Full cover or chip only [GPU Block]?

Nico_Joey · 2 Nov 2010 at 14:37

I'm looking to add my 5850 card to loop as cheap as possible, till either a 6970 or 6990 look good or till the 5850 cant cope. I have a vf-3000 on it at the moment useing the vanilla vrm/ram plate with excellent airflow over it, and keeps it nice and cool (will be removing the 180mmfan directly blowing on it to fit my rad, replacing it with a 120mm fan).

But for looks and to still keep it cool, i wanted to add the gpu to the loop. And after abit a perusing on full cover blocks and universal blocks, it seems chip only blocks are incredibly cheap and really low restriction, compared to full cover.

What i wanted to know is if i could take off the vf-3000 and replace it with a universal block whilst still useing the stock 5850 vrm/ram plate (pictured blow), without much trouble. The vrm/ram plate will have a 120mm fan blowing on it to keep it cool. I know this would be abit risky with somthing like a 470/480 but the 5850 seems to cope well enough useing the stock vrm/ram plate.

Somthing like this setup but with a 120.4 at the bottom

Card in question

Would be great to get some info from anyone who's used a chip only block before. Thx

shadowscotland · 2 Nov 2010 at 15:15

universal blocks get my vote - especially for single card systems, that will be upgraded in the near future.

Koolance GPU-220 - for it's various barb locations
Swiftech MCW80 with a HD5800 unisink.
I use a silverprop Cyclone Fusion HL - old school high flow goodness

Full cover block really help tube layout in sli/cf setups.
They also keep the vrm/ram plate cool when air can't really get to them.
Bling or extreme memory clocks are the only real reason to get on in a single card loop.

Remember that when you add the gpu to your loop your cpu temps will rise - even more so if using a full cover block

d_brennen · 2 Nov 2010 at 15:19

Thread hijack, sorry! How would one keep a 5850s memory and VRMs cool when using a a GPU only block? Those little stick on fins?

I'm considering water cooling to keep me busy in the rubbish weather...

Bubo · 2 Nov 2010 at 16:06

Most core blocks rely on putting fairly narrow screws through the card with thumbscrews on the back side to tighten, so as long as the stock plate doesn't stop you threading a bolt though the card you should be ok.

DavyBoy · 2 Nov 2010 at 16:16

Fullcover blocks get my vote personally, though I'm basing this entirely on looks, I prefer the look of fullcover blocks over GPU only blocks.

At least the FC block takes care of the VRM area and vRAM, instead of having to use those little stick on heatsinks for each RAM IC...

Nico_Joey · 2 Nov 2010 at 16:16

d_brennen said:
Thread hijack, sorry! How would one keep a 5850s memory and VRMs cool when using a a GPU only block? Those little stick on fins?

I'm considering water cooling to keep me busy in the rubbish weather...

If you check the second picture of my post i'm using the stock 5850 vrm/ram plate thats comes with all vanilla 5850/70 cards. With the vf-3000 cooling just the chip and some extra ram sinks on the bits not covered by the stock plate for piece of mind. Real easy to do and much more effective than the vf-3000 ram/vrm sinks. I'm hoping a uni-gpu block will fit where the vf-3000 is at the moment.

OLDPHART · 2 Nov 2010 at 16:30

+1 Fullcover blocks.

Tealc · 2 Nov 2010 at 17:20

I think you can pick up larger VRM/RAM cooler sets from a few manufacturers that would probably do the job well. Thermalright, Zalman perhaps.

I've seen them but wouldn't know what to recommend though as I've not looked into this sort of thing with any depth.

Nico_Joey · 2 Nov 2010 at 18:36

Think il look into getting a second hand ek or swiftech uni-block. Should mean i could get eveything watercooled this month

. Thanks for the replies.

pastymuncher · 2 Nov 2010 at 19:01

I would never buy a full cover block myself. I think that they are ridiculously priced for a block that will only fit a single card.

I have had my Aquaextreme MP-1 for nearly 5 years now and it's been on many graphics cards from both Nvidia and ATI. I use Zalman ramsinks for the memory and have a Thermalright 5850 VRM cooler with a Enermax 80mm Magma fan (£10 for the pair delivered second hand off the bay) to take care of the VRM's. When you get overvolting the VRM's on the 5850 get seriously hot so you might find you need to stick a small fan over the VRM heatsink.