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

[gmat]

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

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...

[resident1509]

let's go ahead and lock this thread down. not going anywhere anytime soon...

[mk-ultra]

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


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...

well or course sub-zero is another world, but on mine the other i was playing dirt2 with my card OCed as usual, suddenly the game crash. looked at the temps they were way high, turns out i forgot to set my rad fans at 12v, i never had a crash before of after that.

let's go ahead and lock this thread down. not going anywhere anytime soon...

especially with your comments...

[gmat]

well or course sub-zero is another world, but on mine the other i was playing dirt2 with my card OCed as usual, suddenly the game crash. looked at the temps they were way high, turns out i forgot to set my rad fans at 12v, i never had a crash before of after that.

Well yeah as i said, if you reach thermal limits that's entirely different (and maybe the 480's are hot enough beasts to do that ?), and that would of course fall back to the same priorities as for CPUs - but with watercooling i never had such problems on a GPU even when torturing them with furmark and such. I found out CPU's are way much more sensitive to temperatures (and that i can reach the thermal limit on my i7)

[Martinm210]

Hey skinnee,
Do you think the chip that fried was slightly depressed?

Seem like a common issue with trying to cool mosfets. They are small little chips that don't usually sit very flat and hard to cool with anything but thermal pads that have some ability to fill the gaps. It kind of looks like the TIM spread picture you posted back a few pages seems to hint that could have been part of it..?

Sorry for the loss..

[Alexandr0s]

Sorry to hear the 480 died . When will the funeral be? I'd like to pay my last respects.

[skinnee]

The chip was well beyond depression, the PCB did not like the role of rented mule it wound up in and committed suicide. I don't think the fets were sagging, and most of the TIM print shots show 'good enough' contact and better with tape.

I went through and checked all the cards for contact on the VRM's before running load tests, that with a generous dollop of TIM and the height variation did not play much if any of a role in the GPU seppuku... at least I am not pointing it to that. There had been physical stress on the cap for those fets from the majority of blocks (notice the hot glue for added durability), add that into the rigors of thermal testing and that area was just prime for failure. GPU's are much more 'delicate', and separating the card from the block is a violent process. I can't recommended lots of remounts for a GPU block.



But yeah, losses happen, I'm just glad all of the important tests were complete when it happened.

[seeka12]

But yeah, losses happen, I'm just glad all of the important tests were complete when it happened.

maybe people envied you for having all these Stuff so the gtx 480 blew up,anyway Sorry for your loss

[Church]

blew up because of envy? (trying to imagine vax voodoo doll in form of 480, full of needles and partially burnt by candle somewhere in vrm area)

[JokerCPoC]

Sorry for Yer loss skinnee, But all things considered, You at least have the data saved.

[UrbanSmooth]

Judging by the URLs that you're using to show off those images with, it looks like the article is coming together quite well.

[seeka12]

blew up because of envy?

i was just trying to tell a joke but i think i went mad

[Martinm210]

The chip was well beyond depression, the PCB did not like the role of rented mule it wound up in and committed suicide. I don't think the fets were sagging, and most of the TIM print shots show 'good enough' contact and better with tape.

I went through and checked all the cards for contact on the VRM's before running load tests, that with a generous dollop of TIM and the height variation did not play much if any of a role in the GPU seppuku... at least I am not pointing it to that. There had been physical stress on the cap for those fets from the majority of blocks (notice the hot glue for added durability), add that into the rigors of thermal testing and that area was just prime for failure. GPU's are much more 'delicate', and separating the card from the block is a violent process. I can't recommended lots of remounts for a GPU block.



But yeah, losses happen, I'm just glad all of the important tests were complete when it happened.

Yeah they are pretty flimsy, I remember how bowed my 8800gtx got too. I've also had at least one older video card die from what I think was just static electricity. I guess we never know with electronics..just had a $4,000 GPS unit crap out on me at work a few weeks ago...bad digital board was almost as much as just buying a new unit...and it was supposed to be a really rugged unit. I guess I give up on having confidence in electronic parts. I've had $20 dvd players last for ages and really high end stuff DOA. Who knows...

Anyhow I'm sure all that data you're putting together will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

[Section8]

Skinnee what kind of time frame are we still to expect before we can see your results for ourselves? I know your busy..I would accept any answer within the space time continuum

[skinnee]

I'm trying to wrap it all up this weekend, I want to be done as well.

a little piece of what I just finished...

[shazza]

TEASE

[JokerCPoC]

I'm trying to wrap it all up this weekend, I want to be done as well.

a little piece of what I just finished...

Looks good skinnee.

[xkon]

the graph is so purdy! can't wait! the suspense is killer!

[Waterlogged]

I'm trying to wrap it all up this weekend, I want to be done as well.

a little piece of what I just finished...

Hm. . .and performance is inverse of flow rate.

[Systemlord]

I'm trying to wrap it all up this weekend, I want to be done as well.

a little piece of what I just finished...

If I'm reading this chart correctly the EK water block has 16 psi pressure drop while the Danger Den is only 6 psi pressure drop, that's huge when considering when HWLabs pressure tests their radiators at max continuous pressure rating 24.7psi...? Huh? Something doesn't add up here because we just added what looks like a lot of restriction!

-Systemlord

[Boogerlad]

at what flow rate? 16psi pressure drop is at like 4.8gpm. Rads in general have very low pressure drop, but when comparing for restrictiveness, both must have same flow rate.

[Systemlord]

at what flow rate? 16psi pressure drop is at like 4.8gpm. Rads in general have very low pressure drop, but when comparing for restrictiveness, both must have same flow rate.

Oh alright I understand, I wasn't paying any attention to flow rates. At 1.5GPM the difference is about 1 psi difference between the DD and EK blocks, nobody runs at 5 GPM, duh! I stongly believe that the wavy pattern of fins on the EK blocks GPU area is the contributor to the restriction, this is shown on the AQ fin area restricting the flow even further! What flow rates are considered attainable in an ideal low restrictive loop? Picture below shows the AQ's restrictive GPU fin area!

-Systemlord

[mk-ultra]

aquacomputer's beautiful block lost a round here

[Aedubber]

Interesting graph .... Still waiting patiently

[Systemlord]

aquacomputer's beautiful block lost a round here

On the restrictive side yes, but how well does it actually cool...? Soon time will tell, and I thought my HWLabs GTX480 Radiator was on the restrictive side! I will not be adding anymore restrictive blocks to my soon to be loops!

-Systemlord