Anybody brave enough???

[Bokishi]

Good luck with that 1ghz bro

[Blacklash]

Originally Posted by Xion X2

Thanks for the tip.

Just ordered my new waterblock for it today:

Np. I'll be watching for the results. I am honestly curious to see if Crossfire support has improved and I know you'll give me a no BS opinion.

EDIT You may like this-

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5918/r600po8.jpg

[Xion X2]

Thanks, Bokishi.

Originally Posted by Blacklash

Np. I'll be watching for the results. I am honestly curious to see if Crossfire support has improved and I know you'll give me a no BS opinion.

EDIT You may like this-

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5918/r600po8.jpg

I like that full-cover block, but with as often as I'm switching out hardware, it's really not worth the investment. Bet that'll go for ~139.99 like their 8800 blocks did, and that's just far too much money.

I picked up that Maze 5 for $44.99 and it cools just as well if not better.

And I'll just be on a single card to start with--no Crossfire. I might go Crossfire later on, though. But from what I've seen it's scaling very well in Vista--better than SLI 8800GTX in some cases.

[pkirby11]

You know if these didn't produce so much heat and noise I'd definetely look into one, how ever I don't water cool my Video cards so I don't think I'm going to do it. Not to mention I've really started to get out of the PC gaming area and I'm more into just enjoying movies on my computer. Personally I think I'm going to wait for te X2600 and crossfire those puppys together, they require no extra PSU hookups and produce very little heat and do HDMI which I need. To bad I gotta wait until June to purchase them, anyone want to buy a cheap 8800GTX in June?

[gaurav_fhs]

hey xion, care to spec out your complete water cooling kit?

I'm still in the planning stages but aim to oc the hell out of my e4300 and maybe a crossfire 2900xt setup.

Cheaper the better of course :P (I'm ruining myself with this setup but I dont plan to upgrade my computer ever again)

[Xion X2]

Originally Posted by gaurav_fhs

hey xion, care to spec out your complete water cooling kit?

Well, mine's a bit more extreme than your average setup, but if you want a price/performance rundown I can give it to you real quick:

• CPU Block: Swiftech Storm / $74.99
• GPU Block: Maze 5 / $42.99
• Pump: Iwaki MD-20RZ / $189.99
• Res: Alphacool Cape Bullseye / $59.99
• RAM Block: Koolance / $49.99
• Radiator: Black Ice GT Stealth / $54.99
• Rad fans: Aerocool Silver Lightnings / 3 x $12.99
• Tubing: 1/2" Masterkleer / ~$12
• Clamps: Steel Worm Drive / ~$10
• Fittings: 1/2" all around DD Hi-flo 1/4" threads
• Coolant: Pentosin G11 (1/10 ratio w/ distilled water) / ~$7
• Biocide: PT Nuke (2 drops per loop) / ~$4

That's all I can think of right now. You can obviously go cheaper on the pump and a few other things. I bought the Iwaki after researching the best single-pump solutions available on the market. The MD-20RZ and RD-30 were constantly mentioned as the best and most reliable. For quads, you don't want a Storm block, but it works the best for dual-cores like I have. Best quad blocks out right now are the D-Tek Fusion and Apogee GTX.

Here's a place with lots of information on different components:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...splay.php?f=70

Also, if you do a search in the overclocking forums here, a few of us have been discussing watercooling in detail. Hope that helps.

[gaurav_fhs]

thanks a lot, I think I'll use your guide

[Trademark]

Uhm... no offense, but if you need watercooling just to overclock a card like that then the card isn't worth buying... I mean c'mon, it's almost like you need it to make a decent overclock, ati probably pushed it quite close to it's limits already just to save their own ass out. This is no fanboy talk or anything, but it ain't far from the truth.

I'll stick with XP+8800GTX for a while, so far I haven't had any problems (except for the "beep" problem, but that was because of my crappy p956 mobo). I'll make use of DX10 once the friendly folks at MS fix their OS Vista.

[Xion X2]

Originally Posted by Trademark

Uhm... no offense, but if you need watercooling just to overclock a card like that then the card isn't worth buying... I mean c'mon, it's almost like you need it to make a decent overclock, ati probably pushed it quite close to it's limits already just to save their own ass out. This is no fanboy talk or anything, but it ain't far from the truth.

Why is it not worth buying? I got mine for $399 which is ~150$ cheaper than an 8800GTX. Including the waterblock, it cost me ~$440. There have been some guys so far who have gotten the R600 over 1GHz on the core w/ water. If it goes to that, then it's likely going to rival the GTX in some current games and surpass it in others--with more mature drivers still on the horizon.

