Universal GPU Waterblock

Sal0hcine · 7 May 2013 at 08:28

Hi,

I am going to be upgrading my PC when Haswell is released but I am keeping my GPUs.

I currently have two Gigabyte GTX 470 Super OC cards and personally do not think there is much to gain without spending about £500 on cards which I do not fancy at the moment.

I was wondering how well a universal GPU waterblock and some VGA ram sinks would work for cooling my card and would they allow any overclocking potential?

Has anyone used a universal block before or had any experiences with one?

Thanks in advance

mjallan123 · 7 May 2013 at 12:19

I used the EK VGA Supreme Universal waterblock on my 6950 before I got my 7970 and it worked great! Kept temperatures much lower than the heatsink while allowing a nice overclock.

However, I went with a full cover waterblock for the 7970 this time around. The reason is because it looks better, performs better and it's not THAT much more expensive.

Personally, I think I'll just stick to full waterblocks from now. However, if you want to save a few quid, getting a universal one is almost as good.

Sal0hcine · 7 May 2013 at 12:25

I would like a full cover but I don't think I can get one for my 470 as it is a non reference design.

pastymuncher · 7 May 2013 at 13:25

I had my XSPC Rasa core only block on a GTX480. It cooled the core very well but even with a custom made heatsink on the vrm's struggled to keep them cool. In the end i got a cheap full cover block for £20 off the bay. I do not have the same problem with the 670 though. Just using the stock vrm heatsink and only case airflow they are cooled very well.

The biggest advantage with a universal block is that when you change cards there is no need to change blocks. You don't even have to break into the loop. Just unbolt the block in the case, remove the card, clean the base of the block, prep the new card, attach the block and away you go. Argueably the core only blocks give better core temps as they use similar impingement designs as cpu blocks. Yes you need ramsinks, but again it's a one off cost and they can be re-used.

eddyr · 7 May 2013 at 18:42

All hail the universal block. It, along with its heatsink minions, has been the ever present constant through all of my loops and builds.

The VRM cooling can present some difficuly on the high end cards when oc'd but as above, sinks for them are a one off cost, and some card models do come with cooling plates which makes increasing surface area with them easy to do.

Sal0hcine · 8 May 2013 at 12:25

Thanks for the feedback, I am leaning towards water cooling my next build now. Still put off by the high price but then future upgrades would not be so bad.