Radeon 4890 full WB - will it fit on 5870 or 6950?

[g0dM@n]

I might be upgrading my HD4890 finally after 2 years!!! I have never been on the same computer part this long. Everything else has been upgraded, but this card really held out a long time for me. It's insane how it still performs so well, but it might be time for an upgrade.

Since the 6950 can unlock to a 6970, I might just go with that b/c of the cost savings... if an unlocked 6950 is almost as good as a 6970, might as well save $100 right?

Right now I have an HD5870 2GB in my possession that either I (or my friend) is going to use. I might give it to my buddy since 6950 may better future proof me (or give better results?)...

The question now is, will my full cover EK 4890 waterblock work on either of these other cards?? If not, what's an affordable solution. $100-120 for cooling is getting old for me... it's just not worth it. Maybe I can buy a $60 Swiftech GPU block and sink whatever else I need, or perhaps someone has put a 4890 WB on one of these cards.

Any input is helpful.

 

[oldbrave]

It's VERY unlikely that the 4890 WB will work on any other version of a ATI/AMD video card.
Actually I would recommend that you keep the 5870 and look around for another used one for a good price and XFire them. That makes a Very stout combination.

 

[g0dM@n]

But doesn't 6000 XFire scale MUCH better?

 

[JaY_III]

sorry not going to fit
I had a 4870 and moved to a 6950(6970 mod) and thier is no way I could use the same waterblock. needed a new one 100%

edit

yes the 69xx cards scale WAY better than the 58xx series cards. Scalling has gone from 40-60% to 80-100%

 

[g0dM@n]

I've been looking at benchmarks and the 6950 vs the 5870 have been quite close.
Any idea if a 4890 WB could fit a 5870? Also, is there a diagram to show what needs to be cooled on any of the 5800 or 6900 series Radeons? I remember back with the X1800 and X1900 series some of us would post up what we thought required cooling. I hadn't bothered much more recently since I've used full WBs on the 4800 series cards...

 

[JaY_III]

sorry but full cover blocks only work for the card they were made for and the card needs to be based of the reference design.

Think of it this way.
The full cover block needs to cool the GPU, VRAM and power circuitry.

Now lets assume that everything is laid out in the same spot (its not) and is the exact same size (its not). If one component was a little shorter, it would not make contact with the full cover block and burn out. Or if it was too tall, the block would sit on an angle and not contact the remainder of the chips.

You also need to look at the mounting of the block, you need to have the holes in the PCB in the exact same spot for the entire card, not just the GPU area.

In short, you are never going to have a full cover block work from one gen card to the next. What you are looking for is a GPU only cooing solution as you can carry that over.

 

[g0dM@n]

sorry but full cover blocks only work for the card they were made for and the card needs to be based of the reference design.

Think of it this way.
The full cover block needs to cool the GPU, VRAM and power circuitry.

Now lets assume that everything is laid out in the same spot (its not) and is the exact same size (its not). If one component was a little shorter, it would not make contact with the full cover block and burn out. Or if it was too tall, the block would sit on an angle and not contact the remainder of the chips.

You also need to look at the mounting of the block, you need to have the holes in the PCB in the exact same spot for the entire card, not just the GPU area.

In short, you are never going to have a full cover block work from one gen card to the next. What you are looking for is a GPU only cooing solution as you can carry that over.

I think I've had a 4870 FC WB fit on a different 4890 I had back in 2009. Anyway, I see your point, especially with jumping up to a totally new Radeon series. I thought perhaps it was possible to maneuver, like if something was too short, maybe you can slip a piece of copper/metal between the contact points.

The GPU only solutions are typically what I ALWAYS used. The problem was that I never could find a write up telling me what on the card needs to be cooled.

If I know exactly what needs to be sinked, I'll go right back to a GPU cooling solution, rather than a full waterblock. It's much simpler to use a GPU WB instead b/c when I upgrade the video card I typically don't even have to drain my system. Yes, I've done it many times before, carefully.

 

[JaY_III]

FYI 4870 and 4890 are the same PCB.
the 4890 is just a high binned/clocked GPU with faster ram.

Now as what to cool, its actually pretty easy to tell.
Once you remove the stock OEM heastsink you will see thermal pads covering everything that needs to be cooled.

So you will end up with the GPU, 8 ram chips and 1 row of VRM's. That are a must, but you also should cool the rest of the power circuity

I can take a pic of my heatsink if you want to see what the underside of an OEM sink looks like

 

[g0dM@n]

Jay, AWESOME.
The VRMs and GPU and MEM I know of... it's the little things like the top-left that I never truly know about. I guess I can just see what the heatsink is touching and base it off of that.

Which card is that in your pic?

 

[deadlysyn]

Just thought I would throw this one out there for you, G0dM@n. I have heard good things about the Swiftech MCW80.

 

[g0dM@n]

Just thought I would throw this one out there for you, G0dM@n. I have heard good things about the Swiftech MCW80.

I'm thinking about it... but I may be getting a 5970 from a friend of mine, so I may have to go with a full cover for it...

