Full Cover or VGA only block?

Ducky Spud · 18 Aug 2009 at 19:25

Hey. Im currently collecting parts for my second loop, a GPU only one. I only really have the block left to buy and was set on a VGA only one originally as I planned to upgrade my card soon. However, Ive already upgraded to a GTX275 and plan on keeping that for a while, so dont really need the ability to easily swap blocks bewteen cards now.

Anyway, I was basically wondering what would be best? Get an EK Supreme VGA block along with some heatsinks like these or these. Id probably end up spending around £45 that way.

Or would I be better off getting an EK full cover block? Found one for £70 so it costs more, but will it offer better performance at all? Im only using a single TFC Xchanger rad so would using a full cover block add too much heat to the loop?

So yea, generally asking which you would recommend, what would give the best performance (I intend to overclock slightly as well).

Cheers

pastymuncher · 19 Aug 2009 at 11:13

I would avoid a full cover block. They are more expensive, more restrictive, not so good core cooling and only fit one card. When you upgrade the card you will need another block. I have a Aquaextreme MP-1 (same externally as a DD Maze 4) and have had it for four years now. It has been on a 7800GT, 8800GT, 4850 and now my 4870. I use the Zalman ramsinks for the memory.

Ducky Spud · 19 Aug 2009 at 12:29

Thanks

i was wondering about performance so thats quite helpful. Do those zalman heatsinks do the job alright then? Looks like thats the route ill take

Firestar_3x · 19 Aug 2009 at 12:30

I went for a full cover EK block on my 8800GTX, whilst it cooled very well i felt slightly ripped off tbh, this is now sat in my server which seems pointless.

I've gone for a couple of swiftech MCW60R blocks for my 4890's, they seem to cool very well whilst costing much less than the EK full cover blocks, major plus is i can move this setup to some new cards in the future.

shadowscotland · 19 Aug 2009 at 12:59

The only major advantage of the full cover block is clearance and tube routing (especially with multi cards)
Single cards = universal block.

Useing an old school silverprop Cyclone Fusion SL - high flow for the win

pastymuncher · 19 Aug 2009 at 13:45

Ducky Spud said:
Thanks i was wondering about performance so thats quite helpful. Do those zalman heatsinks do the job alright then? Looks like thats the route ill take

They are actually very good. Depending on the card you may need to stick something on the VRM's on the card. Luckily mine had a non reference dual fan cooler and already had a seperate heatsink on them.

Ducky Spud · 19 Aug 2009 at 15:40

So general consensus is better to go for vga only. Tubing may be a bit more difficult to sort but in my case its gonna be tricky either way lol. Will need to cool the vrm's too, got a diagram for my card showing what needs cooling. Getting a couple of sets of heatsinks i think

cheers again guys