The 7990 big block showdown

I never saw temps like that on air except when there were two of them together...

These'll have a 360 rad apiece too, so I guess we can compare notes :)
 
We have an early result from the Aqua block!

It's currently in a temp loop with an AX360 using three of these fans because I'm cheap and figured that they couldn't be that bad.

Room temp is 23.2°C and the 7990 has been mining for around 30mins @1000/1500 1.1v.

Cores: 40/39°C
VRMs: 46/44°C

On the stock cooler, the card with fans at 100% was hitting 73/63°C on the cores, so this block is doing well at getting things nice and even.

We'll see how the fans cope with the cores @1100 with a few more volts, though I can't foresee see any issues. The fans are no scythe GT, but they're doing ok with the AX and they're pretty much silent.

Regarding flow: A DDC-1T+ is absolutely blasting through this thing in the pump/rad/block layout. Restriction is definitely not a problem for this block.
I really should have made a little video when I filled it. All those bubbles rushing through there looked great :D
 
EK blocks seem to have great flow, more than i ever thought. My dual pump loop other day had only one pump on to fill it up and wadya know? still get a 20cm fountain in my tube reservoir after passing a 360, 240 and 4 EK blocks and the pump is a... EK 4.0 :D

I still am using both pumps though, no point in having it switched off for no reason. As for temp differences, i cant notice any.

I love the look of these blocks. I never thought serial vs parallel for modern GPU blocks made all that much difference, would be ncie to know, because i want to check loads of acrylic links between GPUs when i go Crossfire for aesthetics!

Thanks a lot for this, i did ask about weights on the 7990 blocks in the other thread.
 
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Do your 4.0's run noticeably hot at all?

I have the DDC's in an XSPC dual DDC bay res combo with only one pump on at the moment and it gets pretty toasty so I have a fan aimed at it.
One of the pumps looks a bit dodgy (both bought on the MM), so I've held off on getting a couple of heatsink kits and was thinking about grabbing a couple of 4.0's instead.

They ok to be on 24/7 without melting?

Btw, the Aqua block loop has been running all night and temps have remained the same.
 
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Uncle Petey said:
Do your 4.0's run noticeably hot at all?

I have the DDC's in an XSPC dual DDC bay res combo with only one pump on at the moment and it gets pretty toasty so I have a fan aimed at it.
One of the pumps looks a bit dodgy (both bought on the MM), so I've held off on getting a couple of heatsink kits and was thinking about grabbing a couple of 4.0's instead.

They ok to be on 24/7 without melting?

Btw, the Aqua block loop has been running all night and temps have remained the same.
Click to expand...

been on pretty much 24/7 for two years and last 3 weeks of mining, actually on 24/7.

They dont seem to get much warmer than pump temperature but a 20w per channel fan controller can keep them at bay if you think they are getting toasty or noise is too much.
 
Cheers, looks like I'll be grabbing a couple of those then :)
Shame about the DDC's. Powerful, compact and quiet, but they get bloody hot! Two of them running right next to each other in the bay res could get pretty serious - Possibly even with the heatsinks.
A damn shame, because they look really nice in there and it's such a convenient solution.
 
Uncle Petey said:
Cheers, looks like I'll be grabbing a couple of those then :)
Shame about the DDC's. Powerful, compact and quiet, but they get bloody hot! Two of them running right next to each other in the bay res could get pretty serious - Possibly even with the heatsinks.
A damn shame, because they look really nice in there and it's such a convenient solution.
Click to expand...
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-484-EK
I ran my DDC with a fan pointing at it (no heatsink) and kept fairly cool.
 
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Yeah, I was looking at those heatsinks.
I have a fan pointing at it right now and it's not too, too bad. Without the fan, it'll damn near burn your finger.
Thing is, there'll be two of them sandwiched together in one of these, so I'm not massively confident about the long term 24/7 situation even if they had heatsinks.

I'll admit that I'm leaning towards that option simply because it's the most convenient solution and if the heastinks work properly, it should be fine.

ED: Sod it, decided to just spend the extra and grab a couple of D5's. Mine stays cool to the touch even when set to max and runs silently. No qualms about leaving it on for months at a time.
 
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Totally understandable. You pretty much know you can rely on EK.
If the block shortage hadn't been there, I'd have probably just got two EK blocks to begin with.

Still, even though they were on two separate rigs, the Aqua block seems to be just as good on the cores and maybe a touch better on the VRMs surprisingly.

Full test results to come later in the day if all goes well.
 
Well its now been over a week since I was expecting delivery of my block :rolleyes:

Every where else I've looked is closed till January 2nd now, my poor pump and radiator are just sat here looking glum :(
 
My 7990 EK waterblock has just arrived! It's going to sit awhile as I haven't bought any other watercooling parts yet!
 
WE HAVE SOME RESULTS!

Both cards tested independently for 20 minutes at matched settings under mining load.

Card 1 (EK block) has stock voltages of 1.165v/1.165v.
Card 2 (Aqua block) has stock voltages of 1.165v/1.200v.

Both cards were set to 1.200v and left at stock clocks for the sake of a fair test (unless you have any objections :D)
All cards have asics between 66-68% and temps are the max recorded by GPU-Z.

Ambient temp: 19-20°C

AQUA BLOCK

Core1: 51°C
Core2: 43°C
VRM1: 50.2°C
VRM2: 49.1°C

EK BLOCK

Core1: 55°C
Core2: 50°C
VRM1: 61.4°C
VRM2: 53°C

So... The Aqua block has better VRM temps and lower overall core temps, but isn't as even with the latter.

I'm quite surprised that the EK loses out on the VRM front (and by a fair chunk) considering that the Aqua block doesn't actually have water flowing over both sets...
Of course, it is conceivable that the block isn't seated as well as it could be, or that a pad or two may have slipped during installation.
I'd like to think I'm pretty thorough with that kind of thing, so I doubt it.

As for the Aqua block, I currently have the inflow tube on the right hand side and I think those core temps could be evened up a fair bit by switching it to the left.
I may or may not get around to doing that at some point, and if I do, I'll probably see about reseating the EK block to be sure that that wasn't anything to do with these results.

So.. There you go :)
 
Yikes, 10c higher on VRM when it actually has water on it? o.O My EK block is arriving on monday so will see if I get similar results.
 
Tbh the VRMs are rated to go much higher than cores in the case of GPUs and even when overclocking they do not get the same temp boost as the cores. I would imagine that even on ambitious watercooling over clock, they still would never hit 75-80.

Dont forget that the VRMs on this GPU are dealing with more power than any other GPU or motherboard. I am surprised at how well the aquablock cools the VRMs but cant really say i am disappointed at EKs results.
 
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