XSPC Razor R9 290X

[Z15CAM]

Well I've given up on the Arctic Accelero R9-290X-Xtreme III Air Cooling Crap and ordered a XSPC Razor R9 290X/290 Water Block, Koolance Reservoir and Pump RP-985 and Black Ice GTS Stealth 280MM Radiator plus all the necessary items to go Water Cooling from NCIX.CA.

It wasn't cheap. Now I got a $1000 Card but should be able to run +156vm Off-Set voltage all day long without worrying about the VRM Temps.

-----------

FINAL BUILD

Ended up with a Koolance 5.25" RP 401X2 and 2x's PMB 400 Pumps in series with a Coolgate 280X60X140 Rad with 4 x's 140mm Noctuia's in push/pull and 2x's XSPC RAZORS 290X's in CF.

i7 2700K @ 4.8 to 5.2 Ghz / Corsair H110 in a Fractal Design Midi R2 case. Samsung 256MB 240 Pro SSD with 3 partitions Boot/OS/Games with 2 x's 500 WD Blacks in RAID-0 for a Playground and one 1GB WD Black for Storage, ASUS DVD Optic Recorder, Hauppage WinTV and an optional Intel NIC card.

MB is an ASUS P8Z68V-Pro GEN3 with 16GB of Samsung MV-3V4G3D-US_DDR3 running at 1867Mhz CAS 9-9-9-24-1T 1.34v.

I run the CF RAZOR 290X's at 1105/1500 MHz's at +0.143mv 24/7 with temps idling at 36c not exceeding 64c under load the CPU temps are about the same at 4.8Ghz's. I can run the Hawaii GPU cores as high as 1280 Mhz for benching but I get artifacts and bench scores s are not that much better.

UNIGINE SCORES: Valley @ 5159 and Heaven at 3157 with CF XSPC 290X's runing at 1105 x 1500Mhz @ +0.143mV's using TRIXX with Synchronized Cards in Multi-Config enabled at well under 70C for GPU's and VRM's. NO ARTIFACTS. I imagine I could do better if I configed the 290X's seperately but really - Good Enough for me ;o)

Heavy, QUIET, Compact Case running a QNIX Samsung Matt EVO II 2560x1440p IPS Dvi-D Display between 60 to 120Hz's. PSU is a XFX 1050W BEFX KM3 Black Edition.

Gotta lay my Fractal Design Midi R2 case on it's side for DEPENDABLE CF.

 

[Silverforce11]

I ordered Thermaltake AIO Extreme and Pro (got them during our Black Friday for 1/3 the price!!, literally 100 bucks for both), going to test them out with the infamous Red Mod with zip-ties and will definitely grab the NZXT 10 bracket with active cooling when its available here.

Keep us posted on the OC, I really want to know if the reference VRM layout is sufficient for high clocks/volts (suspect they are not).

 

[Imouto]

I don't think that water block is doing any cooling on the VRMs.

 

[Z15CAM]

I was able to do a +156vm-1350/1600 clock with the reference cooler screaming at 95% but didn't leave it very long as I was barely able to keep temps below 94C.

Your right the VRM Power Phase may be weak on the Reference Card and that's why it heats up.

Glad I can let that Arctic Accelero R9 290X-Xtreme III thread lay to rest - LOL

I don't think that water block is doing any cooling on the VRMs.

Suggest you look at the XSPC Razor Block for the R9 290/290X design - It has water over the VRM Modules. If that don't work then nothing will cool them suckers. But you have to consider the AMD Reference cooler does a descent job of cooling them and yes Silver will probably have VRM heat issues with just water cooling the GPU no matter how one tries to Air cool them with fins and a fan.

http://www.xs-pc.com/waterblocks-gpu/razor-r9-290x-290

It's got cool LED lighting ;o)

 

[Face2Face]

Well I've given up on the Arctic Accelero R9-290X-Xtreme III Air Cooling Crap and ordered a XSPC Razor R9 290X/290 Water Block, Koolance Reservoir and Pump RP-985 and Black Ice GTS Stealth 280MM Radiator plus all the necessary items to go Water Cooling from NCIX.CA.

