PNY GTX580 Liquid Cooled Review
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Published: 28th November 2011 | Source: PNY | Price: £469 |
Introduction
There are three main types of cooling available on graphics cards. The first, and most obvious, is the reference design. This usually consists of a waterwheel style fan at one end, a lump of aluminium and a plastic shroud. The second is third-party designs such as the Twin Frozr III from MSI, the Windforce from Gigabyte or the various DIY options. Finally of course is buying a waterblock from EK or Danger Den and the like, and plumbing it into a dedicated water-loop.
The PNY we have on test today combines two of these into a stand-alone format by utilising an Asetek self-contained pump, block and radiator combined with a reference card.
It's quite a bizarre thing and looks like someone has welded a Corsair H50 to their card, but does it work?
Technical Specifications
PNY are certainly confident that the cooling solution works, as the Fermi 110 GPU has been overclocked from the default 772MHz up to a whopping 857MHz out of the box. Considering some very hardcore pre-overclocked cards available usually stop around 800MHz, and the Gigabyte Super Over Clock is 855MHz out the box, this is the fastest 'out of the box' GTX580 around.
| Core Clock | 857 MHz |
| Processor Clock | 512 |
| Processor Cores | 1714 MHz |
| Texture Fill Rate | 54.85 Billion/sec. |
| Memory Amount | 1536MB GDDR5 |
| Memory Data Rate | 4212 MHz |
| Memory Interface | 384-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 202.18 GB/sec. |
| On-board Outputs | DVI, DVI, and HDMI mini |
| Bus Type | PCI Express® 2.0 |
Most Recent Comments
Some really great temperatures, but from what I've read on other sources, the fan does not sufficiently cool the other parts of the card. Did you encounter this problem?Quote
It does get warm, but not beyond any recomended levels. The card fan does stay on a lower speed because the GPU core is so cool.Quote
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Originally Posted by tinytomlogan
It does get warm, but not beyond any recomended levels. The card fan does stay on a lower speed because the GPU core is so cool. |
.QuoteI can't see why people on the YT vid are saying this is useless? More surface area = better cooling = silence. I would love to get my hands on one of these if i had the money.Quote
nice card - nice benches
but.....
some people are going to have a nightmare with this card
those who:
i have also noticed SLI - two, or more, of these in SLI !!! Hmmm? not going to work !!!Quote
but.....
some people are going to have a nightmare with this card
those who:
- had a large cpu cooler (D14, etc) in the case (especially when in a mid-tower)
- have another sealed-WC solution in their case
i have also noticed SLI - two, or more, of these in SLI !!! Hmmm? not going to work !!!Quote
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Originally Posted by dugdiamond
nice card - nice benches but..... some people are going to have a nightmare with this card those who:
i have also noticed SLI - two, or more, of these in SLI !!! Hmmm? not going to work !!! |
If its taken to well, will have to see how many others come to the market. It would be interesting to see a review of the one including CPU cooler. All in one solution?Quote
I'd like to see how this does against the full cover block water block version Zotac has.
The Zotac only has one fan on the rad but it has a full cover block so it may cool more effectively and be quieter, it may be slightly louder or just as loud as the PNY which has two fans, one on the GPU and one for the Vrams. Would be an interesting comparison anyway imo.Quote
The Zotac only has one fan on the rad but it has a full cover block so it may cool more effectively and be quieter, it may be slightly louder or just as loud as the PNY which has two fans, one on the GPU and one for the Vrams. Would be an interesting comparison anyway imo.Quote
Hi all, Excellent review. I can give you a feedback on this card as I bought it. I had to cut my case to put the radiator in front and now it is perfect. I download MSI afterburner to down clock the card (772/2004/1.00v) while I'am in 2D (40°c with all my fans on low) and stock clock (857/2106/1.10v) while I'am in 3D (55°c with my front fan on medium all others on low). One more thing, I reduced the voltage in both mode 2D and 3D that way it consume less and it is cooler. ;-) My case is an Antec 300 with 5 noctua fans and a 650W psu. It works like a charm. Hope this will help you.Quote
A long time ago I asked TTL about the prospects of liquid cooled GPU's and it looks like this card has started the ball rolling. IF GPU cooling is better than air then surely over the next few years air cooled cards will slowly be fazed out.Quote
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Originally Posted by daletur328
If its taken to well, will have to see how many others come to the market. It would be interesting to see a review of the one including CPU cooler. All in one solution? |
And none of them were a success, because they're aggro to fit and real water cooling is better.
It's kinda like the Corsair H50. Can't really do anything more than a decent air cooler can do.
So yeah, it keeps a 580 cool. But then the 580 isn't really a hot potato to begin with.
So it's a bit gimmicky.Quote
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Originally Posted by Z0mB13
There have been loads of cards like this in the past. BFG used to do a few. And none of them were a success, because they're aggro to fit and real water cooling is better. It's kinda like the Corsair H50. Can't really do anything more than a decent air cooler can do. So yeah, it keeps a 580 cool. But then the 580 isn't really a hot potato to begin with. So it's a bit gimmicky. |
You can't fry and egg on any card man, it's been tried (with a 480 running Furmark) and failed.
