EVGA 8800 GTX Black Pearl cooling advice please

[Comdot]

The card looks so small with the GPU water block

The man has a point :laughing:

 

[alexnifty]

Cheers bro, I eagerly await my card...

And then the fun of pulling it apart and slapping a hunk of metal on it

 

[Comdot]

Nice one, sibling. I like a good hunk of metal. Here's mine:

 

[alexnifty]

I'll snap some pics of the card before, during, and after I butcher it

 

[aspire]

The one problem with that water block is that eVGA contracted Innovatec to make it for them.

Innovatec used aluminum...

 

[Comdot]

The one problem with that water block is that eVGA contracted Innovatec to make it for them.

Innovatec used aluminum...

Yeah I read that on this very forum... maybe it was you that posted it... about the waterblock corroding people's systems. There was a solution posted in the same thread as well...

 

[Comdot]

Let's see some pictures then bro? I know you've got the card.
Has the fan and heatsink arrived? Did you say the valve things were missing and that's why you thought it was maybe an Ultra?

 

[alexnifty]

Heres the conversion from water to air for those who are interested in pictures!


http://www.alexnifty.co.uk/images/blackpearl05.jpg
The card with the water block.

http://www.alexnifty.co.uk/images/blackpearl09.jpg
Heres what I went for to do the conversion.
Thermalright HR03 Plus, Noctua NF-B9 92mm Fan, Akasa thermal tape, ArctiClean 1+2 thermal compound remover, Artic Silver 5, Black Pearl.

http://www.alexnifty.co.uk/images/blackpearl10.jpg
There were a lot of screws to undo and then there was a fight between me and the existing thermal goop about if the block should stay on or not. After a lot of wiggling I managed to remove it!

http://www.alexnifty.co.uk/images/blackpearl11.jpg
Removing the white goo was painstaking, especially around the tiny ram chips, patience and lots of ArtiClean was the key here!

http://www.alexnifty.co.uk/images/blackpearl12.jpg
All the RAM heatsinks are fitted, I originally planned to use Akasa thermal tape on all of them, but removing the existing thermal tape was really difficult. I only managed to use it on a couple of them.
Using a metal craft blade I carefully applied a thin even layer of Arctic Silver 5 to the core. The Thermalright heatsink came with a tube of compound, but I preferred to stick with my Artic Silver 5.

http://www.alexnifty.co.uk/images/blackpearl13.jpg
The glorious shining heatsink is fitted! This was a bit fiddly due to the weight of the thing, and the thumbscrews were hard to access, but patience is whats needed.

http://www.alexnifty.co.uk/images/blackpearl14.jpg
Fan is clipped on and its time to slot this baby in!

http://www.alexnifty.co.uk/images/blackpearl15.jpg

http://www.alexnifty.co.uk/images/blackpearl16.jpg
Idles at 45 degrees and sits at 60 under load in ATI Tool's stress test. Success! I reckon the Black Pearl watercooling is a gimmick, clearly air is just as good and much cheaper!

-Yes, I know my case is dusty.

 

[wafflehammer]

wow...that's a nice hunk of metal. I don't see how these things old together with all the heatsinks and fans on them...seems like they'd snap

 

[alexnifty]

I wont lie, theres a certain amount of 'tension' present in the card. Seems happy enough though.