The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

I figured no big deal buying the Coolit eco, because it seemed like more of a sealed water system, than most of the custom systems people build. Well, even the coolit eco can fail! I have nothing against water cooling. I'll even do it again one day. However next time, I'll plan for a leak. Essentially, either protect the components underneath in such a way, or, attempt to route a possible leak to another area. It's something I'll give more thought one day. At the moment, I'm still too upset to consider it

The Encoding application I use, only uses the GPU to Decode the video. Or Frameserve. It does NOT actually do any of the encoding. And with a 15 - 25% minimum gain, I'm interested. Especially if the 560 Ti can increase the number crunching at all. I've already donated to the author of the helper application. I'm Determined to see the benefits.

No, I haven't received a raise. However a tiny increase is soon. But remember I work part time. It's a trivial increase I did however get my Federal return. So I'm in a spending mood

 

Hate to say it but my Eco still works beautifully. Failures can happen with every system, even the best.

Also, leaks in home-built liquid setups are 100% due to user error. If all the connections are made snugly and you test it outside the case, there is no excuse for it to leak. They are not moving mechanical joints, they remain stationary, so failure under mechanical stress is not an excuse. Any leaks are a direct lack of proper securing of the fittings. Problem is, most liquid cooling users have no mechanical aptitude to tell whether or not a fitting will stay snug. They simply expect everything to work "out of the box" like Legos. This is happening with a large majority of PC users these days. Read the instructions on the box and you're a pro. And if you can't figure out how to use the product, it's defective.

Likewise, if the CoolIt Eco was working just fine and suddenly sprung a leak, it wasn't a flaw in the design as it is not designed to move or be put under any stress at all. Something happened, it got wrenched installing it, or a hose got jerked, or it was simply twisted up at the wrong angle. Not saying you screwed up personally Omega, but after 2 years of usage, it was not the product that failed. The strength of the materials has been demonstrated under extreme conditions.

There was nothing on it that could have failed if it remained stationary. Maybe I'm being too semantic here, but basic engineering theory is that if something worked correctly under the same conditions for a long time, and suddenly failed, the conditions have changed, not the product.

In other words Omega, I think you may have twisted the hoses the wrong way during a re-install. I have no reason to doubt your aptitude or experience so it must have been an honest error or accident.

I might also add that I'm surprised the CoolIt juice fried your card. Most liquid cooling these days uses non-conductive liquid. I have a few friends who have had major leaks and spills without any damage at all.

Also, now you have a perfectly good pump and radiator if you want to do some experimentation. I've seen people use them for single video cards.

 

I never reinstalled it The ONLY thing I can think of, was the radiator had a substantial dust build up. But it was breathable. So I'm at a loss.

Basic engineering theory eh. How about a bearing failing. If the pump suddenly was incapable of moving the water, wouldn't a section of the pump overheat rapidly? Causing a blowout/pinhole. When water wants to escape, it finds a way LOL!

Believe me, I'm very surprised it took the card with it I was under the impression that all liquid cooling compounds were non conductive! They certainly should be LOL!

Pumps can fail. They're not perfect.

 

That's why I'm thinking in so many different directions. Something obviously happened to cause it, and not just a failure in the plastic materials it's made of.

 

The area where the cable comes out of the pump, is precisely where it leaks. The water obviously wanted to escape for some reason. My guess is pressure related

 

Well looking at my own it doesn't really seem like an area where plastic would split or crack. I guess the question I have is, did it simply leak or did it spray? I've already seen an underfilled CoolIt Eco and Corsair H50. I suppose it's just as likely for them to be overfilled. Also, as you figured, pumps don't have the best reputation for reliability.

 

I Don't believe it sprayed. But the board did receive some of the moisture. Given the location of the leak, it just ran from the top of the pump, down the board, and dripped substantially on the GPU. Quite unfortunate. The power supply is very lucky though. It saw all the moisture that the GPU did. The GPU probably saved the whole system. It's blowing up, warned me of the problem LOL! The power supply may have been only seconds from failing. The modular connections got a substantial dousing.

I say the whole system, because when a power supply blows up, it has the tendency of taking other components with it

 

Wow, many posts. Looks like I have my reading material for the train to work...

 

the increase from 201 to 210 is because the HD7970 tests were conducted at 2560x1600 then.downconverted to match the 1080p standard results, rather than the other way round.

