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Any word on GTX 970 and 980 socket sizes yet?

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JeremyCT

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Feb 26, 2009
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CT
I know the "little Maxwell" in the 750 and 750ti wasn't able to be water cooled effectively due to the spacing of the holes surrounding the GPU area. "Big Maxwell" is of course bigger, so I wonder if old equipment like my MCW82 will fit with current equipment, need a new bracket, or perhaps not fit at all. I'm sure we'll hear eventually but I'm curious if anybody's seen anything about it yet.
 
I am not sure if this plays a role but the die size is the same as the 28nm Kepler. If its the same size, I am thinking the spacing might be the same?

Since its a universal block, I believe you can use that on a GTX 400/500/600/700.. etc
 
700-series doesn't work, the hole spacing it too different. The spacing is too close IIRC, and "little Maxwell" runs so cool that putting a water block on one is a little silly. I'll just have to wait and see with Maxwell. I know Kepler stuff will be hitting the market now that the 970/980 are out, but I know if I bought something in that category I'd be pining for Maxwell soon enough. I'm a little tempted to go back to air just to ease my own frutrations, but my case is dedicated to water at this point with the triple radiator hard mounted to the front. Buying a new case would just add to the cost and complexity of my supposed "motherboard upgrade", so I can't really justify it.

EVGA already has a full cover block out for the 980, I'm sure other vendors will follow suit for that and the 970 and hopefully Swiftech will say something about MCW82 compatibility before too long as well.
 
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I'm sorry, I should've said 750 and 750ti, the larger Kepler-based 700-series parts absolutely do work with the MWW82. Same hole spacing on the Kepler 700 series as the Kepler based 600 series parts. It's just the Maxwell 700 series parts that don't work with it. -edit, I was wrong about this

I sent an e-mail to Swiftech support. EK's website lists the new 970 and 980 as having "visual" compatibility with their universal GPU block, I'm hoping that means that the Swiftech universal is the same story. I will update this thread if/when I hear back from them.
 
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Heard from tech support.

I was entirely wrong on the 750/750ti issue apparently. It might be somewhat silly to drop a water block on a card with a sub 75 watt TDP, but apparently there's nothing technically stopping a person from doing so. My bad, I'm not sure where I got that info.

970/980 MCW82 compatibility is unknown at this point. Official word: "We're currently validating the MCW82 for the new Maxwell GPU's and we should have that information shortly."

He says he'll e-mail me again when the info is known.
 
Did more reading recently. Apparently the reference 970 pcb and cooler is more expensive to implement than a custom pcb and cooler for the 970. As a result, not many companies are using the reference pcb. This might be like the 260 gtx all over again.
 
I guess you'll have to go with the 980 than. (If applicable) :p
 
I've haven't owned a "fully enabled" nVidia GPU since my 6800GT, and I've never had a card from the top of the price stack. I just can't justify the price increase for the speed increase. 970 reference boards are available, they're just not as common as with some recent generations. I'm hoping that the 980 reference and 970 reference wind up being close enough that the same blocks work with either. My 660ti came with an aluminium heatsink on the power MOSFETs, we might not see that sort of thing this time around. I dunno, we'll see what fits within my financial and hassle budgets when the time comes. This is my everyday rig. My backup system is a single core AMD NEO laptop. It's horribly slow, so I don't like being without my main rig for long.

Currently I'm just leaving the main rig on pretty much continuously. I'm afraid to shut it down overnight, lol.
 
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