EK 290/290X Block

SonDa5

SonDa5

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 20, 2008
Messages
7,437
Got mine mounted in my mini-ITX build and it is working decently with single Monster 240x radiator which is shared with 4770k.

MonsterITX.jpg



290x prepped with Fujipoly Xtreme thermal pad on memory IC and Fujipoly Ultra on VRM.
CL Liquid Ultra gpu die.

290xekprep.jpg





The block with the back plate which has to be purchased separately.

ek290x.jpg


EK290xbp.jpg




Furmark temps on stock voltage with a little over clock.

TempsslightOCbase290xwatercooled.jpg
 
need some real OC results, like max stable clocks in applications that are known to stress GPU overclocks (like 3dmark Vantage, and BF3)
 
Spyderco Delica IV ZDP-189. I got same. In same color. Got it from my Wife.
Monster 240. I got same.
D5 got it to.
EK water block for GPU I got 4!!???

Damn. So many same things :)


Good choices all way arround.


BTW your Monster 240 is doing great job. In my system it has [H]ard task. It has some help of a TFC X-changer 240 but they are getting over runned by heat produced by CPU and two GPU's. It works but when I start burn in test CPU temps get toasty. Over time water reaches pretty high temperatures. In old setup radiators where helped by another 120mm Phobya G-changer and one more pump and bigger reservoir and it worked way better.

Good work
 
Looks good. I don't know why EK seemed to have gone away from that design (the FC style) in favor of the CSQ design. I can't find blocks in that style for the 7970 anywhere and the port design seems so much more flexible than that stupid CSQ design
 
Use to have FC on my 6970 CF. Now I have CSQ 7970 on my CF GHz edition cards. I have triple slot dual card serial bridge and it rocks. With that connection in between my two cards are one part. Way easier to mount and cards do not hang in the slots. GPU's are cool to. Actually way cooler then my CPU (same loop) with same water temperatures ofc. So performance is great.

Some people call them ogly. Well, they are nicer/better in person then on the pictures. I really have no issues with their looks. Actually they look simple and with that link even millspec like. With that link and two barbs you are ready for CF or SLI.

I like them.
 
MD said:
Use to have FC on my 6970 CF. Now I have CSQ 7970 on my CF GHz edition cards. I have triple slot dual card serial bridge and it rocks. With that connection in between my two cards are one part. Way easier to mount and cards do not hang in the slots. GPU's are cool to. Actually way cooler then my CPU (same loop) with same water temperatures ofc. So performance is great.

Some people call them ogly. Well, they are nicer/better in person then on the pictures. I really have no issues with their looks. Actually they look simple and with that link even millspec like. With that link and two barbs you are ready for CF or SLI.

I like them.
Click to expand...
My problem wasnt with the aesthetics, it was with the barb design. I don't like how it pretty much necessitates the use of 90 deg fittings in single GPU configurations
 
I like the look of the new EK blocks. Glad they ditched the ugly circles. And I'm glad to see you went copper instead of nickel plated. Temps are pretty sick too for such a toasty card under air cooling.
 
Reality said:
need some real OC results, like max stable clocks in applications that are known to stress GPU overclocks (like 3dmark Vantage, and BF3)
Click to expand...



For heat testing Furmark works best in heating up the card. If you want to see how effective the cooling ability is of a heat sink or water block you load it with the hottest load possible.
 
SonDa5 said:
For heat testing Furmark works best in heating up the card. If you want to see how effective the cooling ability is of a heat sink or water block you load it with the hottest load possible.
Click to expand...

Exactly..Nice results SonDa5..I am picking up a 290 tomorrow along with the new Koolance block. I just refuse to use EK stuff, even though I know they offer a non nickel option like you chose. I am trying to decide which brand 290 to pick up..I have a 5% off code I can use @ NE, so several brands (all are $399 ATM) would come down to $379.95..That will make the card and Koolance block exactly $500 with shipping..

I am thinking of selling off my golden 7950 (1.3Ghz/1750Mhz) with it's Koolance block for $225 to give someone a kick ass card @ a great price..I hope I get a decent O/C'ing card again..My 7950 already trades blows with a stock 780 with it's O/C..
 
SonDa5 said:
For heat testing Furmark works best in heating up the card. If you want to see how effective the cooling ability is of a heat sink or water block you load it with the hottest load possible.
Click to expand...

it isn't "heat testing" that I'm asking for, it's testing for game-stable clocks using games/applications that are known to crash at lower settings than other games

BF3 & 3DMark Vantage are two applications that are known to stress a cards overclocks to the point of making them unstable, often Furmark doesn't do this

It's a similar situation to using IBT instead of Prime95, as Prime95 probably won't utilize the entirety of your processor (especially i7 chips, somebody correct me here, due to the way intel burn test works)

for example, I can run furmark on my 7970's at 1250/1850 with no artifacts

but if I try to game in BF3, the game will hang unless I lower the clocks to 1220/1700.
 