Looking at Metro Rich, you're likely to be correct in assuming it will fall at the higher end of the HD7970's capabilities, but also remember, the values posted here do not represent the absolute worst parts of the game. by aiming for 25fps minimum, it's very likely you'll find yourself encountering 15fps on a few occasions.

water cooling always carries risks, and It's not all down to user error. One particular instance a friend had a laing DDC pump which fractured, not only causing a leak, but seizing the pump, creating a short circuit that pushed a weak PSU (OCZ Powerstream) over the edge. Bad luck maybe, but it happens. Aware of the high level of superstition, I maintained the same wary attitude about sealed units. It's unfair to derive satisfaction from the demise of someone else's system, but it does vindicate my attitude towards these units. Rare as it may be that this happens, It's obviously not user error here. These things can and do happen. Given that with the exception of massively overclocked 130w chips, air cooling can actually cut the mustard, I have no inclination to buy any of the integrated water units.

 

Though Omega you do have the security and protection of one of the better brands available. I think the ole Corsair would have done everything within its design to save the rest of your stuff. Only a shame they aren't pure Seasonic OEM anymore If I ever have to replace my 620HX I'll be getting a slightly worse product. Quality in relative terms of course. Slightly worse meaning slightly less amazing

Ofc this has been happening a lot lately. I can name a few different companies who switched OEMs to drop costs and had it affect their products. It's actually hard to find decent quality PC hardware these days. Only a few motherboard brands don't make deathtraps and PSU choices are becoming just as limited.

On another note Bethesda finally released the Construction Set for Skyrim through Steam including a mod repository. Luckily it just points at ElderScrolls Nexus for the mods so us *ahem* alternative users can still add mods manually. All this talk of mod managers and whatnot. I started my Gamebryo modding with Morrowind and lemme tell you a mod manager overcomplicates it for most people. Instead of downloading the individual pieces you want, everything is applied as a "package" so you have to order and overlap your files to get the right mods to apply on the right places. Traditionally you just manually place mods where you want them. The Nexus mod manager is simply a UI for the manual process. What most people don't realize is that the mod manager doesn't need to rely on pre-assembled packages. It can manage all of the content you place in the directory. Problem is most don't know how to apply anything other than Mod Manager packages. Anyone who modded Morrowind or Oblivion can tell you their frustration about that. "I have 35 mods applied but yours isn't working right. You screwed up my game". Well any seasoned Gamebryo modder knows to remove mods by process of elimination. The noobs expect everyone to write their mod to work with others flawlessly. That's not how the homebrew community works guys... *Sigh* Fallout 3 and Skyrim created a whole new wave of Bethesda fans and I'm just going to have to accept that most of them are inexperienced. Also that most of them have never played Morrowind or Oblivion.

 

if you forego modular cabling, the TX V2 units are Seasonics, but if you want modular, It's CWT for you. Maybe look at a genuine Seasonic. Pricey, but they're excellent units.

 

Oh I fully agree Sam. Luckily the higher-tier CWTs aren't the worst units you could have. Also the V2 TX units I heard were dropped a manufacturing tier by Seasonic for price reductions, so they aren't the same quality as name-brand Seasonics anymore. At least so I've heard. Interestingly, Zalman units are very strongly Seasonic influenced though I'm not sure if they're the same OEM anymore. A few Zalmans were Seasonic including a unit that shared guts with the OCZ GameXStream 700W, StealthXStream 600W, and the original Corsair 620HX. Only a shame that OCZ don't advertise their units' specs correctly as they have historically been excellent... up to 700W. My StealthXStream managed 700W perfectly, but so did the GXS700, GXS850, GXS1000 etc. OCZ's quality was great but their design was idiotic.

Also Sam I have to disagree with the sealed loop systems. They are very quickly improving them like nothing I've seen before. There's already a CoolIt ECO II and it's better quality and cools better than my Eco I. Mostly better quality lol the cooling is mostly figured out, but point is the products are rapidly improving. I'd be half temped to get the ECO 240 even. As it stands I think I may need to make my current ECO fans intake and see if that helps temps. Loads are A-OK but idle is still a tad warm. 35*C average which is actually a bit warmer than the Tuniq 120 at 32*C average. But also 50-54*C load vs the Tuniq touching 60.

Sam if I had to rate it as a cooler I'd put it slightly above your Thermalright Ultra 120, which is saying a lot.