 

[deadlysyn]

I'm thinking about it... but I may be getting a 5970 from a friend of mine, so I may have to go with a full cover for it...

The nice thing about my MCW60, is that unless I upgrade to a dual GPU or go to a GTX4xx, I can just swap it right over to the new card. Then again, I don't really have a need to upgrade my 9800GT right now, since L4D2 is the only game I have been playing lately, and it seems to hold up very well. I am still thinkiong about cutting up the stock cooler, to make a sort of pseudo-FC for it, but it actually seems to be holding up very nicely the way it is. Chances are, if I upgrade, I will probably go for a 260-216 or a GTX285 anyway. I don't need anything to crazy right now.

 

[JaY_III]

Card in the pic is 6950 pic i found, then i added the mspaint awesomeness

Sorry I didnt take any pics of mine when i had the Stock cooler / waterblock off
as that is not really the best pic.
The top left if you look closly still has the thermal pad on it.

You will know exactly what it is, as the the chips i highlighted in red look like little flip chips.

 

[JaY_III]

If you go with a full cover block it will look something like this:

 

[g0dM@n]

I do like the FC blocks, but it looks sexier when you have a GPU block and b@d@ss heatsinks.

This sale here makes me happy:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=670705

 

[Mjolnir]

FYI 4870 and 4890 are the same PCB.
the 4890 is just a high binned/clocked GPU with faster ram.

Now as what to cool, its actually pretty easy to tell.
Once you remove the stock OEM heastsink you will see thermal pads covering everything that needs to be cooled.

So you will end up with the GPU, 8 ram chips and 1 row of VRM's. That are a must, but you also should cool the rest of the power circuity

I can take a pic of my heatsink if you want to see what the underside of an OEM sink looks like

I notice you cover the R23 modules with the orange.. But what about that solo one to the bottom right of the picture (R23), would that require (preferably) a heatsink too? Just for personal info.. My GPU has been running hot and it's cooler is getting replaced, and I want to make sure I cover all grounds when I re-apply everything. (sorry to hijack, but I figure its still relevant XD)

EDIT: Also the other one closer to the top.. XD

 

[JaY_III]

I do like the FC blocks, but it looks sexier when you have a GPU block and b@d@ss heatsinks.

This sale here makes me happy:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=670705

Sales make me happy too.
I am 99% sure thats how i ended up with a 6950, well and the 6950 to 6970 mod.

But i do have to disagree with you on a GPU + Sinks is sexy.
Nothing is sexier than a full cover

I notice you cover the R23 modules with the orange.. But what about that solo one to the bottom right of the picture (R23), would that require (preferably) a heatsink too? Just for personal info.. My GPU has been running hot and it's cooler is getting replaced, and I want to make sure I cover all grounds when I re-apply everything. (sorry to hijack, but I figure its still relevant XD)

EDIT: Also the other one closer to the top.. XD

Its not going to hurt covering it with a sink...
With the pic i posted i was more or less highlighting everything the stock cooler made contact with or my full cover waterblock did on top of the oem cooling.

The ones you mention on the back of the card (their are actually 2) sit underneath the OEM fan, but on my full cover waterblock have no additional cooling.

I hope that clears things up a little. If not i can try to clarify more and get some better pics of my rig to show what is covered and what is not

 

[Mjolnir]

Ahh kk. Well as long as they have some decent airflow over them I guess it shouldn't be an issue. My GPU cooler (new one I haven't installed yet) will be a Zalman VF3000, with dual fans it should be able to pull some basic heat away from any of those 'extra' bits lol. Thanks for the reply =). One day I'll go watercooling.. One day! XD

 

[g0dM@n]

One day I'll go watercooling.. One day! XD

I honestly was scared to at first, but I then quickly realized how dumb I was for thinking it was hard/intimidating to do.

For my first watercooling setup, I used a beer mug as a reservoir, lol!!! I taped the beer mug to the top of my ATX case. Ghetto indeed, but it did look nice. I have a pic stashed away somewhere too.

Right now I'm testing a 5870 in my system. My 4890 and its full cover waterblock are hanging (safely) and I just jammed in (safely) a 5870 with its stock cooler to see the performance gain for when I play Left 4 Dead 2 at 1920x1080 (I always use all settings maxed and 8x/16x AA/AF). The performance gain is there, but not as much as I had hoped. My max FPS actually breaks 200 frames, which is insane, but my lows are still there. I don't like dipping below 80-90FPS, and I think it may have.

So now I'm wondering if a 5970 would better suit me... not to mention that I do have plans to hopefully do eyefinity.

I did read somewhere that the 2GB of RAM on the 5870 would benefit in eyefinity over the 5970, since the 5970 is 2x 1GB.

I have hopes for 24-28" 1920x1200 eyefinity... someday.

 

[JaY_III]

I would caution away from the 5970.
Its just a Crossfire setup on one card, and the 5XXX cards scale poorly.
If you want X-Fire go with the 69XX cards