7970 EK Waterblock Results

[Elfear]

Just wanted to share some results for anyone considering one of the new 7970 full-cover blocks. I've used universal blocks in the past but this is my first experience with a full-cover.

With the factory cooler the card was good for 1225/1450 at stock volts. It was stable running through the STALKER:COP benchmark at the highest settings and hours of Skyrim. I was impressed with the card but the fan needed to be at 65% to keep temps in check (~70 degrees playing Skyrim). With my open-style case only three feet away it was LOUD. I think the VRMs were getting too hot as well because it would crash hard with the voltage raised to 1.25V and clocks at 1225/1450.

My EK block arrived yesterday and assembly was pretty straight forward. Here are a couple pics of the naked card and block.





I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to mods but even still it only took 45 minutes to throw the block on there. Leak tested it for 12 hours and fired it up when I got home today. At stock clocks it idles at 26 degrees and maxs at 32 running the STALKER benchmark.

So far I've been able to hit 1325/1550 at 1.25V. Grabbed a screenshot after 15 minutes of running the Heaven benchmark.



I tried 1.3V and the temp didn't move at all. Still trying to nail down a stable overclock but I think these cards could really use more voltage capability. Hardmod is probably the only way that will happen though.

So far I'm very impressed with EK's block. Even more than the extra overclocking headroom I love the silence. Six Kama Flow 2 fans at 1000rpm and the pump at 7V makes for a very quiet rig which is what I was shooting for.

Here are some pics of the semi-finished system. Ignore the PSU cabling as I haven't figured out a way to hide it in a clear case.




I'll post some benchmark comparisons between the 7970 and the Crossfired 6950's I sold. I don't have MrK6's tenacity in cranking out benchmarks but I'll post up what I can.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Those are some crazy temps. My CPU is lucky if it sees 34C at idle.

 

[notty22]

Very sexy/symmetrical

 

[RavenSEAL]

Quick question, and this might or might not be off-topic. But what makes an open case attractive to you?

Aren't there too many risk? If so, what possible gains counter them?

Anyways, very nice setup indeed

 

[Panopticon]

Have you tried upping the memory clocks? Doesn't the 7970 benefit substantially from memory clocks? re: bottleneck.

 

[Elfear]

Those are some crazy temps. My CPU is lucky if it sees 34C at idle.

I was a little surprised myself. I really wish I could go above 1.3V with software.

Very sexy/symmetrical

Thanks. Symmetrical was the look I was going for. Should combine with the soft water sounds to make for a relaxing computing experience.

Quick question, and this might or might not be off-topic. But what makes an open case attractive to you?

Aren't there too many risk? If so, what possible gains counter them?

Anyways, very nice setup indeed

Thanks. I really like the open case because it makes changing components much easier. I've had to pull the video card about 6-7 times in the last week. It's also much easier with watercooling. I had a pretty big tower case when I was using watercooling a couple years ago but it was still a pain to maneuver around in there. Plus I can fit two 3x140 rads much easier than most closed cases.

Which risks were you referring to?

Have you tried upping the memory clocks? Doesn't the 7970 benefit substantially from memory clocks? re: bottleneck.

Still trying to find max clocks. My memory doesn't seem to oc that well though. At least considering the 1900-2000Mhz speeds I've seen a few guys hitting.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Thanks. I really like the open case because it makes changing components much easier. I've had to pull the video card about 6-7 times in the last week. It's also much easier with watercooling. I had a pretty big tower case when I was using watercooling a couple years ago but it was still a pain to maneuver around in there. Plus I can fit two 3x140 rads much easier than most closed cases.

Which risks were you referring to?

Environmental risk, accidents, acts of god, war, etc? D:

 

[Elfear]

Environmental risk, accidents, acts of god, war, etc? D:

Lol. The latter two are out of my hands so not much I can do to mitigate that risk.

Regarding environmental risk, I have wondered what kind of EMI I get with an open acrylic case but I have no instrumentation to measure it. My cordless phone does act up every so often but I can't positively pin that on the computer.

Accident wise, my rig is in the basement and my kids know it's verboten. So far I have resisted the urge to set my drinks and snacks on the motherboard so I should be pretty safe there. ()

The only reason I'd want to move back to a closed case is ease of hiding cabling.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Lol. The latter two are out of my hands so not much I can do to mitigate that risk.

Regarding environmental risk, I have wondered what kind of EMI I get with an open acrylic case but I have no instrumentation to measure it. My cordless phone does act up every so often but I can't positively pin that on the computer.

Accident wise, my rig is in the basement and my kids know it's verboten. So far I have resisted the urge to set my drinks and snacks on the motherboard so I should be pretty safe there. ()

The only reason I'd want to move back to a closed case is ease of hiding cabling.

Thanks for taking the time to respond :thumbsup:

 

[Grooveriding]

Nice thread, thanks for it. Just got my CPU under water today and running an overnight leak test. Once I upgrade my video cards those will get the water treatment as well, so appreciate seeing some numbers.

