The 480 air cooler is made so the card almost reaches thermal limits at stock clocks.. i doubt there's any headroom on air

Quote Originally Posted by mk-ultra View Post
its not only about thermal limits, cooler core means higher stable oc
That's the problem, so far with the cards i've had, on straight watercooling the temperature didnt change the OC limit (again as long as the card doesnt reach thermal problems). And from what i have seen that limit only really moves at sub zero temps...