** OcUK Tech Lab 'Prolimatech MK-26 Equipped' Custom R9 290X **

Please excuse my lack of knowledge... putting together my first build (My last PC was a P3 at 866mhz)... but does that mean it would take the physical space of 4 PCIE slots (if you had them) or that it requires connection to that many slots?

The reason I ask is that my mobo is a Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H with three PCIE slots... Would it fit?

So a third party cooler chops a massive 30 degrees off the load temp vs a stock cooler? So from that result water-cooling is going to make a massive difference!

This bodes well for after market coolers from vendors too.

Daftbrown said:

Please excuse my lack of knowledge... putting together my first build (My last PC was a P3 at 866mhz)... but does that mean it would take the physical space of 4 PCIE slots (if you had them) or that it requires connection to that many slots?

The reason I ask is that my mobo is a Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H with three PCIE slots... Would it fit?

Click to expand...

Card + cooler + fans take up the space of 4 physical slots. Only the card itself connects to a slot

Locky said:

So a third party cooler chops a massive 30 degrees off the load temp vs a stock cooler? So from that result water-cooling is going to make a massive difference!

This bodes well for after market coolers from vendors too.

Click to expand...

I'd expect another 10C+ (minimum) drop with water if my 7970 with an Alpenfohn Peter followed by a full loop is anything to go by.

Uncle Petey said:

Card + cooler + fans take up the space of 4 physical slots. Only the card itself connects to a slot



I'd expect another 10C+ (minimum) drop with water if my 7970 with an Alpenfohn Peter followed by a full loop is anything to go by.

Click to expand...

my 7970's rarely break 40's when clocked most of the time I run them under-volted at stock and sit around 35 when gaming.

I would say this is good news that aftermarket solutions will work for this card.

Daftbrown said:

Please excuse my lack of knowledge... putting together my first build (My last PC was a P3 at 866mhz)... but does that mean it would take the physical space of 4 PCIE slots (if you had them) or that it requires connection to that many slots?

The reason I ask is that my mobo is a Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H with three PCIE slots... Would it fit?

Click to expand...

Just 4 spaces (rendering your 3 PCI-E slots un-usable) you only need to fit in 1 x PCI-E connector slot.

Thanks Uncle Petey! I hope there's a fair tolerance to silly (AKA 'noob') questions round these 'ere parts!

I've bitten on one of these as after waiting for the 290x release I lack the patience to wait for the third party jobs and I understand that this cooler offers superior cooling to many of those anyway. (I understand that that is simply speculation until their release but I have lost patience - gotta get my build together for BF4!)

Daftbrown said:

Please excuse my lack of knowledge... putting together my first build (My last PC was a P3 at 866mhz)... but does that mean it would take the physical space of 4 PCIE slots (if you had them) or that it requires connection to that many slots?

The reason I ask is that my mobo is a Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H with three PCIE slots... Would it fit?

Click to expand...

it takes up two physical slots on the case due to the cards pcie backplate

then you have two slots below that on the board. this picture shows it


it depends how much space you have in your case.

but on that board it would look like this:


Blue = the graphics card and backplate
Green = Cooler
Orange = Fans

Locky said:

So a third party cooler chops a massive 30 degrees off the load temp vs a stock cooler? So from that result water-cooling is going to make a massive difference!

This bodes well for after market coolers from vendors too.

Click to expand...

its looking like watercooling is the way to go if you want silence from them. the MK26 is then next best thing and obviously doesnt require the ancillary hardware that water cooling would.

Uncle Petey said:

I'd expect another 10C+ (minimum) drop with water if my 7970 with an Alpenfohn Peter followed by a full loop is anything to go by.

Click to expand...

potentially. i would expect similar temps to this but with lower peak temps. ultimately it will mean it is silent but would depend entirely on loop layout.

Locky said:

my 7970's rarely break 40's when clocked most of the time I run them under-volted at stock and sit around 35 when gaming.

I would say this is good news that aftermarket solutions will work for this card.

Click to expand...

Same here, though I'm only using the one

It's definitely good news. I'm just slightly shocked at how poor the cooler is with this card.
My 7970 ref cooler (that I only used for a day) might have been stupidly loud, but the temps were ok.

Daftbrown said:

Thanks Uncle Petey! I hope there's a fair tolerance to silly (AKA 'noob') questions round these 'ere parts!

I've bitten on one of these as after waiting for the 290x release I lack the patience to wait for the third party jobs and I understand that this cooler offers superior cooling to many of those anyway. (I understand that that is simply speculation until their release but I have lost patience - gotta get my build together for BF4!)

Click to expand...

