Which manufactures allow watercooling without voiding warranty? Please recommend me a card.

[robump]

Hi,

I am planning on getting a new card in the next few weeks, i will probably go for either a 6950 and flash it, or a 560.

I will hopefully be watercooling the card so i can overclock it and keep the temps down.

3 questions really,

1 - Which manufactures allow watercooling without voiding your warranty?

2 - I will be gaming at 1920x1200 and have a i7 950, so which card would you recommend for around £200

3 - How long will it be before you are unable to unlock the 6950's?

Thanks for your help and advice

 

[Its_Me]

EVGA is the only 1 i know of.

 

[davedarave99]

Question 1 - I believe xfx USED to allow you to remove your cooler without voiding your warranty so i guess that means watercooling is allowed, although this may of changed.

Question 2 - This seems like a good bundle http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-188-XF

Question 3 - Not sure but i believe the new 1 gig version uses a new pcb and not the 6970 reference pcb which i guess is the one you need.

Hope ive helped matey

 

[robump]

Question 1 - I believe xfx USED to allow you to remove your cooler without voiding your warranty so i guess that means watercooling is allowed, although this may of changed.

Question 2 - This seems like a good bundle http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-188-XF

Question 3 - Not sure but i believe the new 1 gig version uses a new pcb and not the 6970 reference pcb which i guess is the one you need.

Hope ive helped matey

Thanks for your advice,

So have they not changed the reference board on the 2 gig 6950's yet, so would an xfx 6950 be unlockable and we able to watercool it without voiding the warranty?

Thanks

 

[davedarave99]

Really not sure hopefully another forum member with some actual experience with unlocking 6950's will help you out, im only saying what i have heard

 

[Cleeecooo]

Thanks for your advice,

So have they not changed the reference board on the 2 gig 6950's yet, so would an xfx 6950 be unlockable and we able to watercool it without voiding the warranty?

Thanks

XFX WILL void your warranty. They don't void in the USA. they do in the UK. i would get an EVGA 560/570 to be on the safe side.
EVGA probs have the best warranty in the UK for pretty much everything they make

 

[robump]

Will a evga 560 overclocked under water out perform a 6950 unlocked?

 

[Cleeecooo]

Will a evga 560 overclocked under water out perform a 6950 unlocked?

Yes. Just about.
I would get a 570 if possible

 

[tommybhoy]

EVGA is the only 1 i know of.

Only the in the US, check Evga's EU warranty,

Will a evga 560 overclocked under water out perform a 6950 unlocked?

It won't, especially at high iq settings. Most 560's are hitting a brick wall at 1g+ even with extra volts according to various reviews. My unlocked 6950 can get oc of 1G on the core with modded AC extreme 5870 cooler, 50c max temps in kombuster.

 

[robump]

Can I ask which 6950 you have?

Also if I buy one soon will they still unlock? Have they changed the boards recently?

 

[tommybhoy]

It's a His one, some 6950s on OC's website tell you if they are unlockable, most reference boards should unlock to at least full shaders. If you do get one, be careful with oc on the memory as that's where people are getting artifacts. I leave my memory at stock 70 settings and it's fine, but on the 1G oc I dropped it down a touch just incase.

 

[robump]

Does anyone know how the xfx one performs when overclocked as it's £20 less!

 

[tommybhoy]

If it is the reference board, then they are all made by sapphire iirc, just with different stickers and bios. If it's the one with the fan in the middle of the cooler then I don't know.

 

[robump]

So, no one will let you remove the heat sinks and keep the warranty intact. Not even evga

 

[j.col]

if you interfere with any XFX card, in any way.
you will void your warranty, i asked them before

they should all be the same card underneath.

 

[robump]

Ah right, i have been in contact with EVGA about there warranty and they do not void it as long as you dont damage it.

So you can watercool it EVGA will honour the warranty as long as you keep the original heatsink, so i think im going to go with a EVGA 560.

 

[tommybhoy]

Ah right, i have been in contact with EVGA about there warranty and they do not void it as long as you dont damage it.

So you can watercool it EVGA will honour the warranty as long as you keep the original heatsink, so i think im going to go with a EVGA 560.

Hmm, I just checked your post there with [HazMatt] EVGA Forum Moderator. I don't want to bash anyone at Evga but Is he an employee? If I were you, I would ask for a conformation email from an Evga employee stating what hazmatt said.
I still think it's a grey area though as the EU warranty states you can't (why does it just not say it's ok to change it) and in a worse case scenario they could just wave that warranty in your face or say that you scratched a chip or something.

 

[TropicLightning]

The EVGA Mods are EVGA employees, but they are not all in the RMA/Service dep't. I would ask Hazmatt to verify just to be sure he didn't overlook the UK bit.

 

[tommybhoy]

@ Robump> Heres what my HIS 6950>Flashed ASUS Unlocked shaders can do under AIR:

After the flash my card can do a 25% overclock:

5 min video of my Amd HIS 6950 2Gig With Asus Shaders Unlocked Bios Flash.
1ghz Core(Stock 800Mhz)
Memory 1.3Ghz(Stock 1.25Ghz)
1.265V (Stock 1.1V)
Kombuster Run MAX temps 50c
Cooled By Modded Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 5870 VGA Cooler

(pretty boring but you can skip to the end to see that it's stable)





And some people say these cards don't OC much!!!

 

[layte]

PoV
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=17441621&highlight=pov+username_layte#post17441621