Jump to content

EKWB Water block for Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming

Hi,

 

How long does it usually take for EKWB to come up with a water block for cards with a non-reference PCB?

 

The reason I ask is, I might be getting the Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 gaming and will be water cooling my PC.

 

I don't want to have to wait too long after getting the card as I'll be pretty busy in a month's time.

 

Any input would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

It'll probably be a month or 2.

Stuff:  i7 7700k @ (dat nibba succ) | ASRock Z170M OC Formula | G.Skill TridentZ 3600 c16 | EKWB 1080 @ 2100 mhz  |  Acer X34 Predator | R4 | EVGA 1000 P2 | 1080mm Radiator Custom Loop | HD800 + Audio-GD NFB-11 | 850 Evo 1TB | 840 Pro 256GB | 3TB WD Blue | 2TB Barracuda

Hwbot: http://hwbot.org/user/lays/ 

FireStrike 980 ti @ 1800 Mhz http://hwbot.org/submission/3183338 http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/11574089

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

It'll probably be a month or 2.

Wow, that was a fast reply.

 

Damn, not sure if I could wait that long. Would it be better to get a reference card if i'm gonna be water cooling it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Waterblocks don't tend to come to custom boards. They sometimes do, but to only super well selling custom boards. If you fully intend on water cooling, I would just go with a card with a reference board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow, that was a fast reply.

 

Damn, not sure if I could wait that long. Would it be better to get a reference card if i'm gonna be water cooling it?

You would be able to cool it more quickly, however the non-reference PCB on the G1 is a nice touch that might allow you to overclock a bit more. If you really cannot wait a month, go with the reference model.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Waterblocks don't tend to come to custom boards. They sometimes do, but to only super well selling custom boards. If you fully intend on water cooling, I would just go with a card with a reference board.

I'm confident a water block will come for this card since the Gtx 980 version of the Gaming G1 did well. Unfortunately it might take a while.

 

Would there be much difference in FPS between a water cooled non-ref and a water cooled reference card?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

You would be able to cool it more quickly, however the non-reference PCB on the G1 is a nice touch that might allow you to overclock a bit more. If you really cannot wait a month, go with the reference model.

Any idea, the performance difference between a water cooled reference and a water cooled non-reference card, both overclocked?

Having a hard time finding benchmarks with that comparison.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm confident a water block will come for this card since the Gtx 980 version of the Gaming G1 did well. Unfortunately it might take a while.

 

Would there be much difference in FPS between a water cooled non-ref and a water cooled reference card?

the advantage of watercooling is to allow for more aggressive overclocks while keeping temps and noise down But after a certain point, you may not get any higher of an overclock, even if thermals aren't an issue. Nvidia cards are voltage locked (which can be gotten around with a custom bios). It most certainly isn't an economical way of increasing fps. The gains will not justify the price of watercooling, if all you are doing is attempting more fps. But, it is absolutely worth it if you want to also go for better aesthetics or just want to do it because you are an enthusiast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

the advantage of watercooling is to allow for more aggressive overclocks while keeping temps and noise down But after a certain point, you may not get any higher of an overclock, even if thermals aren't an issue. Nvidia cards are voltage locked (which can be gotten around with a custom bios). It most certainly isn't an economical way of increasing fps. The gains will not justify the price of watercooling, if all you are doing is attempting more fps. But, it is absolutely worth it if you want to also go for better aesthetics or just want to do it because you are an enthusiast.

Yeah, that's true. I didn't get an impressive overclock on my GTX 980 despite temps staying in the high 60s to  low 70s.

 

In my case I'm doing it for aesthetic and enthusiast reasons. The only reason I ask about FPS is that the price difference between the non-ref and ref is small. So i'm wondering if it's really necessary to go for the non-ref in my situation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

the advantage of watercooling is to allow for more aggressive overclocks while keeping temps and noise down But after a certain point, you may not get any higher of an overclock, even if thermals aren't an issue. Nvidia cards are voltage locked (which can be gotten around with a custom bios). It most certainly isn't an economical way of increasing fps. The gains will not justify the price of watercooling, if all you are doing is attempting more fps. But, it is absolutely worth it if you want to also go for better aesthetics or just want to do it because you are an enthusiast.

