EVGA GTX 780 Classified Hydro Copper Waterblock Review

On the heels of our recent review of EVGA’s GTX 780 Classified graphics card, today we’re going to take a look at an eagerly anticipated accessory for said card – the Hydro Copper Waterblock. As we all know by now, overclocking Kepler-based graphics cards can be limited by GPU temperature and power target limits. This especially holds true when higher voltages are applied to the GPU. In an effort to take away the worry of reaching the maximum temperature threshold while overclocking, and at the same time appease the water cooling crowd, EVGA has made available the Hydro Copper Waterblock. As we found out in our review of the GTX 780 Classified, the stock ACX air cooler does an admirable job in its own right; but let’s find out how much better temperatures are kept under control using the Hydro Copper Waterblock.

Specifications and Features

evga_hydrocopper (1)

There isn’t a whole lot of technical information available on the EVGA website, but here is what’s available.

First, the marketing blurb from EVGA.

“Upon first glance you will notice this is no ordinary water block, this is a full cover- end to end block, with illuminated EVGA logo on the side. The innovation does not stop at stability and appearance however; the base plate is made of chrome plated electrolytic C110 copper, and the 0.25mm x 0.35mm thin pin matrix provides optimal thermal transfer to ensure the lowest temperatures possible.”

Some other high-level features include the following.

  • Superior Full Copper Design
    • Created from a solid copper block, this choice of material allows for extreme thermal conductivity, thus providing the best thermal performance available for liquid cooling.
  • High Flow Liquid Design
    • Internal high flow liquid paths allow for coolant to get in and get heat out as quickly and as sufficiently as possible.
  • Full Component Coverage
  • Integrated Internal Pressure Points
  • Glowing EVGA Logo
  • Chrome Plated Electrolytic C110 Copper

… And some fancy graphics are in order to further elaborate on the features!

evga_hydrocopper (2)

Full Cover Design

A full cover design means a complete end to end block. No tricks here. This ensures the card does not bend, provides ideal thermal transfer for the entire card, and looks awesome!

evga_hydrocopper (3)

Chrome-plated C110 copper

Copper is the ideal material for thermal transfer, we use specialized copper that helps transfer thermals effectively, and also designed in a way to minimize weight.

evga_hydrocopper (4)

0.25mm x 0.35mm thin-pin matrix

These pins help transfer heat from the GPU to the liquid, allowing for the ultimate performance in GPU cooling!

evga_hydrocopper (5)

Glowing EVGA Logo

Glowing EVGA logo looks great, and is supported by EVGA software that allows fine tuning of the LED.

evga_hydrocopper (6)

Swappable Inlet/Outlet

Up to six different barb configurations gives you the utmost in flexibility for routing your tubing.

evga_hydrocopper (7)

Custom Compression Fittings

Includes both 3/8″ and 1/2″ compression fittings. No hose clamps required.

Packaging and a Close Up Look

Our review sample came in a generic brown box with an EVGA logo on it. EVGA was kind enough to also send along the appropriate backing plate required for proper installation. You’ll definitely want to get the backing plate to help stiffen the card, this waterblock is heavy!

Simple Brown Boxes
Simple Brown Boxes

Box Tops
Box Tops

Box Bottoms
Box Bottoms

Opening the waterblock box, we find the installation manual and the GPU shim sitting on top. Under the top protective foam is the Hydro Copper Waterblock securely nestled in a foam bed of its own. The accessories are tucked into pockets that protect them as well.

Install manual and GPU Shim
Install Manual and GPU Shim

Hydro Copper Waterblock First Peek
Hydro Copper Waterblock First Peek

The accessories include two each of 3/8″ and 1/2″ compression fittings, two plugs, a bag of mounting screws, and a tube of Swiftech TIM-MATE2 thermal paste.

Accessory Pack
Accessory Pack

The Hydro Copper Waterblock has a peel off plastic film applied to the front and back to protect it during transportation. Our first few pictures show the top side at a couple different angles – it’s big, it’s beefy, it’s extremely well made, and it looks plain awesome! The markings on the front corner reveal that EVGA has employed Swiftech to manufacture the Hydro Copper Waterblock, which is widely regarded as one of the premier water cooling manufacturers in the world.

