Little help with GPU blocks

[Tooterfish]

I hate being the guy that asks all the dumb questions. But how do I know if my graphics card has a "reference design"? For example "This cooling block is for reference design Radeon 6990".

Thanks guys.

 

[Colonel_Panic]

Reference designs, if I'm not mistaken, are often those unbranded cards given to reviewing sites before they are released to the public.

If a single card has multiple designs, a block manufacturer will usually show images of both for you to compare. This was was the case when a friend of mine blocked his GTX285s a few months back, and this cards were the ones with capacitors in different locations from version 1.

 

[Tooterfish]

Is there an easy way to determine if the blocks I'm buying are going to fit my card?

 

[Naieve]

I'm not sure, but I was under the impression that all 6990's were reference designs.

You need to show us the specific model of graphics card you are going to use, then we have something to google.

 

[Tsumi]

Reference designs have the logo right above the PCI-E connection, in this case an AMD logo.

Reference designs are usually the first ones sold, before manufacturers are allowed to sell their own designs (i.e. MSI Twin Frozr, etc). The non-reference designs do not have the logo above the PCI-E connector.

 

[bobisgod]

If it has a cooler that is the shape of the reference card then it is almost always reference.

 

[Tsumi]

If it has a cooler that is the shape of the reference card then it is almost always reference.

But the surefire way to tell is the logo/branding right above the PCI-E connector.