It wasn't cheap. Now I got a $1000 Card but should be able to run +156vm Off-Set voltage all day long without worrying about the VRM Temps.

Will keep you posted.

Nice :thumbsup: I hope this will allow you to crank that baby up. Ouch though on a $1000.. You could have bought a GTX 780Ti :\ or two GTX 780's.

 

[Z15CAM]

I paid $549 for the Ref Gigabyte R9 290X and it's costing me another $382 for the water set up - now add 13% HST and shipping I'm probably over $1000. The cost of going 2 Loop Water.

I'm running an Corsair H110 on the i7 2700k (very pleased with that unit) with the 280x30x140mm Rad mounted on top in this Fractal ARC Midi 2 and I'll be mounting another 280x30x140mm rad in the front for the XSPC Razor. The case is ideally designed for water cooling with 5 X's 140mm fans. For that matter there is still room for 4 more 140mm fans if I go push/pull but it will not be necessary.

I got a slightly used Arctic Accelero Xtreme III with another $60 worth of EnzoTech heat sinks going cheap - LOL

 

[Imouto]

Suggest you look at the XSPC Razor Block for the R9 290/290X design - It has water flowing over the VRM Modules. If that don't work then nothing will cool them suckers. But you have to consider the AMD Reference cooler does a descent job of cooling them and yes Silver will probably have VRM heat issues with just water cooling the GPU no matter how one tries to Air cool them with fins and a fan.

The water flow through the VRM part in that water block would be minimal. If you take a look at EK WB for example water is forced to go through the VRM part and it isn't the case with this WB. I know all of them are a huge chunk of metal but those pretty carvings are crazy most of the time.

The Aquacomputer one is even crazier with the water able to bypass even the GPU core.

But looks like water blocks are more about the looks than the actual cooling prowess so whatever floats your boat.

 

[Lonyo]

Nice :thumbsup: I hope this will allow you to crank that baby up. Ouch though on a $1000.. You could have bought a GTX 780Ti :\ or two GTX 780's.

Or two 290s plus some air coolers.
But you don't get water with any of those combos.

 

[Gloomy]

woops, nvm

 

[Kenmitch]

The water flow through the VRM part in that water block would be minimal. If you take a look at EK WB for example water is forced to go through the VRM part and it isn't the case with this WB. I know all of them are a huge chunk of metal but those pretty carvings are crazy most of the time.

The Aquacomputer one is even crazier with the water able to bypass even the GPU core.

But looks like water blocks are more about the looks than the actual cooling prowess so whatever floats your boat.

Should still work pretty good. The water will pretty much keep the whole block cool anyways. The stock cooler does a decent job on the vrm's so the water block should give a pretty good drop in temps no matter what way the water decides to flow inside.

On another note I was eyeing water blocks last night for my card. Not sure if I want to take the plunge yet.

 

[Imouto]

Should still work pretty good. The water will pretty much keep the whole block cool anyways. The stock cooler does a decent job on the vrm's so the water block should give a pretty good drop in temps no matter what way the water decides to flow inside.

To make a fluid go from point A to point B in a pipe you need to put more pressure on point A. If you put the same pressure on both points (as this WB does with the VRM part) the current will be close to zero.

 

[Smartazz]

Gonna follow this thread. If the 290x is as loud as people say it is, then I might watercool it too.

 

[Kenmitch]

To make a fluid go from point A to point B in a pipe you need to put more pressure on point A. If you put the same pressure on both points (as this WB does with the VRM part) the current will be close to zero.

I think it'll kill the temps considerably. We'll see when he's up and running.

 

[3DVagabond]

I think it'll kill the temps considerably. We'll see when he's up and running.

I think Imouto's point is there are better blocks on the market that the OP should consider. Specifically where it comes to VRM cooling, which is the OP's primary reason for going to H²O.

