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Which flavour of 780ti to buy for water-cooling?

sithspawn
Level 7
Out of curiosity, is it better to get a standard reference 780ti and a GPU water block to overclock, or a non-standard PCB based card like an Asus DC2 780ti.

I know that the non-standard versions of these types of cards are done more to accommodate the custom cooling for better overclocking/performance than the reference card but the components are also usually much better as well.

What I'm interested to know is, by using a 780 series specific GPU water-block that's meant for a reference design card, will the compatibility with a 780ti DC2 be an issue or not? The components on a DC 2 are not laid out the same as the reference card so will using that water-block prevent the card from performing at it's best compared to a reference design card with the GPU block that was designed for it.

Will it make more sense to save money buying a reference water-cooled card as opposed to DC2 with a reference GPU block which may not give more bang for the buck or are there some good 780ti DC2 specific GPU blocks there?

Thoughts and recommendations (especially DC2 specific GPU blocks) will be most welcome. Thanks.
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6 REPLIES 6

TheStig
Level 7
sithspawn wrote:
like an Asus DC2 780ti.

I thought that card wasn't even out yet? Where the hell do you buy it from? I've checked everywhere online.

TheStig wrote:
I thought that card wasn't even out yet? Where the hell do you buy it from? I've checked everywhere online.

he was just asking a question and he said nothing that he HAVE bought it.

if you buy one of the EVGA you can rip of the custom/stock cooler and replace whit a waterblock and stil have warranty on it AS LONG as you put back on the stock cooler on RMA.
and i guess its not long until evga will put out their cards whit hydro copper version.
and when asus will send out their new cards i have no clue, mabye end of month or next month.
when i did buy my cards i found out i saved a few by just buying the hydro version of the cards or else if i busted enny thing i would sit there whit 1 or 2 cards i could not use or RMA and lose loads of money.

Arne_Saknussemm
Level 40
Hmm depends a bit on what you want to do sithspawn.

If you want to get a 780ti and water-cool and OC it to normal levels I would say get a reference design card. You can usually OC it up to the specs of any OC version and paying for a superior air cooling solution just to remove it makes no sense.You are right...the PCB of the custom cards is usually different to the reference design and the standard waterblocks will not fit in most cases.

However, if you want to OC the living daylights out of the card and break benchmark records then you probably want the VRM (power delivery) of a custom card...something like the EVGA classified... because it will be better than the reference design VRM. this has the drawback that you have to wait for a custom design watercooling block to come out. They do however arrive...for popular OC cards just later and probably cost more.

So, for any normal gaming OC etc. I would buy reference and you'll have a greater choice of blocks at better prices for the lot. The OC cards are not special chips that have any higher level of OCing than reference cards for the most part.

Myk_SilentShado
Level 15
EVGA Classified Hydrocopper, or, get a ROG Poseidon 770 or 780 when they are released. That way, with any of those 3 cards you will not void your warranty 😄

Myk SilentShadow wrote:
EVGA Classified Hydrocopper


I agree thats the one to get..
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HiVizMan
Level 40
Reference card if you are water cooling. There will be more water block options and why pay for an after market cooler when you are going to remove it?
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