Self Contained Water Cooled Radeon X1900, Retail 129
Spinnerbait writes "Graphics cards are all the rage in the Enthusiast Computing community, where
overclocking standard off-the-shelf components is commonplace. Recently
innovative cooling solutions have been brought to Graphics cards in an effort to
tame the thermals of their power hungry GPUs. It looks like some of the
major vendors have taken it up a notch in this area, with this ATI-based
Sapphire Graphics card that employs a self-contained water cooling system.
Not only does the card have potential for serious overclocking but it should do
so relatively quietly as well."
More Power! (Score:4, Interesting)
A very ugly worst-case scenario... (Score:1)
Remember that spate of stories we were getting about the new 1000W = 1KW power supply units [PSUs]?
Here are a few of them:
Now consider,
Re:A very ugly worst-case scenario... (Score:2)
Re:A very ugly worst-case scenario... (Score:3, Interesting)
but you're right about the ovens and cars, if they are built the right way, it won't really be dangerous to you, but then again, you don't beat the battery connections in the car or the wiring of the oven when you miss a frag do you ?
the electric cow fences run at a moderatly low voltage, but the cur
Re:A very ugly worst-case scenario... (Score:1)
if the current was high, you'd be dead, its a high voltage line, with current limiting circuits to not kill things. yeah, you could do it the other way by having it a high current with limiting
Re:A very ugly worst-case scenario... (Score:2)
and from the eager time of my youth, repairing of home electronics, i can also tell that this wasn't nowhere as 'harmless' as a regular shot from a 220v line. that fence hurt as hell and definetly leaved a blue trace for at least a month on my arm. maybe it really was high voltage mixed with weak current, but it ce
Re:A very ugly worst-case scenario... (Score:2)
static shocks are high voltage and high current but very short duration and so do not have enough total energy to do any real damage.
i think electric fences also generally work on the short duration shock principle (it gives p
Re:A very ugly worst-case scenario... (Score:1)
100 V measured across the human heart can kill.
meaning if you stick two of your fingers across a car battery, you might be safe, but if you use both hands, you could die.
Not that you should try that.
Nevertheless, putting water, electricity, and flammable materials in the same space is very dangerous, and any lawyer can spin that into a multi-dodacadewhateverploillion monetary-unit-of-your-choice verdict. As the person you responded to pointed out.
The idea of a water-
Re:A very ugly worst-case scenario... (Score:2)
I think. No, I won't test it out
Re:An AC on AC (Score:2)
now if there are other paths out of the bath for electricity thats when things could really get nasty especially if the toaster didn't have an earthed metal case.
Re:More Power! (Score:1)
Your water cooling system needs to be better too. (Score:2)
Re:Your water cooling system needs to be better to (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:Your water cooling system needs to be better to (Score:2)
Re:Your water cooling system needs to be better to (Score:1, Redundant)
As you can see from the other photos, one end of the cooler vents out of the case [hothardware.com] while the other end is closed.
But does it run... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:But does it run...The $1 jokes. (Score:1)
Water cooler? (Score:1)
Re:Water cooler? (Score:1)
The main problem is finding stores that carry those little tiny jugs of antifreeze.
Re:Water cooler? (Score:2)
What a shitty submission. (Score:5, Insightful)
My first instinct? Check the link for the submitter's webpage. Oh, what a coincidence.
Look, I'm not one to normally complain about poor stories and worthless submissions, but this one takes the cake. It's the most obvious grab for clicks and advertisement revenue that's been posted on
For shame, CowboyNeal.
Re:What a shitty submission. (Score:1)
Re:What a shitty submission. (Score:1)
Just because its his site doesn't make it any less news.
Re:What a shitty submission. (Score:2, Insightful)
You know, the kinds of details that usually make it into a news article. This is "Hey, look. It's a videocard with a waterblock on it. Betcha never seen one of them before!" and the fact that it's shameless self-promotion only makes it worse.
Re:What a shitty submission. (Score:2)
(mental note to add no self slashdotting to AUP on my hosting sites).
List to do today
1 - Shoot self in foot
2 - Self Slashdot
3 - Find new web host (looks like he got suspended? Just re-checked and getting a blank)
4 - Make static pages
The card itself is a great idea (Not a huge fan of ATI but I'll wait for the specs), idea itself sounds solid and kinda neat. Too bad a f
Re:What a shitty submission. (Score:2)
Re:What a shitty submission. (Score:1)
Re:What a shitty submission. (Score:1)
Besides, all the fancy graphics hardware in the world can't prevent the Slashdot Effect!
nice teaser (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:nice teaser (Score:2)
Anyway, I thought it interesting enough to look at it, there are several things I don't understand:
- There's still a fan in there! Why does this thing help reduce noise? Doesn't it just places all the heat to another place, using a just as noisy fan there to get rid of it? Is there anyone who can say something useful about this
- This is a very silly trend of course
Thats all great but... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not trolling, I'm just bitter that everyone is focused on pushing the graphical boundaries of games and leaving the game play for later. I remember a time when it was about hours of game play not frames per second.