 

 

There's more to it than just a Custom BIOS, but yeah the rest of what you said is pretty on point.

Stuff:  i7 7700k @ (dat nibba succ) | ASRock Z170M OC Formula | G.Skill TridentZ 3600 c16 | EKWB 1080 @ 2100 mhz  |  Acer X34 Predator | R4 | EVGA 1000 P2 | 1080mm Radiator Custom Loop | HD800 + Audio-GD NFB-11 | 850 Evo 1TB | 840 Pro 256GB | 3TB WD Blue | 2TB Barracuda

Hwbot: http://hwbot.org/user/lays/ 

FireStrike 980 ti @ 1800 Mhz http://hwbot.org/submission/3183338 http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/11574089

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I emailed EK about this same problem. Here is what they said:

 

Currently waterblocks for 980 ti gaming G1 is in early testing phase and shall be ready for sales in 2 months time.

[Case Mod] Operation: The Division --- > Here

[CUSTOM WATER COOLED TABLE] Project: Ravage ---> Here

-== QUOTE ME IN YOUR REPLY IF YOU WANT ME TO RESPOND ==-

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I emailed EK about this same problem. Here is what they said:

Looks like I might be getting a reference card.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

It really depends. It seems on the ultra enthusiast cards like the EVGA Classified and Kingpin they release a block rather quickly. I'd imagine the Gigabyte 980ti block should be coming soon. You could always shoot them an email and see what they say though.

 

EDIT: Nevermind about emailing. Should have read through entire thread before commenting B)

  Custom Loop

4790K - Titan X - 16GB Vengeance 1866 - Asus Vii Hero - EVGA G2 850w - Samsung Evo 500gb - Corsair 760T - ROG SWIFT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

with the overclocking from air to water it depends on the bin of the card you have check the asic score that will tell your roughly if it even worth it to do the jump to water .

 

i personal hit a limit on my 970 the vrms weren't cool'd properly so they were holding it back msi stuck a small heat sink with minimal air flow . i went from around i think it was 1300-1400MHz on air to 1500MHz but in some games ive seen up to 1600 with water. the card used to run at 70c under max load now its 40's with water cooling sometimes hitting the low 50's when my water has heated up from playing games for 6 hours . it idle's   at 27c now which is great i think .

with the blocks comming out just be careful that either ek makes it for the right version or gigabyte doesn't do a stealth change with it also 1.1 to 1.2 since the 900's msi has already pulled that and 1 other company changed the pcb layout mid year already on a 980 .

with my card ek had to make a brand new water block for my msi 970 since the 1.1/.2 one didn't work on a 1.3v and now ive seen a another  version of the card  floating around in the local store near me . but ant buying another till get my new rads

main rig

Spoiler

 corsair 750d | evga 1000w g2 | Gigabyte x99 soc champ | 5820k 4.0GHz | 1tb wd blue | 250gb samsung 840 evo  | Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB 8x2 DDR4-2400 | MSI GTX 970 x2 | monitor Acer B286HK 28" 4K | razor chroma blackwidow  | razor death adder chroma

CENTOS 7 SERVER (PLEX&docker stuff)

Spoiler

NZXT s220 | evga 500w 80+ | AMD FX 8320e | ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 | 2x8gb non ecc ddr3 WD red 2TBx2 | seagate 160gb microcenter 8gb flashdrive OS

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

It really depends. It seems on the ultra enthusiast cards like the EVGA Classified and Kingpin they release a block rather quickly. I'd imagine the Gigabyte 980ti block should be coming soon. You could always shoot them an email and see what they say though.

 

EDIT: Nevermind about emailing. Should have read through entire thread before commenting B)

That was because EVGA had them make the Hydro Copper, so they had to to minimal with work to release them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

In fact, the Classified and the Kingpin were the last ones to be released by EK for the 980 non-Ti.

 

The reason for this is simple.  The quicker the manufacturer are at sending us cards or CADs designs, the quicker we are able to release them.  Guess who came last on the 980 non-Ti.  ;)

 

Usually Asus, MSI and Gigabyte are pretty quick to send us there infos for there flagship non-reference cards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

In fact, the Classified and the Kingpin were the last ones to be released by EK for the 980 non-Ti.