 

Yah, the Corsair PSU probably would have taken the brunt of it into itself. They are excellent supplies. I still didn't like seeing it nearly drowning in fluid LOL!!! Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration

 

Incidentally the CoolIt rep seems to think I should switch my fans to intake as well. He figures the top HAF fan is plenty of exhaust given the open-air design of the case and that I'm starving dual fans. He says it's common that the results are normal with a stock fan, but skewed with powerful aftermarket fans because they're being starved for airflow. I have Scythe S-Flex SFF21F 1600RPM fans. High static pressure fans + pulling from a low pressure environment = no pressure. Wondering if I should replace them with 1900RPM fans but it seems to have diminishing returns relative to the noise levels, especially with these higher pressure fans. They are surprisingly durable too. I have accidentally revved them loads of times with the air compressor and they seem fine *knock on wood*

 

Actually Jeff, I'm pretty sure both the Zalman ZM600/750 and the OCZ GameXStream units were FSP. That's one of the reasons I was wary of them. The higher-end units however (850/1000W only) are Enhance, and they seem pretty good. Certainly the Zalman-influenced part of the units is much better with the larger capacity units, with much quieter fan control (still in the top 10 high-output PSU models, versus the 600/750s which didn't even come close to entering the quiet midrange PSU charts at all).

Agreed though, the TXV2 units from Corsair are the 'poor man's' Seasonic S12. When you compare them to the semi-passive, modular, super-silent X-series range, they're very much the poorer offering. Corsair also dropped their support for quiet PSUs for anything other than the flagship AX units (not sure how the seasonic AX750 fares, as I've only seen the flextronics AX850/1200 units tested for noise), and ironically the flextronics units haven't proven very reliable, despite being the top-end offering from Corsair.

I never stated that the integrated water systems were any worse than air cooling, merely that, there is very little that they can do that air coolers cannot.

 

Top fans make for excellent exhaust fans. The barebone case I had once upon a time, I cut out a 140mm area, and slipped an after market fan into it. I believe I may have posted pics here. The Phenom 940 used to run VERY warm in that case. The top exhaust fan(which was non existent stock), dropped the temps 6 - 8C. I'd say that's a notable difference And what's more, that fan could virtually not be heard. Not even by sams sensitive ears Just funning.

I'll stick with air now thank you very much LOL! I'm looking at some very respectable air coolers

 

Top exhaust fans are excellent. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense, since the warm air rises, relatively unobstructed, straight out of the case. It's even better if you can turn your CPU cooler 90 degrees so it too exhausts straight upwards. Sadly the socket LGA1156 adapter for my Thermalright prevents this.

 

Interesting... Bethesda have released a high resolution texture pack for Skyrim. Been trying it a bit. Some of it is very much so better(armors, character clothing, trees, etc) and some of it hasn't changed very noticeably. Most of the problem areas have been touched up though, which is a big deal because Skyrim is extremely pretty only to be marred by textures similar to Oblivion in places. The texture pack itself is pretty big, like 3.5GB so that tells me almost all of the textures in the game have at least been re-processed and re-filtered. Even in scenes where big changes aren't apparent, the game is noticeably sharper and better defined. If Skyrim had been released with these textures stock it would have made all the difference in public reception, however slight the actual visual impact. Especially with all the advanced graphical techniques available today, graphics are a sum of many factors working together. The rest of Skyrim is fantastically done, so it's only fitting the textures should match. I'm surprised how small of difference in quality the texture have but how large an impact it makes on the game. I'd guess Bethesda was trying to preserve the system requirements while achieving maximum effect. Small details go a long way.

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1237891/skyrim_highres_texture_pack_comparison.html

One of the biggest differences is in cave floors. In that article look at the shots of the dead bear in the cave. It also made quite a difference in character clothing. I have a sneaking suspicion Bethesda actually forgot some of this stuff. It wouldn't be the first time.

With this release Bethesda have cemented the PC as the superior version of the game by far. Thank you for never forsaking your roots guys. Also, since the 1.4 patch performance has never been better. Now for the newest rev of SkyBoost to come out. A handy little script optimiser that gives +10FPS on my setup but doesn't work with the latest patch. 10FPS is a significant leap in some areas. Gamebryo still suffers from performance drops around NPCs, SkyBoost aims to remedy that. Skyrim otherwise performs beautifully. Better than Oblivion which makes me laugh.

 

It's amusing, as textures still make by far the most noticeable impact to game graphics quality, yet have such a minor impact on hardware demand compared to all the lighting engines that have been applied over the top of terrible textures so many times.

 

I don't know where they get their information, but this is an interesting comparison. Look at the power draw!!!
GTX 690 vs HD7970

Hmm, that can't be right. Another site says 270W.