Hydro Copper Waterblock
Hydro Copper Waterblock

Hydro Copper Waterblock
Hydro Copper Waterblock

Swiftech Markings
Swiftech Markings

The Hydro Copper Waterblock has been designed so the compression fittings can be installed on top, bottom, or one in each location. Once you make that decision, simply seal off the unused openings with the two included plugs. Because the block uses the industry standard G1/4 thread size, you have the ability to use just about any fitting you wish.

Fitting Location
Fitting Locations – Top

Fitting Locations - Bottom
Fitting Locations – Bottom

The bottom of the Hydro Copper Waterblock is made from chrome plated copper and is polished to a mirror finish. All the thermal pads have been pre-applied for ease of installation.

Bottom Side Overview
Bottom Side Overview

Highly Polished Bottom Side
Highly Polished Bottom Side

Thermal Pads and
Thermal Pads/Lighting Power Cable

The backplate packaging is a simplistic approach with the item protected in a bubble wrap pouch. Included with the backplate are a bag of screws needed for installation and an installation guide.

Plain Brown Sleeve
Plain Brown Sleeve

Bubble Wrap Pouch
Bubble Wrap Pouch

Package Contents
Package Contents

Installation

The first thing that needs to be done is to remove the stock ACX cooler. This requires removing a total of 20 screws from the back of the card. Put the screws in a safe place because you won’t be using any of them for the waterblock installation. Once the screws are removed, lift the ACX cooler off carefully because you’ll need to unplug the fan wire from the PCB. After the ACX Cooler is removed, you can remove the reinforcement baseplate leaving you with the bare PCB. At this point, you can clean the TIM off the GPU and check that all the thermal pads came off the memory when you removed the reinforcement baseplate.

Back of PCB - Screws to Remove
Back of PCB – Screws to Remove

ACX Cooler Removed
ACX Cooler Removed

Reinforcement Baseplate Removed
Reinforcement Baseplate Removed

Next, apply some TIM to the GPU core and remove the protective film on the Hydro Copper Waterblock. There is also a protective film applied to the thermal pads, so make sure to remove that too. Now, set the GPU shim on the PCB and secure it from the back of the PCB with the appropriate screws. You’ll remove these GPU shim screws and reinstall them when it’s time for the backplate, but this temporarily keeps the GPU shim from sliding around when you set the waterblock in place. Now simply set the waterblock in place, then flip the card over so you have access to the back of the PCB again. Remove the four screws we used to hold the GPU shim in place and set the backplate over the PCB. Using the screws that came in the waterblock kit, begin installing all the screws. Two installation notes are in order. First, a long silver screw needs to be installed at the upper corner before the backplate is set in place. Second, a screw/washer/nut combo will need to be installed to secure the I/O bracket before setting the waterblock in place.

Waterblock Ready to be Installed
Waterblock Ready to be Installed

Backplate Screws Installed to Secure Waterblock
Backplate Screws Installed to Secure Waterblock

Waterblock Installed - Top View
Waterblock Installed – Top View

The installation process is really quite simple and only takes five to ten minutes to complete. If you want to see a more detailed description of the installation process, the manual can be downloaded from the EVGA website.

Testing

I chose to incorporate the Hydro Copper Waterblock into my existing loop, which up to this point was only cooling the CPU. With a 360 mm radiator, three Panaflo 120×38 mm ultra high speed fans, and a MCP35X pump, I figured that was enough to handle the situation. In fact, it may well represent how the vast majority of people would install the Hydro Copper Waterblock. However, if you have two or more of these cards outfitted with the Hydro Copper Waterblock, you probably want to consider a separate loop, or at least adding a second radiator to your existing setup. I chose to use some fittings I already had because a 90° elbow worked better on my bench station. Don’t think for a second that the included fittings are less than top quality though. They are excellent compression fittings that I wouldn’t hesitate to use where straight fittings are needed.

Installed - Back Side View
Installed – Back Side View

Installed - Block Side View
Installed – Block Side View

Illuminated EVGA Logo
Illuminated EVGA Logo

Testing will be short and sweet actually. I’m simply going to use the voltage manipulation utility that’s floating around and test cooling performance at three different voltages – stock, 1.25 V, and 1.35 V. I’ll also throw in the results at my 24/7 stable GPU overclock of 1396 MHz, also set to 1.35 V. All testing was performed in a 75 °F (24 °C) ambient environment and normalized accordingly. We’ll use EVGA’s own OC Scanner software and its built in “GPU Burn In” utility to measure temperatures. The GPU Burn In utility really heats up the GPU core, especially when additional voltage is added.

