Alphacools new block design

Ok here very soon I will be upgrading my gpu's from xfired 7970's to sli'd 980's. I run a fully custom water cooled rig and have for as long as I can remember lol. I like Alphacools products and my loop is almost 100% Alphacool, so I'd like to stay there but I am not 100% sure of their new gpu block design. They have moved to a core block with interchangable plates to cool the mem and vrm's. These plates for all intended purposes are passive in nature but as explained in a video I watched on youtube the block also has surface contact with the plate to add in removing some of the heat produced by said mem and vrm's.

My question is does anybody have any real life experience with this new block design that can share some temp and performance data with us?? Also I'd like to hear others thoughts on this new design. I really dont overclock my gpu's as I have never felt the need to do so most of my experience with gpu's and the games I play stock runs them as I want. I'm also aware that the current gen gpu's require less power so that may be beneficial to this new design, but at same time I have heard stories of higher temps.


Anywho please post any experience and thought ya might have on the subject. I may just end up changing brands so I can stay full cover.


Thanks S_I_N

It would be helpful to link the block so we can see it (so those that don't have it can chime in? LOL). I don't see a point in a full cover block that doesn't 'actively' cool the VRMs.

lol what a dumbarse I am forgot the link and yeah thats my thoughts as well pretty sure i'm jumping ship this upgrade for my gpu block hell after I posted this I remembered I had swapped my cpu block sometime ago as well cause I liked the look of the new swiftech ones .

http://www.performance-pcs.com/alphacool-nexxxos-gpx-nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-m02-with-backplate.html

and a pic

MEH. That thing is essentially a GPU only block with a full cover. Perhaps someone has one or maybe it was tested already (did you search the google for reviews?) and I am wrong though.

oh yeah I have done the google search and even seen a video on OC3DTV and it seems decent but I was hoping somebody has already tried one and can share results. If not I may be tempted to buy one and see. cost wise there about 30-50 cheaper than full cover but thats not 100% of a concern as i keep my gpu's longer than most for my main rig. Have had my 7970's for about 3 years prior to those I had xfired 6950's flashed 6970. Only did AMD due to the monitor I was using at the time required displayport to run at 120Mhz, now I'm on a korean 27" 1440 display that uses dual-link dvi so I'm not starpped to AMD anymore. Nvidia's displayport versions did not fully support what the monitor needed to work.


one of the selling features of this new Alphacool block is it comes with the backplate in the box no needing to purchase it separately as with other brands. That is another 20-30$ savings as well. Plus my 7970's dont have backplates as they were out of stock at the time I blocked them and since I havent had any heat issues I never felt the need to seek them afterwards.



EDIT: looks like I'm stuck with EK or Alphacool lol as I'm about 99% sure I'll be going for the Asus GTX980 Strix. I have a line on a couple EVGA GTX980 classy's but as of yet no full cover blocks