980 ti questions

[DeeZyDuZiT]

I will be buying an evga 980ti within the week. But I see that the one I want is out of stock. With the acx 2.0 cooling. I will also be buying a water block for the card to put in my custom loop. My question is. Does it matter which card I buy? Does the acx cooling help with holding pcb temps even if I have custom waterblock? If it doesn't make a difference I would like to go ahead and purchase the card.
thanks in advance.

 

[andy_Man]

Just make sure your waterblock matches the card you get. Not all cards will be reference design, which means a waterblock built for a reference design will not work.
For example, G1 gaming cards are custom designs so you buy a waterblock specifically for the g1 gaming card you bought.

 

[Ninjawithagun]

I own two EVGA GTX980Ti SC+ ACX 2.0 cards and also just bought the EK waterblocks and will be installing them this weekend. To answer your question directly, no you can not keep the stock ACX heatsink fan cooling unit on the card if you plan to install a waterblock. Trust me in that you will have zero issues keeping the card cool once the waterblock is installed. Just make sure to have adequate pump flow rate to keep fresh coolant pumping through the card's waterblock.

 

[Eximo]

I think the ACX cards are usually reference PCBs anyway. Only the Classified and FTW editions are custom, I think?

I bought reference EVGA 980 SC with the intention to water cool. Saves a lot of headaches having many different full cover blocks to choose from.

 

[ahnilated]

If you look the cards are/were instock as I wrote this on EVGA's site.

 

[DeeZyDuZiT]

I own two EVGA GTX980Ti SC+ ACX 2.0 cards and also just bought the EK waterblocks and will be installing them this weekend. To answer your question directly, no you can not keep the stock ACX heatsink fan cooling unit on the card if you plan to install a waterblock. Trust me in that you will have zero issues keeping the card cool once the waterblock is installed. Just make sure to have adequate pump flow rate to keep fresh coolant pumping through the card's waterblock.

thank you all fo your reply, and yes, i just got an auto notification and they are in stock now. weird haha.
but last thing question just to make sure.
this waterblock:
http://shop.ekwb.com/ek-fc-titan-x-acetal
will fit this gpu?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487141

and also, do i need to buy backplate?, ordoes the waterblock have its own?

 

[Eximo]

Yes : http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/waterblock/3831109830543

The waterblock does not have a backplate, but the block itself should provide decent stiffness. If you want a backplate, EK sells them:

http://shop.ekwb.com/water-blocks/vga-blocks/fc-backplates/nvidia-geforce-series?p=4

 

[Ninjawithagun]

I recommend using the EVGA backplate instead of the EK backplate. The EVGA backplate is superior for cooling and has lower heat retention due to the perforated design compared to the solid sheet design of the EK backplate which retains a high amount of heat once the graphics card is operating at nominal temperature. I installed the EK waterblocks on both of my GTX980Ti cards, but kept the EVGA backplate and it looks great! The only caveat I have is that you will need to pay a visit to the local hardware store and buy some small metric M3x4 and M3x6 screws in order to fasten the EVGA backplate onto the EK waterblock. EK uses proprietary screws for fastening their backplates onto their waterblocks, therefore the EVGA backplate screws are not compatible.

 

[George Mulligan]

Why not get the Hybrid instead?

 

[Ninjawithagun]

Why not get the Hybrid instead?

Hybrid is a great bang for the buck card for 'poor man' watercooling, but is not a substitute for a real watercooling solution. The main problem with the hybrid coolers (and stock air coolers) is that there is no direct cooling of the VRAM, MOSFETS, or VRMs. All that is provided is a metal plate that sits on top of the VRAM and MOSFETS. The VRMs remain bare and only have the airflow from fan to cool it. I just installed two full waterblocks on my GTX980Ti cards. The waterblocks make full contact with all of the major components; GPU, VRAM, MOSFETS, and VRMs. The cards easily overclock up past 1500Mhz on the GPU with no overvolting. My cards in SLI maintain a rock solid 50C under full benchmark load running for several hours. With single card benchmarking, temps don't go over 45C. Make no mistake, hybrid coolers can get nowhere near that level of performance.

Here's my post on the EVGA website with pics for your viewing pleasure:

http://forums.evga.com/Watercooled-EVGA-GTX980Ti-SC-ACX-20-SLI-m2355179.aspx

 

[George Mulligan]

Why not get the Hybrid instead?

Hybrid is a great bang for the buck card for 'poor man' watercooling, but is not a substitute for a real watercooling solution. The main problem with the hybrid coolers (and stock air coolers) is that there is no direct cooling of the VRAM, MOSFETS, or VRMs. All that is provided is a metal plate that sits on top of the VRAM and MOSFETS. The VRMs remain bare and only have the airflow from fan to cool it. I just installed two full waterblocks on my GTX980Ti cards. The waterblocks make full contact with all of the major components; GPU, VRAM, MOSFETS, and VRMs. The cards easily overclock up past 1500Mhz on the GPU with no overvolting. My cards in SLI maintain a rock solid 50C under full benchmark load running for several hours. With single card benchmarking, temps don't go over 45C. Make no mistake, hybrid coolers can get nowhere near that level of performance.

Here's my post on the EVGA website with pics for your viewing pleasure:

http://forums.evga.com/Watercooled-EVGA-GTX980Ti-SC-ACX-20-SLI-m2355179.aspx

Thank you for that explanation, Ninja. I've never been a GPU watercooling guy (extra OC not that critical to me), but that's good info to stick in my cranny if I ever go that route.

 

[hung_low]

I recommend using the EVGA backplate instead of the EK backplate. The EVGA backplate is superior for cooling and has lower heat retention due to the perforated design compared to the solid sheet design of the EK backplate which retains a high amount of heat once the graphics card is operating at nominal temperature. I installed the EK waterblocks on both of my GTX980Ti cards, but kept the EVGA backplate and it looks great! The only caveat I have is that you will need to pay a visit to the local hardware store and buy some small metric M3x4 and M3x6 screws in order to fasten the EVGA backplate onto the EK waterblock. EK uses proprietary screws for fastening their backplates onto their waterblocks, therefore the EVGA backplate screws are not compatible.

So the EVGA backplate will work but just need some third party screws? I also have the EVGA card that comes with the backplate. thinking of getting an EK block but also want to make sure that the backplate will still fit.