I ran each session of GPU Burn In for five minutes under each of the scenarios depicted in the graph below, which basically means idle and load testing. The fan control for the ACX cooler was set to 100%, and the water cooling radiator fans were also set to 100%. This will give us an idea of the maximum cooling effect each setup delivers. One other caveat to be aware of is the stock voltage testing, which starts at 0.8625 V, but ramps up to a little over 1.1 V once under load. Once we start using the voltage manipulation tool, the voltage stays constant throughout. As you’ll see in the graph below, the load temperature differences are quite staggering.

evga_hydrocopper (36)

You’ll notice most tests showed the Hydro Copper Waterblock cutting the load temperatures darn near in half when compared to the stock ACX cooler. It definitely stopped the throttling I was encountering when the higher voltages were used. Amazing performance all the way around for the Hydro Copper Waterblock!

So, you may be asking if it helped with overclocking… The answer is a resounding YES! When I reviewed the GTX 780 Classified in its stock condition, I was only able to get up to 1345 MHz on the core; but that required dropping the memory speed back down to its stock speed of 1502 MHz (6008 Quad Pumped). A couple of weeks after the initial review was published, I found a pretty good BIOS that allowed a much higher power target. However, even with that I couldn’t get past 1396 Mhz, and I still had to leave the memory at stock speeds for it to be stable (Forum post here).

Now that the Hydro Copper Waterblock is installed, I’ve been able to get the GPU core speed up to 1436 MHz; and the memory now overclocks to 1802 MHz (7208 MHz Quad Pumped). That’s a pretty impressive bump in performance, which I think can be improved on even more when time permits. For now though, here is a run of 3dMark Fire Strike and HWBot Heaven at the new speeds.

Fire Strike @ 1436/1802 MHz
Fire Strike @ 1436/1802 MHz

HWBot Heaven @ 1436/1802 MHz
HWBot Heaven @ 1436/1802 MHz

The above overclock number are all fine and dandy, but what if you don’t want to use the voltage tool or a modified BIOS? If you remember back to the review of the card with the stock ACX cooler, the best overclock I could get without the voltage tool and a modified BIOS was 1293 MHz GPU and 1602 MHz memory. With the Hydro Copper Waterblock installed I was able to get a 1371 MHz GPU and 1752 MHz memory overclock. I did use the modified BIOS, but toned it down to match the stock LN2 BIOS that comes as a stock BIOS option. Anyone can duplicate these setting by simply using the available options within EVGA’s PrecisionX software. No BIOS or Voltage hacks required! Here is a quick run of 3DMark Fire Strike at these settings.

Fire Strike @ 1371/1752
Fire Strike @ 1371/1752

During the process of overclocking with the Hydro Copper Waterblock installed, I learned a couple of things many of you might find interesting. First, even though you can set the GPU temperature threshold up to 95 °C, that doesn’t mean you GPU will remain stable up to that temperature. I say this because GPU speeds that were unstable with the ACX cooler are now perfectly stable, even though the ACX cooler kept the temperatures well below the 95 °C threshold. Secondly, added cooling for the memory really helps to get the most from it. With the Hydro Copper Waterblock installed, big gains in memory overclocking with, and without, the modified BIOS and voltage tool were achievable. So, while the ACX cooler does a great job for an air cooling solution, it may not allow you to get the best clock speeds from your video card.

Conclusion

While this particular review was on the Hydro Copper Waterblock for the GTX 780 Classified, similar Hydro Copper units are available for the GTX Titan, GTX 770 Classified, and the non Classified GTX 780. I’m sure the same level of performance can be expected with any of those options too, as they are the same basic unit with only application differences. EVGA sells the Hydro Copper Waterblocks directly from their web store, and the GTX 780 Classified version reviewed here sells for $149.99. You will also want to pick up the backplate for an additional $19.99. It really finishes off the look of the card and also provides the needed support for a heavy waterblock like this. So, in the end, you’ll have a $170.00 investment… Is it worth it? In my opinion, when you spend $700 for a graphics card like this in the first place, what’s another $170, right? It provided improved overclocking with stock BIOS options and really allowed some great overclocking when the voltage tool and a modified BIOS were thrown in the mix. When available, the GTX 780 Classified Hydro Copper version is the way to go because it’s less expensive than buying the card and waterblock separately. However, if you were an early adopter and purchased one of the cards the Hydro Copper Waterblock fits, then I’d say it’s a worthy investment based on the cooling performance and added overclocking potential it affords.

