Tips on 7970 watercooling?

Mynight

Mynight

Mynight

Soldato
Joined
16 Jun 2013
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Hello, I've bought a EK 7970 block from the MM and was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to use the thermal paste.

I'll be using AS5 so I'm under the impression I have to be careful with conductivity.

Cross vs blob?
Pressure on the waterblock vs wiggle the waterblock to spread paste?
Pre-spread the paste?

Guide me o wise ones :).
 
First thing is, did it come with all the neccessary thermal pads? if so then you only need to put paste on the core just like you would for a cpu. Most people prefer the blob in the centre method but I have always spread it thinly on my cpu's and gpu's and have never had a problem.
 
They said it's coming with all the pads so fingers crossed :).

Alright so there's little difference between styles. Guess as long as none goes past the chip onto pcb it shouldn't matter.

Yeah I've watched a good 10 videos and each shows a slightly different way :D.

Thanks :).
 
Yep, it's got the pads on it - all reusable :-)

If it's AS5, I prefer a small pea sized blob in the middle.
 
IMG_2880.jpg


Are these circled pads too damaged to be used?

Cheers Amiga :) been looking for one for ages.
 
You could probably get away with it but if it was me I would be replacing them. What are the vrm ones like? If it's this block it looks like you need 0.5mm thick pads for the ram and vrm's coming to a size of 75x50mm. I think you can only get 100x100mm sheets anyway and cost £5-10 depending on brand. If you download the installation instructions you can see how they need to be cut and placed on the card.
 
Doubling it up should be ok. It will probably fuse together anyway. The I/O vrm is only that tiny pair of chips at the other end of the block anyway.
 
Cheers :).

One more thing the EK guide mentions putting thermal paste on the phase regulators. Where are the phase regulators? :confused:.

Is it even worth it?
 
I wouldn't worry about the memory pads. They aren't critical and the coverage you have will do just fine.
For example, a 7990 or a reference 7970/290 has pads on the memory, but they're just attached to the plastic shroud. The cooler doesn't even have any copper/cooling plate in contact with them.

The VRM's are the ones to watch and while you would get away with doubling up, you really should get a 1mm strip on those tbh.
 
It says to do it under the thermal pad so I presume they mean the vrm's. It's optional by the sound of it and you can't do it with AS5 as it's conductive.


Uncle Petey, it's only the two tiny vrm chips (not the main ones) at the other end of the heatsink that he's doubling up on. I can't see it doing any harm there.
 
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If you pull the ram pad off that you've circled, you can "manipulate" the pad back into shape :-)

Glad the block got you you safe, enjoy it :-)
 
You know I just thought of another thing sorry :D.

How do I clean it? Like a CPU block and disassemble/scrub or do I just flush it like a rad?
 
I always strip everything down in my own loop when I change coolant so just opening it up and giving it a clean won't do any hamr. On reassembly ensure that you don't pinch the seals or overtighten the screws.
 
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