Everyone was a noob at some point mate. These forums exist for people to discuss and gain knowledge from each other, so never be afraid to ask questions

Enjoy your new card and don't forget to post pics

I expect the vendor custom cards will come in at 60c load for his gpu then?

I'd say more like 70-75c with the better ones like the triple slot and the Toxic hitting 60c or so. Best case.

Are we talking stock clocks?

/speculation.

Locky said:

I expect the vendor custom cards will come in at 60c load for his gpu then?

Click to expand...

i would say thats a safe assumption for non heavily overclocked cards with big coolers. windforce etc.

i would imagine lightning and matrix variants would be a little hotter.

60 to 70 load is still much better than 95 with less noise.

Definitely.

rjkoneill said:

it takes up two physical slots on the case due to the cards pcie backplate

then you have two slots below that on the board. this picture shows it

Spoiler

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/rjkoneill/WORK/IMG_20131025_084647.jpg

it depends how much space you have in your case.

Click to expand...

Ok... Just to be sure... with a Corsair 650d case (already bought), the Gigabyte Z87-UD4H mobo (already bought) and one of these custom 290Xs I would have nowhere to put my PCI-E Wireless Network Adapter (TP Link TL-WDN4800 - already bought) but would be able to get a wireless adapter with a USB interface instead and just slot it in the back of the case - problem solved? I don't think I have any further need for a free PCI-E slot.

Apologies... I put an order on this morning but I'm not at home for few days so can't take a look at the mobo and case myself - would rather cancel the order if it won't work out then have to deal with returns.

Hi there

Right guys, being stress testing this solution over-night and all day to day.


At stock speeds, voltage reduced too 1225mv (Stock is 1250mv) the card running Heaven maxed out, never exceeded 50c underload and was completely silent. That is a good 30-35c improvement with the MK26 cooler over stock.

Maximum overclock does not improve any further with silent fans, but you can match the max overclock, again keeping silent fans your looking at approx 85c under load, so about 5c improvement over the stock fan at 100% which is hoover loud.

However this is the real sweet spot guys for 24/7 gaming:-

Core: 1100Mhz
RAM: 6000MHz
Voltage: 1300mv
Power: +50
Fans: Silent
Heaven 3.0: Tesselation Extreme, 16x/8x AA/AF at 2560x1440

Maximum load temperature was 62c and in SILENCE.
The stock cooler could do this but with two dis-advantages, you'd be pushing 85c area and the fans would be at 75-100%, so you'd be hotter and much louder.


In short this is the perfect gaming setup, yet you could push the OC easily to 1150 / 6400, but in our view why? Keep the card 110% safe and cool whilst still absolutely beasting everything.

The MK26 works superb, nothing is melting, VRM's, memory is all fine.

Soon we shall test EK Blocks for those who wish to go water as that will be the ultimate solution and a 24/7 gaming could be no doubt done easily with 1200/6400 speeds.

Daftbrown said:

Ok... Just to be sure... with a Corsair 650d case (already bought), the Gigabyte Z87-UD4H mobo (already bought) and one of these custom 290Xs I would have nowhere to put my PCI-E Wireless Network Adapter (TP Link TL-WDN4800 - already bought) but would be able to get a wireless adapter with a USB interface instead and just slot it in the back of the case - problem solved? I don't think I have any further need for a free PCI-E slot.

Apologies... I put an order on this morning but I'm not at home for few days so can't take a look at the mobo and case myself - would rather cancel the order if it won't work out then have to deal with returns.

Click to expand...

you have a PCIE slot at the bottom of the board.

put the network adapter in there


everything would work fine

there is no need to worry

I'm smarter in real life than I am on the internet, honest

I'm new, I'll learn. Cheers

rjkoneill said:

They fit in a 650d.

Two would fit in a 750d but you would need a fair gap between the cards. I will measure the height tomorrow.

Click to expand...

did you have a look at this mate? if they would fit ok on say a http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-562-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2574 in a 750d I may well pull the trigger on a new system

Mightyashy said:

did you have a look at this mate? if they would fit ok on say a http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-562-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2574 in a 750d I may well pull the trigger on a new system

Click to expand...

Unless you're up for a bit of a headache I wouldn't recommend the Maximus vi formula plus corsair 750d combo, you'll either have to remove the armour from the mobo or do without a couple/few of the screws when fitting the mobo in the case(have a look at the 750d thread on here for my complaints).

fowler002 said:

Unless you're up for a bit of a headache I wouldn't recommend the Maximus vi formula plus corsair 750d combo, you'll either have to remove the armour from the mobo or do without a couple/few of the screws when fitting the mobo in the case(have a look at the 750d thread on here for my complaints).

Click to expand...

nice to know mate, thanks will look at an alternative