 

[Z15CAM]

Neither the Koolance nor the EK have the extended Base Plate to include active VRM Cooling like the XSPC water block design; besides, the EK is in the UK and I've yet to see the Koolance water block available.

I see XSPC one step ahead in regards to cooling the R9's VRM modules. Copper has a 60% better thermal conductivity rating than aluminum and water is a relatively poor thermal conductor. Perhaps we should fill or loops with Mercury - LOL

 

[Imouto]

Neither the Koolance nor the EK have the extended Base Plate to include active VRM Cooling like the XSPC water block design; besides, the EK is in the UK and I've yet to see the Koolance water block available.

I see XSPC one step ahead in regards to cooling the R9's VRM modules.

The EK has active VRM cooling and looks way better than the Razor.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-458-EK

If you take a look at the 3rd picture you will see 1 in and 1 out for the VRMs.

 

[Z15CAM]

Ok I see now that the EK has active VRM Cooling now but it's not available in Canada and I doubt a degree or 2 difference in Vrm Temp will pose much of an issue for me compared to the miserable VRM cooling of the Accelero.

You have opinions and that 's OK - You get the EK and put it on your R9 290X and I'll play with the Razor and we can compare.

 

[zhuks]

Neither the Koolance nor the EK have the extended Base Plate to include active VRM Cooling like the XSPC water block design; besides, the EK is in the UK and I've yet to see the Koolance water block available.

I see XSPC one step ahead in regards to cooling the R9's VRM modules. Copper has a 60% better thermal conductivity rating than aluminum and water is a relatively poor thermal conductor. Perhaps we should fill or loops with Mercury - LOL

You are wrong. EK has active cooling on the whole card. Look at the image below you can see the channels crossing over.

EK is not based in the UK. They are from Slovenia.

Edit: Also, I am pretty sure the Koolance has active vrm cooling setup similar to the EK block.

 

[guskline]

I have both an EK and XSPC water block cooling my identical EVGA GTX 670 FTWs. The XSPC is the original Razor design. The EK block does a better job cooling. The XSPC block is good though.

BTW Imouto most full water blocks for gpus also cool the memory and vrm.

Since I've done a custom cooled rig I've learned more and more about radiators etc. The AIOs (all-in-ones) such as the H110 are nice but don't have the same copper cores in the radiators that I do (XSPC RX-360+ EX360). They handle cooling but not to the degree that true custom water cooling systems do. Moreover, distilled water has the best coefficient of heat dissipation. Finally having a strong pump, like I do, Swiftech 655-b, addresses the flow issue.

 

[blackened23]

Well, i'd say it's safe to say that the XSPC block will cool the VRM substantially better than reference or the accelero. The EK will be a few C better, sure. But XSPC generally makes some pretty good stuff, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Z15CAM]

Yah I see them

Really not much difference between the two if you ask me.

 

[chimaxi83]

Both my 290s are cooled by EK, I'll run comparisons with you

 

[Z15CAM]

Both my 290s are cooled by EK, I'll run comparisons with you

Geez! Why don't you run a +156mv/1200+/1600 Valley Bench and give us your GPU-Z Temps.

Make sure your processor is not OC'd - I'm not interested in the Bench Score that much right now.

Once I have the 290X Scaled then I'll pin the CPU at 5 Ghz's and shoot for a Hi-Score Bench.

 

[Imouto]

Really not much difference between the two if you ask me.

I have a hard time believing that the Razor can work in both flow directions. With the water hitting the GPU first there should be close to zero coolant going through the VRM part as the intake has exactly the same pressure as the outtake (or even less).

In the other direction I just don't see how it can build enough pressure on the VRM intake to make up for the pressure it's doing at the same time on the outtake and the GPU fins.

Dunno why anyone would pick this water block aside the looks.

 

[guskline]

Both my 290s are cooled by EK, I'll run comparisons with you

That's a SWEET rig!:thumbsup: