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

[P5ym0n]

They are no thicker than an air cooled 480 that is double slot anyway. If your mobo has adequate space for 3 double slot PCIe cards then you'll be fine

[skinnee]

Board PCIe x8/x16 slots differ. and to truely meet "Single Slot" spec you have to be under 5/8" thickness IIRC.

[Nasko]

does anybody has bootup shorting issue with ek backplate??

Im with EK-GTX480 block and backplate ,and everything runs perfect ,no shorting issues so far .

[blazarcher]

No, I would consider the XSPC, Danger Den, Aqua Computer and EVGA single slot out of the box. The others are just a little too thick and cross the plane into the next slot. According to my eyes anyway.

Sweet! I wonder if you could fit 4 GTX 480's with Aquacomputer waterblocks on an EVGA Classified E760. BTW, isn't the EK thin enough? (W/O the backplate probably)

[Systemlord]

Im with EK-GTX480 block and backplate ,and everything runs perfect ,no shorting issues so far .

Could you be so kind to tell us about your load and idle temp, all I know of is the Danger Den 480 block on Guru3D. 59 degrees C at full load with Core Clock 900MHz, Shader Clock 1800MHz and Memory Clock 4400MHz!

See their review of the voltage tweak overclocked GTX 480!

[One_Hertz]

Could you be so kind to tell us about your load and idle temp, all I know of is the Danger Den 480 block on Guru3D. 59 degrees C at full load with Core Clock 900MHz, Shader Clock 1800MHz and Memory Clock 4400MHz!

See their review of the voltage tweak overclocked GTX 480!

My EK 480gtx is giving me 48C full load (kombustor), 29-30C idle at exactly the same clocks. Ambient is 20-21C.

In addition, I am sure it is possible to achieve 45-46 full load with a better mount. I definitely put too much thermal paste on because I REALLY did not want to have to do a remount.

[Systemlord]

My EK 480gtx is giving me 48C full load (kombustor), 29-30C idle at exactly the same clocks. Ambient is 20-21C.

In addition, I am sure it is possible to achieve 45-46 full load with a better mount. I definitely put too much thermal paste on because I REALLY did not want to have to do a remount.

What are your clock speeds? I'll guess there stock with those temps. So you are bout 10C above Ambient, have you tried Furmark? It takes my air cooled GTX 480 to 92C after 45min while kombustor seems like not as stressful peaking at around 60-65C full load. Those temps are the same if not better than Danger Den's GTX 480 water block, I would love to see you run Furmark and see if thing get hotter unless you already have.

[One_Hertz]

What are your clock speeds?

My EK 480gtx is giving me 48C full load (kombustor), 29-30C idle at exactly the same clocks. Ambient is 20-21C.

No I have not tried furmark because I find it to be quite unnecessary as I have not seen above 47C in any game.

[mechman]

You'd also have to look at the pump and radiator setups...IIRC the GURU3D setup was a bit mediocre.

Edit:
Found the only items they spec:
So for our test setup we created a dedicated liquid cooling loop for the GeForce GTX 480. We used a Black Ice dual 120mm radiator with two low RPM fans. We fire up the PC and check the idle temperatures and after a while we start to stress the GPU massively.
guru3d

[Systemlord]

No I have not tried furmark because I find it to be quite unnecessary as I have not seen above 47C in any game.

I understand that Furmark would be consider overkill since games never push that hard, it's good for testing extreme thermal limits. When asked about your clock speeds I was wondering if your at stock clocks or if you have overclocked your pair of 480's, the EK blocks are not only looking to equal the Danger Den blocks but are also $120 dollars cheaper is purchasing two blocks. Do you have the see through acrylic or other top solid aluminum tops?

[Vapor]

You're trying to compare results from two totally different testbeds using two different cards?

[JoeBar]

I'm assuming there will be a new thread when actual results arrive, cause this is going very far and to every direction...

[cx-ray]

I understand that Furmark would be consider overkill since games never push that hard, it's good for testing extreme thermal limits. When asked about your clock speeds

I don't even consider Furmark a valid tool for testing a successful GPU overclock. I can for instance run it forever without an error. Then, when playing Crysis I see artifacts or triangular tears in L4D2.

[miptzi]

the cheaper is the Ek one. Appears to be good enough, and a lot better than air.
Worth getting one? my wallet is empty already...

[skinnee]

I'm assuming there will be a new thread when actual results arrive, cause this is going very far and to every direction...

No, I'm going to pick a random post of mine somewhere in this thread and slap all the results in without anyone knowing.

[JoeBar]

Why are u posting and not testing...? Go back to work...

[One_Hertz]

I understand that Furmark would be consider overkill since games never push that hard, it's good for testing extreme thermal limits. When asked about your clock speeds I was wondering if your at stock clocks or if you have overclocked your pair of 480's, the EK blocks are not only looking to equal the Danger Den blocks but are also $120 dollars cheaper is purchasing two blocks. Do you have the see through acrylic or other top solid aluminum tops?

The thing is, there is no thermal sensor on the voltage regulators. This means that I (along with almost every person with a WCed 480gtx) am blissfully unaware how hot my vregs run. With this in mind, I do not believe it is the best idea to be stressing the card beyond the normal amounts. If I knew for sure that my vregs were fine, then I would test it with anything.

And what Vapor said. You can't exactly compare different setups just like that as I have a lot more rad power in my loop and my water rises only a few degrees above ambient.

I have a single 480GTX not a pair. My block has an acrylic top.

Found the only items they spec:
So for our test setup we created a dedicated liquid cooling loop for the GeForce GTX 480. We used a Black Ice dual 120mm radiator with two low RPM fans. We fire up the PC and check the idle temperatures and after a while we start to stress the GPU massively.

I have two triple rads with six 1500rpm fans on them for my CPU + GPU with a single Switech 655 variable pump making everything flow.

[Russ_64]

Have you checked what temps you can see with Everest? On my GTX470, I have 4 temps:
GPU = 46c @ 99% load with FaH GPU3
GPU Diode = 43c
GPU Ambient = 38c (maybe on backside?)
GPU Memory = 42c

[Systemlord]

You're trying to compare results from two totally different testbeds using two different cards?

No same card (GTX 480) different water block, are you taking about the difference between two different GTX 480's? They will vary slighty 1-3 degrees perhaps.

[Systemlord]

The thing is, there is no thermal sensor on the voltage regulators. This means that I (along with almost every person with a WCed 480gtx) am blissfully unaware how hot my vregs run. With this in mind, I do not believe it is the best idea to be stressing the card beyond the normal amounts. If I knew for sure that my vregs were fine, then I would test it with anything.

And what Vapor said. You can't exactly compare different setups just like that as I have a lot more rad power in my loop and my water rises only a few degrees above ambient.

I have a single 480GTX not a pair. My block has an acrylic top.



I have two triple rads with six 1500rpm fans on them for my CPU + GPU with a single Switech 655 variable pump making everything flow.

I consider any card running stock voltage (1.135) to be normal, what do you consider to be normal limits?

[NaeKuh]

Speaking of prior blocks.... What happened to making blocks that were gold plated? Like the one's you did for the 2900XT/3850/3870, Koolance VID 290, 385, and 387 respectively?

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

u know i asked dean this same question...

I beg'd him on the ATI cards... let us have the gold back.
Because the gold actually looks better then the nickle when you have a red or black pcb.

*sigh*

Maybe Tim can reintroduce them again?
The ATI blocks would look pure bling in gold again.
And gold doesn't react to anything.

No, I'm going to pick a random post of mine somewhere in this thread and slap all the results in without anyone knowing.

i'll lynch ya.. or maybe take you to some place where u will get food poisoning again.. :X

u know how painful it was to go though 8 pages of clutter... >.<

[blazarcher]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

u know i asked dean this same question...

I beg'd him on the ATI cards... let us have the gold back.
Because the gold actually looks better then the nickle when you have a red or black pcb.

*sigh*

Maybe Tim can reintroduce them again?
The ATI blocks would look pure bling in gold again.
And gold doesn't react to anything.

Yeah, *sigh*, I actually thought of gold plating the blocks myself. Here's a site that I referred to on my (dead) thread, http://www.goldplating.com/Products/...-brushgold.htm

Yeah so I can either use the "pen" or "gel" method lol. This seems like a rip-off, but hey you never know!

[blazarcher]

No, I'm going to pick a random post of mine somewhere in this thread and slap all the results in without anyone knowing.

Your not serious are you?!?!
So many pages... so lil' text!

[zeroibis]

The results will also be broken up in multiple posts and only those equipped with the proper decoder ring can decipher the data!

(Send me a decoder ring plez...)

[DarthBeavis]

mashed potatoes and gravy