Reality said:
it isn't "heat testing" that I'm asking for, it's testing for game-stable clocks using games/applications that are known to crash at lower settings than other games

BF3 & 3DMark Vantage are two applications that are known to stress a cards overclocks to the point of making them unstable, often Furmark doesn't do this

It's a similar situation to using IBT instead of Prime95, as Prime95 probably won't utilize the entirety of your processor (especially i7 chips, somebody correct me here, due to the way intel burn test works)

for example, I can run furmark on my 7970's at 1250/1850 with no artifacts

but if I try to game in BF3, the game will hang unless I lower the clocks to 1220/1700.
Click to expand...



But for a water cooling block review you want to see how well the block cools the card. I'm not doing card stability testing with the block. I'm running furmark to show the thermal cooling ability of the block.
 
SonDa5 said:
But for a water cooling block review you want to see how well the block cools the card. I'm not doing card stability testing with the block. I'm running furmark to show the thermal cooling ability of the block.
Click to expand...

ah, see i was more interested to see what the 290/290x's overclock to on water :)
 
Reality said:
ah, see i was more interested to see what the 290/290x's overclock to on water :)
Click to expand...



290/290x are still not optimized for voltage control but there are a few people like me and others that have flashed an Asus 290x BIOS to their cards and used Asus GPU Tweak to push voltage.

I know of at least one 290x that is over clocking a little over 1300mhz on the core and it is water cooled with this same block.

Once Sapphire gets the BIOS figured out for voltage optimization I'm sure we will see Sapphire 290X OC versions with a better BIOS and the Dual X coolers and working Sapphire TRIXX for voltage control

290X/290 is so new. With some more time I think the over clocking will get better.
 
ccityinstaller said:
Exactly..Nice results SonDa5..I am picking up a 290 tomorrow along with the new Koolance block. I just refuse to use EK stuff, even though I know they offer a non nickel option like you chose. I am trying to decide which brand 290 to pick up..I have a 5% off code I can use @ NE, so several brands (all are $399 ATM) would come down to $379.95..That will make the card and Koolance block exactly $500 with shipping..

I am thinking of selling off my golden 7950 (1.3Ghz/1750Mhz) with it's Koolance block for $225 to give someone a kick ass card @ a great price..I hope I get a decent O/C'ing card again..My 7950 already trades blows with a stock 780 with it's O/C..
Click to expand...

I had good luck with the Sapphire cards last gen for my 7950 and my Sapphire 290x seems decent. Doesn't over clock to 1300mhz though... yet anyways.. hope a better BIOS comes along and TRIXX voltage control.


Best wishes selling that card. Great deal for a water cooled card of that caliber. I still have my HD7950s and haven't decided if I am going to sell them or build another RIG and put them in cross fire.
 
Reality said:
ah, see i was more interested to see what the 290/290x's overclock to on water :)
Click to expand...



Look at my temps with the water block. They are significantly cooler than the stock heat sink and the performance output is nearly 100% of set clock. With water block the 290X performs much better.


Here is a benchmark I just did with my 290x clocked over 1300mhz on the core.

3dMark11P

P18,209 single AMD R9 290x.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7488080


3dmark111300mhz290x.jpg
 
The EK Block does not come with thermal pads? Are they needed? Why dosen't the block just direcyly touch them?
 
You still need a thermal medium between the block and the card itself. Design of full cover blocks tends to extrude the core cooling surface, not the memory, and as such the core can get away with paste, whereas the larger distance needs to have pads to cover the space.

Atleast thats how it was when I last used a fullcover :)


Justintoxicated said:
The EK Block does not come with thermal pads? Are they needed? Why dosen't the block just direcyly touch them?
Click to expand...

edit: A little offtopic, but Sonda how do you like the alphacool block for the CPU? Is it the acetal top or the brass one? (im looking at getting two for my x5680s)
 
W.Feather said:
edit: A little offtopic, but Sonda how do you like the alphacool block for the CPU? Is it the acetal top or the brass one? (im looking at getting two for my x5680s)
Click to expand...


Works well. Got it for under $50 on sale brand new. Good price. Good performance. Works well for me. I also use it as a bare die mount and it is easy to mount... light weight. Good choice for bare die mount IMO.
 
what size tubing is that? what size connectors? looking to do pretty much the same thing to a mini build of mine.
 
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