Low profile GPU waterblock?

The alternative to direct air cooling

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Aris
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Low profile GPU waterblock?

Post by Aris » Fri Oct 21, 2005 5:01 am

im wondering if anyone knows of a low profile gpu waterblock that wouldnt block the expansion slot right next to the video card. i measured the space on my motherboard from slot to slot, and i think about the max thickness a waterblock could be and still fit is about 18mm.

the thinnest one ive found so far is 25mm from Dangerden

Aris
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Post by Aris » Fri Oct 21, 2005 5:19 am

just found this one from Zalman thats only 20mm high. i might be able to sand off a few milimeters. id prefer not to have to do that though.

Mats
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Post by Mats » Fri Oct 21, 2005 5:22 am

A Gainward card would be your answer, they're the only on I've seen using this. I guess you want it for a card you already have. They do have an upgrade kit with only cooler, but it's not the same! :(
Maybe you can find out who makes that flat cooler they use?

scara
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Post by scara » Fri Oct 21, 2005 7:58 am

The Koolance GPU-180-H06 should fit easily; measures 5x5x1.1cm.
Image

Aris
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Post by Aris » Fri Oct 21, 2005 6:26 pm

awsome thanks. that looks like it would work perfectly.

anyone know of any other low profile waterblocks like that one from koolance. not that i dont like it, i just want to see all my options (if there are any more)

Aris
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Post by Aris » Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:19 am

Mats wrote:A Gainward card would be your answer, they're the only on I've seen using this. I guess you want it for a card you already have. They do have an upgrade kit with only cooler, but it's not the same! :(
Maybe you can find out who makes that flat cooler they use?
it says right on the waterblock who makes it. innovatek. its a german company, and i wasnt able to find any sales site for their products in english or in US dollars.

milo
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Post by milo » Tue Nov 08, 2005 4:01 pm

Silverprop Fusion SL is 19mm. Might have trouble with RAM sinks, though. I also haven't found a place in the US to get these.

kyley
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Coolness Kookance!

Post by kyley » Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:56 am

scara wrote:The Koolance GPU-180-H06 should fit easily; measures 5x5x1.1cm.
Image
Sweet! I've been looking all over for a low-profile GPU waterblock and this is the answer... I'm not sure yet that I want to take the (leak) risk of watercooling though. My problem is my 7800 GT is *loud* and I need to keep the PCI slot below the video card (they're all being used)... Does anyone know if this will work well with the 7800 GT? For those of you using watercooling already, what do you do to keep your video RAM cool?

I'm considering the Zalman Reserator 1 or Reserator 1 Plus or perhaps the much cheaper Kingwin AWC-1 system:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835124005
TIA,
--Kyle

zds
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Re: Coolness Kookance!

Post by zds » Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:30 am

kyley wrote:For those of you using watercooling already, what do you do to keep your video RAM cool?
I have Zalman ramsinks on my X800 XT and then additional undervolted 80mm fan blowing across them. Practically silent, since you can select the absolutely quietest fan, and it's still enough.

By designing excellent airflow inside your case and putting big enough heatsinks to your ram modules you could propably get away without any active cooling for memories, but that might prove to be a challenge. Check also these: http://www.alphacool.de/xt/product_info ... h=5_18_291.

Don't know if they'd fit, but worth considering, since they are pretty small.

zds
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Post by zds » Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:33 am

And if money is not a problem, buying these ones with tilted barbs and gluing them to ram modules might fit into yet smaller space: http://www.alphacool.de/xt/product_info ... h=5_18_274.

Happy Hopping
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Post by Happy Hopping » Sat Nov 12, 2005 3:13 am

How on earth can you do SLI w/ that ugly design and that much sticking out on the first card?

zds
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Post by zds » Sat Nov 12, 2005 7:32 am

Happy Hopping wrote:How on earth can you do SLI w/ that ugly design and that much sticking out on the first card?
Might need some careful planning, but remember that those hoses running into memory block are tiny, so they should be easy to bend and manage. Add dozen L fitting pieces into the mix and it might fit into fairly tight space. There is plenty of tubing, but it's just 5mm OD.

The easiness of course depends on the spacing of the x16 slots on particular mobo..

Happy Hopping
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Post by Happy Hopping » Sun Nov 13, 2005 12:24 am

I think that is just poor design done by fly-by-night. Most good design is just a block, not a lot of hoses w/ elbows.

zds
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Post by zds » Sun Nov 13, 2005 10:47 pm

Happy Hopping wrote:I think that is just poor design done by fly-by-night. Most good design is just a block, not a lot of hoses w/ elbows.
I beg to differ. Both solutions have ups and downs. First of all, the solid blocks need to be exactly tailored to your particular graphics card in order to cool properly. Even slight change in design might make it not sit exactly flat on top of the memory chips thus causing problems with heat transfer.

Another plus for separate pieces is that once you update your graphics card after year or year and half you do not have to throw $100 investment out of the window, but you can reuse them just by getting new clamp. The third thing is that once you have this kind of minihose loop in place, you can also attach dram, mosfet and regulator block easily to the same loop.

Of course it's more complicated and all that, but the design is not without merits.

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