will there always be a trade off?

between a GPU block w/ramsinks vs a full coverage block?

I imagine the GPU block solution gets more MHz from the GPU, less from the ram, while a full coverage block is the opposite.....is that right?

if so, which option gives the best overall performance increase? I'm going watercooled next month and I'm not sure how to cool my Radeon 3850. I'm not really intending to go crossfire, but I'm not ruling it out at this stage either, so space is a minor concern.

I'm liking the swiftech mcw60r, but I've also got my eye on the EK HD3850... it's more costly, but who could resist having bright blue coolant visibly whizzing around their card?!

cost isnt the option here, simply, which block gives the best overall performance increase, I'm looking to volt mod and clock the hell out of my card, so only the best will do!

The biggest difference beteween full cover and gpu only waterblocks is compatibility with future products. Full cover usually will not work with next generation of cards or cards from different Ati vs Nvidia maker.


With fullcover, I would say, is the matter of convenience not playing with heatsinks for memory, voltage regualtors and providing some air flow. The performance should be similar for fullcover or gpu only solution.

The full coverage blocks cool the GPU just as good as the waterblock only blocks plus the RAM. Right now I have 2-8800GT's, one cooled with an Ione and one on air. Look at the difference in temps.

Yes, there will always be a trade off. Its called cost. Full cover blocks are expensive and hard to get mounted perfectly.
They also tend to be overkill because of the relatively low power use of RAM. In fact, spending anything more than a dollar a ram chip is over doing it. Why? Because at 5W of heat(more than a ram chip will produce, trust me) a C/w difference of even .5 is 2.5C.
in fact, I used pieces of copper that had be smashed flat to cool the ram chips beneath the barbs on my 6800 and they never got warmer than neutral (neither hot nor cold, you know metal is normally cold to the touch)

so I'll be able to overclock the ram to similar levels using just the ramsinks? if that's the case, I'll just get the swiftech, I'm planning on getting the h20 220 compact kit anyway, so they'll just be getting more of my money....

Yea. In fact, according to wikipedia(good enough for a forum post- I don't feel liking finding the JEDEC spec sheets) graphics ram is progressively consuming less power.