GTX 780 HOF vs G10 Bracket

[vividshock]

Arriving tomorrow is my GTX 780 HOF and I was thinking I'd swap out the stock cooler and use my H90 on it. I'm planning on clocking this baby to the moon. So far I took a quick glance @ the reference and HOF PCB (List of GTX 780s) and it looks like I might be able to do the swap. The only thing that's stopping me from doing this from the start is the thought that the H90 wouldn't dissipate fast enough when compared to the stock cooler.

Also if I'm planning to overvolt to 1.25 ~ 1.3 or if I'm able to go higher....what temperature should the core be? My understanding is that if you overvolt the core you're going to need temperatures way below the 80c threshold to prevent throttling, but I feel there's also another reason for it also.

 

[Armenius]

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure that not only is the PCB thicker, but the screw pattern is completely different from the reference board. Look on the right side of the PCB under the power connectors and near the phases. The spacing around the core looks slightly different, too.

On reference Kepler the thermal ceiling was around 60-65C, if I remember correctly. But the HOF 780 doesn't have the limitations in customization that NVIDIA now imposes, either. In fact, I believe that it was this particular card that made NVIDIA decide to limit what AIB manufacturers could do. I don't think you'll run into thermal issues with the stock cooler on the HOF, so long as you keep it under 85C. You should be able to get 1300+ MHz Boost with the air cooler at 1.2V, and I honestly don't think you could do any better under water.