The Journey of a Watercooled GTX 260

[miggs78]

Originally Posted by Dashock

That my friend is a thing of beauty, if i was still in my glory days of gaming id buy this card but i shall wait as my 8800gt is still running solid. And Miggs78 you should have gone Nvidia buddy, oh well theres always next time cheers!!

Oh well... If I get my card RMA'd, I'll sell the 4870 and if the prices of the GTX260 Core 216 come down, I'll be all over it.. But imo the only thing annoying me is the fact that most FC blocks available to us Canadians are @#%%%ed up.. really, there are no standoffs, causing all kinds of issues, warping, shorting, dead card. I'll just end up buying a core only gpu block, at least it might work for a future card..

[Dashock]

Exxelent idea i dont see the reason of putting down money equal to the cost of the card itself some of the full cover blocks out there are just way too over-priced im happy with my Mcw-60. I was reading about problems faced by our own members with the new Ati blocks and missing washers and as a result cards have been damaged that to me is just unacceptable. Gpu-core only blocks for me!

[magictorch]

By the time you've bought a Unisink or other sinks and a good GPU only block its starting to get closer to FC costs. I'd agree that the EK FC blocks right now are a pain to install on recent cards of any make-you need to be aware of the risks thats for sure. The 4870X2 oversight wasnt good I agree.
Once they are working the cooling over the memory and GPU is ridiculous.

I really cant see how a unisink or other sinks could come close without dedicated aircooling on the sinks as well. The only thing Id like to see with FC blocks is water running over the VRM area as well. Recent GPUs need well balanced cooling on all major componets now.

[Sniper]

Originally Posted by miggs78

Oh well... If I get my card RMA'd, I'll sell the 4870 and if the prices of the GTX260 Core 216 come down, I'll be all over it.. But imo the only thing annoying me is the fact that most FC blocks available to us Canadians are @#%%%ed up.. really, there are no standoffs, causing all kinds of issues, warping, shorting, dead card. I'll just end up buying a core only gpu block, at least it might work for a future card..

Dude there are more than just EK water blocks available! Besides you can use your own standoffs even with the EK's to right. DD or XSPC doesn't have any problems. Don't disregard a product because it has a fixable hickup just go with the flow.

[miggs78]

Originally Posted by Sniper

Dude there are more than just EK water blocks available! Besides you can use your own standoffs even with the EK's to right. DD or XSPC doesn't have any problems. Don't disregard a product because it has a fixable hickup just go with the flow.

Sniper.. I think you are misunderstanding me really. And besides I never dissed out EK, they have always made proper water blocks and will always will. Oh and besides XSPC do use standoffs, but they are multiple people on Xtremesystems forums that confirm the standoffs are too tiny hence it doesn't help, at the moment only DD have a proper block...

Oh and before you go our barking on people.. I think you should read what I wrote again..
First thing, I never pointed out was EK having issues I mentioned almost all blocks.. And secondly I said I'll just end up buying a core only gpu block, at least it might work for a future card..

[Babrbarossa]

Just in case anyone was curious about a full coverage option, Here's some pics of an EVGA Hydro Copper 16 on one of my 260 sc 216s. I did find the removal of the stock cooler a little trickier than my 8800GTS was, but there were great instructions in the HC16 package.

As you've no doubt heard, this thing is very heavy, but I don't think it's as hard on the pcb as you might think at forst since it has an upper and lower plate that holt the pcb rigid. The cooler, when installed goes almost up agaainst the motherboard, so there isn't much leverage there that might cause warping.


The cooler removed

notice that I just threw in a couple of compression fittings to try them out, but they wouldn't clear the backplate so I ended up using teh stock fittings which were fine- worm drive clamps were provided.


I haven't gotten around to doing something with the two power cables yet.

[freakgeek1337]

Nice HC16! 2nd person I've seen with one. Though wasn't it kinda pricey?

[Sniper]

Originally Posted by miggs78

Sniper.. I think you are misunderstanding me really. And besides I never dissed out EK, they have always made proper water blocks and will always will. Oh and besides XSPC do use standoffs, but they are multiple people on Xtremesystems forums that confirm the standoffs are too tiny hence it doesn't help, at the moment only DD have a proper block...

Oh and before you go our barking on people.. I think you should read what I wrote again..
First thing, I never pointed out was EK having issues I mentioned almost all blocks.. And secondly I said I'll just end up buying a core only gpu block, at least it might work for a future card..

Easy killer! Bun up your ass much?

PM sent.

[Babrbarossa]

Originally Posted by freakgeek1337

Nice HC16! 2nd person I've seen with one. Though wasn't it kinda pricey?

I think I paid 179 CAD on sale- Now, the GPU and waterblock are $100 more than I paid for the pair - A once in a lifetime occasion where my hardware actually appreciated in value.

[Dadi_oh]

Originally Posted by matsta31

Quick question,

what do you have on your loop ?

Is the block restrictive ? I would consider putting it in my loop with the CPU, but was wondering If I would lose to much cooling power.

My loop is :

MCP 355 with Petra custom top - D-tek fuxzion v2 - PA 120.3 with 6 push-pull Loons.

It could become :

MCP 355 with Petra custom top - D-tek fuxzion v2 - D-Tek GPU bloc V2 - PA 120.3 with 6 push-pull Loons.

I have used Matin's flow rate estimator and it gives me 1.42 GPM with the D-Tek V1 tough. 1,42 brings me on the limit of Good to Great according to him. So Flow rate should be ok. Now heat dissipation capacity ?

And D-tek GPU V1 vs Dtek Gpu v2, is there any significant restrictions modifications ?

Sorry. I was in Germany for 2 weeks and just got back.

To answer your question I don't think there any problems with restrictions on this block. I read somewhere in a review that this V2 version has much better flow than the original.

My loop is... Apogee (Q6600) --> MWC60 (P35 Northbridge) --> Fuzion (GTX260) --> Rad (2 X 120mm on 60% speed).

My temps on the Q6600 (G0 OC to 3.52GHz) are 51C Prime95 small FFT loaded and the GTX260 hits about 43C. Very reasonable in my opinion.