Will we see more Non-custom Liquid Cooled Video Cards This Generation?

[know of fence]

Corsair has been successful with their Hydro Series coolers; and there are even intel and AMD branded varieties on offer. Unfortunately this thing is still lacking a proper name, self-contained water cooling solution just doesn't exactly trip off the tongue.

Still, with video cards being the noisiest and hottest thing, why don't we see more cards paired with such coolers? The Zotac GeForce GTX 580 Infinity Edition made waves in the media, but it's unclear if it ever was released.

After a little searching I found a product that actually made it to retailers: the PNY XLR8 GTX 580, which can be purchased with or without the CPU cooler in the loop.
I find these solutions extremely appealing barring the GTX 580, of course. Self contained WC may be even more successful when combined with mid range cards, water cooling that doesn't double your PC's cost and comes with competitive pricing out of the gate. I'm just surprised that not more companies are tripping over themselves bringing this to market.

Update: It just dawned on me that the success of the Hydro Series CPU coolers is by no means a consequence of their performance or the additional power consumption as well as noise and risk failure introduced by a mechanical liquid pump. The success is primarily based on the need to replace the towering monstrosities CPU coolers, which due to their unfortunate weight distribution act not only as a giant lever in the worst possible angle but also as a major eye-sore.
It deserves mentioning that the CPU cooler market actually exist making it possible to release products without major collaborations, while it is impossible to buy a video card without coolers.
Maybe I should be careful what I wish for, going back to primitive water cooling is definitively a major step backwards, despite their lower operating temps. While heatpipe technology is gradually improving, more pipes and slowly rotating fans may get new cards to tolerable levels. All it takes is a "silent" under-clocked profile, really.
Imagine a self-calibrating software in which you just simply shift a single decibel to performance ratio slider, how hard can it be!

 

[3DVagabond]

If they made money from those cards then we'll see more. The only problem is the belief that a company is doing this because they have to in order to cool their product.

FWIW I like the full coverage Zotac. The PNY still has a blower. Why bother?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

If they made money from those cards then we'll see more. The only problem is the belief that a company is doing this because they have to in order to cool their product.

FWIW I like the full coverage Zotac. The PNY still has a blower. Why bother?

i like the Zotac as well.

 

[MisterMac]

If they made money from those cards then we'll see more. The only problem is the belief that a company is doing this because they have to in order to cool their product.

FWIW I like the full coverage Zotac. The PNY still has a blower. Why bother?

Because there's more to cool than just the chip

the PNY isn't fullblock cover.

...the reviews however rave this as THE top 580 gtx card to get ,barring own watercooling or sli requirements.

Soundless and levels way below 55 on furmark tests.



Id love to see more cards like this.

Problem being a midrange card with a WC closed loop > insta oc to beat top level vanilla cards.

 

[IonusX]

im waiting on seeing what yeston or colorfire will do this year. both have talked about crossing into n. american markets which would be sweet. colorfire made a sweet hd 6870x2. they also are famous for wild n crazy coolers like they had a 6950 with a seashell design.

 

[3DVagabond]

Because there's more to cool than just the chip

the PNY isn't fullblock cover.

...the reviews however rave this as THE top 580 gtx card to get ,barring own watercooling or sli requirements.

Soundless and levels way below 55 on furmark tests.



Id love to see more cards like this.

Problem being a midrange card with a WC closed loop > insta oc to beat top level vanilla cards.

I didn't think I had to spell it out. I realize the PNY isn't full coverage and there's more to cool than just the chip. My point was that I'd rather have a card that had a full coverage block because there is more to cool on the card than just the chip and to do away with the blower's added noise.

 

[MisterMac]

I didn't think I had to spell it out. I realize the PNY isn't full coverage and there's more to cool than just the chip. My point was that I'd rather have a card that had a full coverage block because there is more to cool on the card than just the chip and to do away with the blower's added noise.

Most of the reviews of the specific PNY solution, note it as a standard fan and "most" of the time it's silentish.

I would think most users who buy this would not hear it or would make a profile for the fan to be at low volume constantly.


Does anyone remember what company tried introducing a MODULAR closed WaterCooling solution for GPU's?

Theywould sell plates and people would just replace they're fullblocks with a closer solution once they buy a new GPU.

That idea was so awesome, how come it hasn't adopted?

 

[frostedflakes]

I've been waiting to see more closed loop GPU water coolers (preferably with a full cover block). Makes a lot more sense than closed loop for the CPU IMO, you can fit a big honking dual stack cooler like the NH-D14 on a CPU that will cool about as well as any closed loop water solutions in the same price range. However space in the GPU area is much more limited and you can't fit big heatsinks or fans there, makes a lot more sense to use water to carry the heat away to a place where you can mount a bigger radiator and bigger fans.

I read on VR-Zone that one of those 1335MHz 7970s Sapphire plans to release might use a closed loop water cooler. Only place I've read that, though, so who knows if it's true.

http://vr-zone.com/articles/sapphire-readies-hd-7970-with-1335-mhz-gpu-clock/14397.html

 

[know of fence]

If they made money from those cards then we'll see more. The only problem is the belief that a company is doing this because they have to in order to cool their product.

I've been waiting to see more closed loop GPU water coolers (preferably with a full cover block). Makes a lot more sense than closed loop for the CPU IMO, you can fit a big honking dual stack cooler like the NH-D14 on a CPU that will cool about as well as any closed loop water solutions in the same price range. However space in the GPU area is much more limited and you can't fit big heatsinks or fans there, makes a lot more sense to use water to carry the heat away to a place where you can mount a bigger radiator and bigger fans.

It is remarkable that ulterior reasons like the lack of a sizeable aftermarket for card coolers decide if they are made or not, rather than necessity or common sense. I wonder if this is something that Nvidia and AMD try to influence.

Sapphires Atomic WC sure sounds promising, using WC for anything but water cooling can be safely ruled out, I think.

 

[96Firebird]

Perhaps one of the Atomics is a close-looped system, while the other is just a card with a full water block attached? Kinda like the EVGA Hydro Copper 2 on the GTX 580...

 

[exar333]

Anything that requires a radiator is instantly a niche product, and will be hard to sell. Some cases have plenty of room for large (80 or 120mm) radiators, but many do not. Then it also comes down to the risks involved with producing, warranty, and support for WC products. I really like the idea of the closed-loop system because then all you need is the right clearance between PCI-E slots.

 

[scbjmshpv]

i contacted them about this two years back when few of the (the company shut down forgot name it was like three letters name) and they simply replied that they have no plans for it, i hope they do make those for future products they'll make tones of $$ for few who doesn't want to go through whole system change.

least for me i've great midtower case and i can fit something like this perfectly in my case with one of the H50 i've installed in there.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

I would definitely get something like this. My 500R case has the H100 radiator mounted at the top of the case, so I would be able to mount the single radiator where the standard exhaust is. The video card is really the only thing that still makes a lot of noise in my case, so I'm all for these closed loop systems!

 

[thilanliyan]

I think there is a lot more that you can screw up putting a watercooler on a video card than you can putting one on a CPU/motherboard.

I have never even come close to breaking anything while putting the waterblock on my CPU, but I can see it being a problem with a GPU block. Trust me...I speak from experience.

 

[Joseph F]

i contacted them about this two years back when few of the (the company shut down forgot name it was like three letters name) and they simply replied that they have no plans for it, i hope they do make those for future products they'll make tones of $$ for few who doesn't want to go through whole system change.

least for me i've great midtower case and i can fit something like this perfectly in my case with one of the H50 i've installed in there.

Are you referring to BFG?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

the Zotac design looks pretty awesome, I'd definitely welcome more designs like that