*goes off to play Deus Ex*
Re:Thats all great but... (Score:1)
Re:Thats all great but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Rendering power is overrated when talking about game graphics. If you look at World of Warcraft [photobucket.com], the game looks incredible. But it looks incredible on lower-end systems too... the art direction is just spot on across the board. Half-Life 2 [hardwired.hu] uses some neat graphical tricks, but in general the game looks amazing because the artists had a clear vision of what they were creating and ensured that every pixel that went on the screen
Re:And the really funny thing is... (Score:2)
Once you get past a certain number of frames per second, it doesn't freaking matter. It's not going to one bit more for the quality of the experience.
Re:And the really funny thing is... (Score:1)
Case-in-point, I saw an Anandtech review of some new hotness video cards and they tested F.E.A.R. on the highest settings, and they averaged about 50 FPS, until some explosions went off and their f
Re:Thats all great but... (Score:1)
Re:Thats all great but... (Score:2)
Re:Thats all great but... (Score:2)
--
Evan
Who can see who (Score:2)
If I can see you but you can't see me, are we really playing the same game?
If I can turn and point faster than you can, are we still playing the same game?
That's the whole point behind the video card race, and why I went to console gaming. Becuase at least there, more people are indeed playing the same game (not as true now that some people play in HD and some not).
I'll Pass... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I'll Pass... (Score:3, Insightful)
External PCI-X connector (Score:4, Interesting)
They already require an external power supply in some cases, and with SLI are using a special type of connector.
I'd like to see a GPU that comes in the form of a 5.25 bay expansion, with a pci-x card that connects it via a cable to the mobo.
Then I think the industry could come up with a standard cable for all cards. Or not, given that nvidia or whoever could come up with just about anything. I could see a card that interfaces through the memory slots ( if your motherboard had enough realastate). A GPU directly connected to Hypertransport anyone?
Re:External PCI-X connector (Score:2, Informative)
Re:External PCI-X connector (Score:1)
while you have an interesting idea, i don't think anything like that will be made in the near future for amyn reasons. first off, it would go against an industry form factor (PCI type expansion slots) that has been in place for a lomg time, and companies like nvidia and ATI would not want to risk making a venture outside such a long standing form.
another problem with changing the form for graphics units is comaptibility, as i for one do not have a free 5.25" bay in which to put something (i already have
Re:External PCI-X connector (Score:1)
Re:External PCI-X connector (Score:1)
well CPU's are modular, you can put a new one in so long as its compatable. i have a socket 939 motherboard and have many upgrade options as my needs change. sure socket 939 will be phased out when a better format comes along, but by the time i run out of 939 options, i'll want something new to begin with. computers are very modular and upgradable, its just that new upgrade options are coming out so frequently. i still use my 166MHz thinkpad laptop everyday because it works great for what i use it for (
Re:External PCI-X connector (Score:1)
Water? (Score:3, Interesting)
Or even sodium. So what if it breaks and the user dies
Re:Water? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Water? (Score:2)
Re:Water? (Score:2)
Try getting a life.
Why water? (Score:4, Interesting)
Does it have to be water to cool these GPUs? Is it water because of its relative hight Specific Heat Capacity, or because it's cheap and readily available?
I can see slashdotters increasing the capacity of the "tank" that stores water on these GPUs to make sure the GPU stays cool.
Re:Why water? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Why water? (Score:2)
P4 1.6a that has been running at a 30% overclock on aircooling for 3 years. It gets maybe a few hours off per year and has so far outlived a motherboard and PSU and is still running strong. Thanks for playing...
Re:Why water? (Score:1)
Too embarassing (Score:4, Insightful)
This post is too embarassing (Score:1)
Re:This post is too embarassing (Score:1)
Yes, your post is very embarassing indeed. The parent was obviously talking about the systems with built-in phase change cooling (e.g. Prometia) which do take several minutes to get down to the right temperature.
But because you've never heard of those, you assumed he was talking about water cooling and made a tit of yourself flaming him.
It's pretty hard to think of anything more embarassing than that.
Re:Too embarassing (Score:2)
Re:Too embarassing (Score:2)
In CPU time yes, in psychological time no. You can imagine how it is: you get to work and want to read your email. You have to sit there waiting fof the compressor to get going and watch the temperature on the gauge slowly drop. It's a fun novelty thing for the first week or two and after that it's annoying. On the other hand, suppose I trim 5 minutes off a 1 hour fluid simulation (which is what I was
Self contained and silent? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it actually silent if it still has a fan?
I think what TF[A|S] actually ment was 'pre-fitted water-cooled ATI'
Re:Self contained and silent? (Score:2)
A pin drop is around 10db & a whisper is about 20db
As long as you don't sleep with the tower right next to your head, I doubt it'll be an issue.
Thank GOD (Score:3, Funny)
The last publicity pictures I saw of this card had a couple of "Models" showing it off. The blonde one looked like they had picked her up off of W124th and Lennox at about 4AM.
