that were causing the problem, specifically, it was the board warping that happens as a result of the use of reduced standoffs that was causing random lockups on 1 out of 2 cards and was resulting in no video post or loss of video in some cases.

Compressing the PCB all the way down to the standoffs is a must if you want to make proper contact with the block when using paste on VRMs and this causes significant warping of the board both lengthwise and widthwise. In fact, widthwise the PCB starts to take on a bow-shape. As a result, only the outer VRMs make good contact while the ones in the center (two large and one small) make poor contact again. There is no warping around the single VRM at the front of the card. The warping is the result of two things. First, the rest of pads on the block used for memory, that concave cut near the VRMs, etc. get in the way and need to be removed and replaced with paste as well. Second, the rest of the standoffs are too tall resulting in warping and need to be equally reduced by 0.5mm as removing the rest of the pads also means that the rest of the board components will not make contact any more with the block.

So, what does this all mean? Well, it really means only one thing. If you want to use paste two things need to happen...

1. All pads need to be removed on the whole block and must be replaced with thermal grease (paste).
2. Gabe supplies all new set of standoffs for the whole block reduced by 0.5mm and supplies a set of new mounting screws to go with the reduced standoffs OR you reduce your own standoffs by 0.5mm which I do not really recommend as inaccuracies can cause more problems than good.

As it is right now, this block is not reliably and consistently suitable for use with HD5850 cards when using paste method and this method should therefore not be used.

If Gabe supplies me with standoffs reduced as per my findings above I will attempt to redo the tests again and post back the results. For now I am back on pads.