You can also volt-mod ATI cards through software to provide extra power for overclocking--something you can't do with Nvidia's. With Nvidia's you have to hard-mod them which voids the warranty.

For those w/o a watercooling setup, sure, maybe the 2900XT isn't the best option. Maybe they should go with a card that [right now] is stronger out of the box. But for those of us who already have watercooling, it's an enthusiast's wet dream (pun intended )

[Trademark]

The average computer gamer is per definition not an entheusiast, to be honest I wouldn't mind havin two of those bad boys in my pc. And that they can rival with the 8800GTX is pretty much a weak argument, it should have crushed it in the first place, ATI tried really hard to keep up and the whole thing simply worries me, it's not an 9800xt, but if you remember those thing you'll know that the fans were crap and the card would die after a relativly seen short while, the 2900 has better coolers, but it has high stock temps aswell, if that fan starts giving up on the average gamer, not the wc'd entheusiasts quad crossfire nuclear powered HD2900XT (Would be nice to have though xD), then it would be a bummer. That is why I think a 8800GTS is generally a better deal, performance on stock is pretty much on par aswell, the thought of pushing your card to match one of the concurrenct is a bit frightening to me, seeing as this was supposed to be ATI's big comeback, kicking nvidia's 8800 straight in the virtual nuts

I'm sure this card could compete with a 8800GTX and all that, but is it really worth it for the average john doe who just wants to put the GFX card in and play the damn game? I don't think so

but as I said before, experimenting can be alot of fun

[Redeemed]

Originally Posted by Trademark

Uhm... no offense, but if you need watercooling just to overclock a card like that then the card isn't worth buying... I mean c'mon, it's almost like you need it to make a decent overclock, ati probably pushed it quite close to it's limits already just to save their own ass out. This is no fanboy talk or anything, but it ain't far from the truth.

I'll stick with XP+8800GTX for a while, so far I haven't had any problems (except for the "beep" problem, but that was because of my crappy p956 mobo). I'll make use of DX10 once the friendly folks at MS fix their OS Vista.

No, the card is far from it's maximal clocks. People are reaching proportional oc's on this card as people get with the GTX- on air. Just this card oc's far better with more extreme cooling than the GTX or GTS does.

Originally Posted by Trademark

The average computer gamer is per definition not an entheusiast, to be honest I wouldn't mind havin two of those bad boys in my pc. And that they can rival with the 8800GTX is pretty much a weak argument, it should have crushed it in the first place, ATI tried really hard to keep up and the whole thing simply worries me, it's not an 9800xt, but if you remember those thing you'll know that the fans were crap and the card would die after a relativly seen short while, the 2900 has better coolers, but it has high stock temps aswell, if that fan starts giving up on the average gamer, not the wc'd entheusiasts quad crossfire nuclear powered HD2900XT (Would be nice to have though xD), then it would be a bummer. That is why I think a 8800GTS is generally a better deal, performance on stock is pretty much on par aswell, the thought of pushing your card to match one of the concurrenct is a bit frightening to me, seeing as this was supposed to be ATI's big comeback, kicking nvidia's 8800 straight in the virtual nuts

I'm sure this card could compete with a 8800GTX and all that, but is it really worth it for the average john doe who just wants to put the GFX card in and play the damn game? I don't think so

but as I said before, experimenting can be alot of fun

For the average Joe this card is still a viable option. It performs better (read the more recent reviews with the latest drivers) than the GTS in most situations, and with the right OC can compete with the GTX- all for cheap as well.

Now, if you're concerned about noise... I can see this card not being ideal. But with companies like HIS always making a version with a superior HSF to the stock HSF, this wont be an issue for very long.

Um... any gamer that shells out top dollar for his computer is by definition an enthusiast. Not sure how else you could define an enthusiast. Further more, on average this card falls between the 8800GTS and the 8800GTX. For the price it is a really decent buy. If you don't like the stock fan, wait for companies like HIS to release a version with a beefier but quieter cooling solution. Or go W/C.

[Xion X2]

Snapped a few shots of what I have so far:

Intel Bad Axe 975x:


R600...










This is a really good looking card. To my surprise, the flames aren't cheap stickers that are tacked onto the cooler; they're actually painted on.

Don't have my waterblock yet, but I'm going to work on getting this stuff in this afternoon and doing a little testing. It's a shame that I have to remove that cooler, because it really does look good on there.