 

The reason for this is simple.  The quicker the manufacturer are at sending us cards or CADs designs, the quicker we are able to release them.  Guess who came last on the 980 non-Ti.  ;)

 

Usually Asus, MSI and Gigabyte are pretty quick to send us there infos for there flagship non-reference cards.

 

Makes sense that evga would be slow to send the info though, they want to sell more of their Hydro Copper cards.  Sucks for evga fans that don't want to use their water block though =/

Case - Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 : Mobo - Asus Maximus VI Gene : PSU - Corsair AX760 : CPU - Intel i7 4790k w/ EK-Supremacy EVO Copper/Acetal Water Block  : Memory - Corsair Vengence Pro 24gb 1600mhz : GPU - Evga GTX 780 Ti Classified w/ EK-FC780 GTX Classy - Acetal+Nickel Water Block : Storage - Samsung 840 Evo 250gb & 850 Evo 1tb SSDs, 2x 6TB External HDDs : Fans - 5x Noctua NF-F12 & 1x NF-S12A : Display - 24in Benq XL2420TE : Rads - Darkside LPX360 & LP240 : Pump/Res - EK-XRES 140 D5 Vario Pump

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm still a little conflicted about which version of the card to get. Jayztwocents' review of the Fury X showed a significant difference between the Gigabyte G1 gaming and an overclocked reference. I can get the G1 Gaming card for only 30NZD more where I live, so I'd feel frustrated if I got a reference card and realized I could have gotten more performance for that additional cost.

 

I also saw a review from Hexus which showed significant FPS differences (http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/84284-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-980-ti-g1-gaming-6gb/?page=6)

 

If I were to water cool both cards and overclock them, would I still see similar differences like in those reviews?

 

Another option for me is to get this: http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=06G-P4-4995-KR

but a reference might still be a better option.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

have fun finding a fury x there like finding a needle in a haystack inside a needle stack,i had the person i deal with look up them at there stores they found 1 in all stores in the lower 48 .get the 980ti since you can beat the shit out of a fury x with it also its been show its a monster for what it costs . also it comes down to the silcon lottery you might get lucky or get a dud.

 

non ref cards for the most do perform better due to they usually have a custom cooler on them, not a blower and either better parts on the board or better design overall .but since you plan on adding a after market cooler its only limit you will run its how good the card you get from the randomness or the power deliver setup on the board 6phase vs 4 ect

main rig

Spoiler

 corsair 750d | evga 1000w g2 | Gigabyte x99 soc champ | 5820k 4.0GHz | 1tb wd blue | 250gb samsung 840 evo  | Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB 8x2 DDR4-2400 | MSI GTX 970 x2 | monitor Acer B286HK 28" 4K | razor chroma blackwidow  | razor death adder chroma

CENTOS 7 SERVER (PLEX&docker stuff)

Spoiler

NZXT s220 | evga 500w 80+ | AMD FX 8320e | ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 | 2x8gb non ecc ddr3 WD red 2TBx2 | seagate 160gb microcenter 8gb flashdrive OS

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

have fun finding a fury x there like finding a needle in a haystack inside a needle stack,i had the person i deal with look up them at there stores they found 1 in all stores in the lower 48 .get the 980ti since you can beat the shit out of a fury x with it also its been show its a monster for what it costs . also it comes down to the silcon lottery you might get lucky or get a dud

Sorry for the confusion, I'm not looking to get a Fury x. I'm trying to choose between the Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming or the reference 980 Ti. The G1 Gaming version got significantly better results than the reference based on the benchmarks I've seen (linked in my last reply).

 

So i'm just a little worried about purchasing the reference card.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

if your able to wait for the block to come from ek then get the non ref card if not then get the ref card . the only difference for you would be the layout of the pcb and how better gigabyte makes there pcb as i said the voltage delivery method 4 phase vs 6 phase . i personal like the non ref card versions i didnt mind waiting abit for it .

but i would hold off buying the card till the block is out in case there is a board version layout change such as a 1.1 to 1.3 for my card the block doesn't fit from one version to the other .