Shudder.
Re:Thank GOD (Score:2)
Silence or? (Score:5, Informative)
I made my own PC watercooled about 1½ year ago with the purpose to make it more silent. My idea was to cool the CPU and GPU using both passive and active cooling.
I got a radiator from Innovatek.de for passive cooling inside and a small deep one for the inside for active cooling with a Papst fan.
Then I got a microcontroller that can run on its own, measure the water temperature and control fans, as well a a emergency shutdown if the water gets too hot or the pump fails.
The end result were fantastic, the PC runs almost silent when doing anything than playing games(which I don't do much anymore) but when playing games it still have the power. It manages to run mostly with passive cooling when not playing games. It is so silent that you have to look at the power LED to make sure that you have turned the PC on. When I do play games and the water starts heating up, the microcontroller starts the watercooling fan and adjusts the speed to keep the temperature down.
On mistake that I did make was that I went into it with my usual approach of reading tons of reviews on the internet to find the best cooling CPU/GPU heads and generally getting parts from different vendors that I determined would make the best solution. Exept from the internal radiator that was deeper than any other I could find, I can now see that it didn't matter which parts I used when I was not going to do overclocking.
It is better to stick with parts from one vendor so you don't have problems getting them to fit or work together. Like different sizes of tubes etc. Also the microcontroller from one vendor could not monitor the pump for another.
Budget alternatives? (Score:1)
Re:Budget alternatives? (Score:2)
Re:Budget alternatives? (Score:1)
Re:Budget alternatives? (Score:2)
Budget alternatives?-Videocard DB. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Budget alternatives? (Score:2)
Re:Budget alternatives? (Score:1)
I just got it last week. Kicks ass with all my games at 1440x900 all settings maxed out and 4X anti-aliasing.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N8
Have a good one.
7900GTX watercooled retail card. (Score:1, Informative)
Where's the bling? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Where's the bling? (Score:1)
On the other
Re:Where's the bling? (Score:2)
Re:Where's the bling? (Score:1)
Re:Where's the bling? (Score:1)
A little more info (Score:5, Informative)
Most obvious question: (Score:2, Informative)
In the photos, the RAM chips still have cooling fins, and they're still aligned radially around the core; however, since there is no airflow there they're surely going to overheat...
Re:Most obvious question: (Score:1)
Since watercooling takes the hea
Re:Most obvious question: (Score:1)
Re:Most obvious question: (Score:2)
All I can say is that my watercooled 7800GT has the same sort of cooling fins on the RAM, low air circulation inside the case, and so far no troubles. Remember that since the GPU is not heating up the air inside the case, the air is a lot cooler.
Main problem I can see with this card is that many case designs would have the PSU s
They grow up so fast (Score:1)
They grow up soo fast. =P
Pitty ATI do not support Acer laptops (Score:1)
Re:Pitty ATI do not support Acer laptops (Score:1)
Re:Pitty ATI do not support Acer laptops (Score:2)
http://omegadrivers.net/ati/win2k_xp.php [omegadrivers.net]
Workd great with my x220m.
But I agree with you that the drivers for laptop gpu's are horribly managed. Unless I misunderstand you, nv isn't any better, their unified drivers are only for desktop and a few highend laptop gpus, most laptop chipsets are stuck with manufacturer provided drivers, as is my HP laptop with ATI x200m so I think Acer is not the only one...
Re:Pitty ATI do not support Acer laptops (Score:1)
Re:Pitty ATI do not support Acer laptops (Score:1)
No - it is only ATI that pull this shit. Don't let anyone convince you that it is normal. You can always workaround the issue by making sure you don't buy a laptop with an ATI chipset. Then you wouldn't have to use hacked drivers just to get it working.
ATI need to refocus their design... (Score:1)
Seems an odd design? (Score:5, Interesting)
CUE watercooling wich takes the heat via the water outside of the case where you can have a slow unobstructed fan get rid of the heat.
Almost every design I seen always gets the hot water out of the case to be cooled down by large unobstructed fans.
Yet this setup seems to pump the water from the hot graphics card to a spare PCI slot in your PC where the fan will be blowing the heat away right inside your computer.
If you unlucky right back onto your gpu.
To be efficient the cooler would have to be outside your case, with the water cables coming out of the back of the gpu and the cooler not having a PCI mounting but something that is easily attached to your case.
It is not the first time I seen this mistake, people put the nicest fans inside their case but never spend any time considering that all that does is blow the hot air around if you do not somehow setup a flow to carry it out. Oh and another to get cool air back in.
Re:Seems an odd design? (Score:3, Informative)
Hot Hardware... (Score:2)
Is this some sort of lame pun [hothardware.com]?
Re:Hot Hardware... (Score:1)
1 card, 3 slots... (Score:2)
Re:1 card, 3 slots... (Score:2)
A properly cooled SLI rig would use four slots... Those thin stock coolers are (1) loud as hell and (2) don't work.
slower to warm... slower to cool (Score:1)
Re:slower to warm... slower to cool (Score:2)