add 5850 and wc? buy 5970 with block ? or wait

[G-Dubs]

I'd like your thoughts on some options i have right now.

i'm about to watercool my set up

I currently have an asus ref 5850 that will clock to 900/4800 on air

options are get an additional 5850 and wc them both. cost of card plus 2xek blocks

buy a 5970 with the block included circa £650 less sale of 5850

or wait

all thoughts appreciated

 

[Mr Krugga]

Hi G-Dubs, what voltage do you need to push it to these clocks on air? Also what are the temps and fan speed? See my sig for reference. I'm going to watercool it soon, depending on the funds this month or by the end of the year. Unfortunately the cost of a GPU block isn't lower than £60 so it is going to cost you a lot of money. A waterblock for 5970 is just ten quid more expensive iirc but it really depends on what you're going to achieve. Do you want them quiet or as highly overclocked as possible on say 1.3V?

 

[pastymuncher]

You could use a universal block which are substantially cheaper than a full cover block that will only ever fit a single card. I have a 5 year old Aquaextreme MP-1 (externally the same as a DD Maze 4 but with hundreds of pins internally) on my 5850. On the ram i have Zalman ramsinks which have now been used for the 4th or 5th time, new thermal tape of course. I can do 900/4800 with 1.168v and 1002/5000 with 1.2v. You will need to do something with the vrm's though as they will get toasty if not cooled. I cut up a old Pentium heatsink and stuck bit's of it on mine.