 

which sucks i had to return 4-6 cards to get the ek block to fit killed my card the day i bought my block for it . thank god for microcenter no ask no test and look  return policy. if you have one near you just buy 2 bottles of ek's pre mix and get the replacement plan on both you pay like a 1$ for a new bottle every time you want to drain your loop =) a 90% off per time ant bad

main rig

Spoiler

 corsair 750d | evga 1000w g2 | Gigabyte x99 soc champ | 5820k 4.0GHz | 1tb wd blue | 250gb samsung 840 evo  | Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB 8x2 DDR4-2400 | MSI GTX 970 x2 | monitor Acer B286HK 28" 4K | razor chroma blackwidow  | razor death adder chroma

CENTOS 7 SERVER (PLEX&docker stuff)

Spoiler

NZXT s220 | evga 500w 80+ | AMD FX 8320e | ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 | 2x8gb non ecc ddr3 WD red 2TBx2 | seagate 160gb microcenter 8gb flashdrive OS

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm still a little conflicted about which version of the card to get. Jayztwocents' review of the Fury X showed a significant difference between the Gigabyte G1 gaming and an overclocked reference. I can get the G1 Gaming card for only 30NZD more where I live, so I'd feel frustrated if I got a reference card and realized I could have gotten more performance for that additional cost.

 

I also saw a review from Hexus which showed significant FPS differences (http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/84284-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-980-ti-g1-gaming-6gb/?page=6)

 

If I were to water cool both cards and overclock them, would I still see similar differences like in those reviews?

 

Another option for me is to get this: http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=06G-P4-4995-KR

but a reference might still be a better option.

 

For you information, the EVGA you linked is a reference card in terms of layout.  EVGA just slammed a better cooler and a factory overclock  ;)

 

If you were to choose this card, then you could buy a Titan X waterblock and be good to go,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry for the confusion, I'm not looking to get a Fury x. I'm trying to choose between the Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming or the reference 980 Ti. The G1 Gaming version got significantly better results than the reference based on the benchmarks I've seen (linked in my last reply).

 

So i'm just a little worried about purchasing the reference card.

 

I encourage you to check out some reviews of the hydro/hybrid GTX 980 Ti cards. Jayztwocents' review told us that the EVGA Hybrid is using a reference board design. I've seen that the EVGA 980 Ti Hybrid matches the G1 Gaming most of the time.

 

Now that I'm done rambling... I think you have nothing to worry about. The gains of the custom board over the reference design are, IMO, negligible. The cooler is what's gonna allow you to get a better GPU and VRAM speed. So if you've planned a custom loop, then go for the reference. 

Your attitude determines 100% of your life's outcomes. Bad Attitude, bad life. Great attitude, great life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

I encourage you to check out some reviews of the hydro/hybrid GTX 980 Ti cards. Jayztwocents' review told us that the EVGA Hybrid is using a reference board design. I've seen that the EVGA 980 Ti Hybrid matches the G1 Gaming most of the time.

 

Now that I'm done rambling... I think you have nothing to worry about. The gains of the custom board over the reference design are, IMO, negligible. The cooler is what's gonna allow you to get a better GPU and VRAM speed. So if you've planned a custom loop, then go for the reference. 

Thanks a lot for your input man, appreciate it. I've seen Jayztwocents' EVGA Hybrid review already but I'll check it out again and some others too.

 

Btw, the G1 Gaming review from LTT is already on Youtube and the benchmarks show it beats the reference by about 10 fps on most games. I would assume their reference 980 Ti was overclocked though I couldn't find it on the overclocking doc.

 

But if I'm doing a custom loop, should I expect about the same performance from both versions of the card, since the cooler is the more important factor like you said?

 

EDIT: Just watched Linus' review of the reference 980 TI, he said "no cards were overclocked", so I guess the reference 980 Ti in their G1 gaming review was not overclocked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

On a side note, I emailed EKWB about water blocks for the G1 Gaming 980 Ti.

 

I was told that the card is not available in Europe yet and that they would only start making water blocks for that card when its released in Europe.

 

Here's the quote:

Thank you for this information, but sadly we are not in the USA. We are in Europe.

As soon as it is available we will make waterblock for it.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×