I am in a silence revolt after running three 480s I think

 

[Elfear]

Nice thread, thanks for it. Just got my CPU under water today and running an overnight leak test. Once I upgrade my video cards those will get the water treatment as well, so appreciate seeing some numbers.

I am in a silence revolt after running three 480s I think

I'm with you. Silence is golden, although I'm surprised noise levels bother you anymore after gaming on triple 480's. :sneaky:

Which cpu block did you buy?

 

[darckhart]

amazing.

love your case layout too. =)

 

[Tempered81]

Still trying to find max clocks. My memory doesn't seem to oc that well though. At least considering the 1900-2000Mhz speeds I've seen a few guys hitting.

increase mvddc with afterburner beta11

AB will allow for memory clocks of 1790mhz - to get higher use trixx, but you have to set that custom memory voltage with afterburner prior to using trixx (unless you make a custom bios)



PS - your rig is awesome looking!

 

[Tempered81]

What are the temperatures of your VRMs?

 

[Elfear]

amazing.

love your case layout too. =)

Thanks. I've been building it for months and glad it's finally close to being done.

increase mvddc with afterburner beta11

AB will allow for memory clocks of 1790mhz - to get higher use trixx, but you have to set that custom memory voltage with afterburner prior to using trixx (unless you make a custom bios)



PS - your rig is awesome looking!

I saw that Beta 11 will allow mem voltage to be increased but I think I'm going to let richer/braver enthusiasts figure out what is safe first.

What are the temperatures of your VRMs?

Is there a program that measures VRM temps?

 

[notty22]

GPU-Z had various voltage readings for AMD cards. I believe the 5 series showed vrm's ?
Here is my older 4770

 

[Elfear]

GPU-Z had various voltage readings for AMD cards. I believe the 5 series showed vrm's ?

Looks like GPU-Z hasn't been updated with the 7970 sensor information or the card lacks the right sensors.

Here is what I get with GPU-Z version 0.5.8 (released today).

 

[Panopticon]

Still trying to find max clocks. My memory doesn't seem to oc that well though. At least considering the 1900-2000Mhz speeds I've seen a few guys hitting.

What brand card do you have? I don't know of anyone who hasn't been able to hit 1575 not to say some cant. Most people were able to max the slider right out.

 

[Elfear]

What brand card do you have? I don't know of anyone who hasn't been able to hit 1575 not to say some cant. Most people were able to max the slider right out.

I've got an XFX reference. I can hit 1625-1650 pretty well. I tried 1700 last night and got the checkered screen.

 

[Grooveriding]

I'm with you. Silence is golden, although I'm surprised noise levels bother you anymore after gaming on triple 480's. :sneaky:

Which cpu block did you buy?

http://dazmode.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=102_199&products_id=1853

Had some issues with the way my loop was setup, getting tons of turbulence in my reservoir and temps were poor. Had to re-do the loop today and testing for leaks again, but the turbulence was fixed so that is good.

I have the rad at the top of my case and I think I got air stuck in it by filling the loop with it like that, so I left it out for now and everything is working nicely. Water is really cool, but a serious hassle in terms of time needed to setup, modify and dismantle if necessary.

 

[boxleitnerb]

1600 MHz on the GPU??? At what voltage and temps? Are you kidding us?
Please measure power consumption at stock, at your normal setting (around 1300) and at 1600. Would be very informative, thanks!

 

[kaktus1907]

1600 MHz on the GPU??? At what voltage and temps? Are you kidding us?
Please measure power consumption at stock, at your normal setting (around 1300) and at 1600. Would be very informative, thanks!

He's talking about memory clock not gpu.. i think you are confused :hmm:

 

[boxleitnerb]

Woops, I was already drooling

 

[Elfear]

http://dazmode.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=102_199&products_id=1853

Had some issues with the way my loop was setup, getting tons of turbulence in my reservoir and temps were poor. Had to re-do the loop today and testing for leaks again, but the turbulence was fixed so that is good.

I have the rad at the top of my case and I think I got air stuck in it by filling the loop with it like that, so I left it out for now and everything is working nicely. Water is really cool, but a serious hassle in terms of time needed to setup, modify and dismantle if necessary.

Very nice. I've heard a lot of good things about the EK CPU blocks. You'll have to let us know what kind of clocks you can get out of your 3930.

I concur with the hassle. It's one of the reasons I went back to air for a couple years and for getting an open-style case for H20 this time. Water works nicely though once you get everything set up.

1600 MHz on the GPU??? At what voltage and temps? Are you kidding us?
Please measure power consumption at stock, at your normal setting (around 1300) and at 1600. Would be very informative, thanks!

Ya I wish. Looks like 1350-1375 will be the max on the core unless I man up and go for a hardmod. I'll bust out my Kill-O-Watt and see if I can get some power consumption numbers for you.

 

[superjim]

I also have an open case, will probably never go back to a normal one. Don't have to worry about airflow or space restrictions and makes swapping components easy. I ran WCing for a few years but went back to high end air for the simplicity. I've been looking at those EK blocks too, pretty nice but expensive. I could only justify one if i bought the top GPU and I will never spend more than 400 on a GPU. Nice rig and thanks for the numbers. Any chance you could run 3DMark11?