The quality and workmanship of the Hydro Copper Waterblock is apparent from the moment you lay your hands on it. It truly is a finely crafted piece of hardware. If you’re looking to get the absolute most from your EVGA video card (short of going LN2), then you should seriously consider picking up one of the Hydro Copper Waterblocks – you won’t be disappointed!

Overclockers_clear_approvedClick the stamp for an explanation of what this menas.

-Dino DeCesari (Lvcoyote)

About Dino DeCesari 230 Articles
Dino DeCesari was a pillar of the Overclockers.com community for over 13 years when he passed away suddenly in 2015. His legacy lives on through his hundreds of computer hardware reviews posted here. Dino spent time in the army as a Telecommunication Center Specialist and received a commendation medal. He had a successful 20+ year career in the automotive parts and technology industry, where he eventually bought and sold his own business. Once retired, he volunteered as tech support for a non-profit and his local school district. 

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l
liqued

New Member

7 messages 0 likes

Any word on vram temps with the block and without? Only one coffee in so might have missed it.

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hokiealumnus

Water Cooled Moderator

16,560 messages 25 likes

It's all in a chart about 3/4 of the way down the review. Temps were cut nearly in half with extra voltage applied.

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dudleycpa

Member

2,427 messages 0 likes

Hokiealumnus Lvcoyote- Nice review as usual! Nice to see "if you've spent $700 on a card - what's another $170? The results are spectacular!

Edited: If we knew how to do a strikethrough.:p
Edited II: You should know after being here eleven years, slacker. Tis [./s]. ;)

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hokiealumnus

Water Cooled Moderator

16,560 messages 25 likes

Thanks, but Lvcoyote wrote this one. :thup:

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wagex

Chapstick Eating Premium Member

6,422 messages 58 likes

whew atleast you hooked a water loop upto it :)

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Ajay57

Member

4,475 messages 0 likes

Its really refreshing to see a WC review for a change and it was done perfectly. Quite amazing the Difference in Overclocking Temps, obviously you can see its worth the effort and cost to install a water block on your GPU.

Thanks for a excellent review Hokie!!

Edit: Sorry for the mix up there guy's i did not realize you take it in turns!!

P.S. Enjoy your new WC Card on that DimasTech Bench Unit! :D ;)

Regards,

AJ.

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EarthDog

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

76,470 messages 3,206 likes

Thanks for a excellent review Hokie!!

Lvcoyote reviewed this piece of hardware (as hokie already mentioned in post 5 I see, LOL)...and quite well per usual. ;)

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hokiealumnus

Water Cooled Moderator

16,560 messages 25 likes

Lvcoyote reviewed this piece of hardware (as hokie already mentioned in post 5 I see, LOL)...and quite well per usual. ;)

:facepalm:

Yes indeed, Lvcoyote wrote this review and he did a great job on it too. :attn:

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Lvcoyote

Overclocked Moderator, Overclockers.com Lead Edito

1,473 messages 0 likes

Thanks guys, the block was indeed fun to work with, and the results weren't bad either :)

As a side note, it seems a review that's enjoyed by most of you gets associated with hokie, and that's a testament to his knowledge and skill. I see it as a compliment when one of mine is mistaken for one of his!

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dudleycpa

Member

2,427 messages 0 likes

Thanks guys, the block was indeed fun to work with, and the results weren't bad either :)

As a side note, it seems a review that's enjoyed by most of you gets associated with hokie, and that's a testament to his knowledge and skill. I see it as a compliment when one of mine is mistaken for one of his!

It is a great review. It actually makes one think that maybe it great idea to water cool the GTX 780. Per the article you mentioned what wasn't stable on the ACX worked fine on the Hydro. Both used a 95C threshold. Interesting that it worked out that way.

Again I'm sorry about the mixup!:salute:

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