And if you had two where would you put the rads?
I'm not adverse to the idea of it, but jesus at least like, try.
The cooler looks totally dumb. Has a stock cooler with two holes drilled in it. At least make a proper waterblock or something.
Going back to the heat? if I can pack a pair of 295s right up against each other and see 75c as my hottest temp on core 1 (with the rest going as follows - 73 65 64) then the 580 wouldn't be a problem.Quote
And if you had two where would you put the rads?
I'm not adverse to the idea of it, but jesus at least like, try.
The cooler looks totally dumb. Has a stock cooler with two holes drilled in it. At least make a proper waterblock or something.
Going back to the heat? if I can pack a pair of 295s right up against each other and see 75c as my hottest temp on core 1 (with the rest going as follows - 73 65 64) then the 580 wouldn't be a problem.Quote
You could have one of these and a regular one.Quote
Still don't see the point man. The 580 isn't a hot card.
When I set up my quad SLI I did so with an old EVGA 790i Ultra SLI. So basically it was like this.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...on/drool-2.jpg
Which let's face it, most new boards will allow you to do the same (and you wouldn't be using a micro ATX with £900 worth of GPUs).
Hottest temp was 63c on core 1. And that's two FTW clocked 295s.
I guess if you wanted one as a novelty then yeah, why not. I just think PNY could have given it a proper water block so it didn't look like they just came along and glued on a radiator. I mean for criven's sake they've even left the stock shroud and fan on it
It looks like something Mephisto in South Park made...
"Allow me to add some asses to that swine of yours !"Quote
When I set up my quad SLI I did so with an old EVGA 790i Ultra SLI. So basically it was like this.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...on/drool-2.jpg
Which let's face it, most new boards will allow you to do the same (and you wouldn't be using a micro ATX with £900 worth of GPUs).
Hottest temp was 63c on core 1. And that's two FTW clocked 295s.
I guess if you wanted one as a novelty then yeah, why not. I just think PNY could have given it a proper water block so it didn't look like they just came along and glued on a radiator. I mean for criven's sake they've even left the stock shroud and fan on it
It looks like something Mephisto in South Park made...
"Allow me to add some asses to that swine of yours !"Quote
With two regular 580's the top card would run much hotter and having one of these would eliminate that problem. But then again if you want a water cooled card, its better using a block like you said.Quote
The top card is hotter yes. However, with the two cards with that nice space between and then the side panel back on..
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...buron/2-11.jpg
The temp difference was about 2c.Quote
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...buron/2-11.jpg
The temp difference was about 2c.Quote
Yep, if you have that much space between the cards then there is no point, but if there is a lack of space between the slots, this card could be a life saver for some people.Quote
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Originally Posted by yassarikhan786
You could have one of these and a regular one. |
But ofcourse if you have a motherboard that allows you to have space between your cards this wouldn't be a problem.Quote
Yeah you could have one of these and a regular one. And more noise than regular SLI because not only does it have the blower but it also has a 120mm fan.
Making the water cooling part completely pointless as it's noisier than both a stock card and a proper water cooled card.
Not going to bother any more with this discussion. I've had quad SLI set up and running with perfectly acceptable temps and noise levels. Leading me to the conclusion that a pair of regular old 580s could do the job far better, making this card pointless.Quote
Making the water cooling part completely pointless as it's noisier than both a stock card and a proper water cooled card.
Not going to bother any more with this discussion. I've had quad SLI set up and running with perfectly acceptable temps and noise levels. Leading me to the conclusion that a pair of regular old 580s could do the job far better, making this card pointless.Quote
Just know that i agree 100% with you, it's just if you don't want to WC for whatever reason and you don't have space in your case/mobo this COULD be a solution.Quote
I don't think this is something i would buy but it's a nice idea for people who can't build there own loops.Quote
if your going to watercool do it properly imho this just looks like a toy completely useless helps with the temps but not with the noise which doesnt matter because the 580 isnt a oven if you had something like this for the 69xx or 4xx series that reduced temps and noise i would understand but this is just stupid... especially if you had one normal card and one like this would look a bit odd...Quote
I have to admit am surprised by most of the comments here. I have an i7 920 that I OC'ed to 4.1 that has been stable for a couple of years now and I cool it with a loop I made the hard way. Researched it a ton, ordered pump, reservoir, CPU block, tubing, rad, fans and put it all together. So I consider myself a competent OC'er and I am very pleased with the temps, results and I enjoyed the challenge as this was my first rig and loop.
When I built it I put in a GTX 295 which I also wanted to water cool but the idea of pulling apart the card, voiding the warranty, and paying $170+ for a water block just was not worth the effort after I paid $500+ for the card and it could run any game at 60fps already with no fan noise in my case. I just upgraded that 295 to two MSI Lightning gtx 580s in SLI so I could play BF3, MW3 WOW SWTOR etc in DX11 and on ultra settings. The MSI card had great reviews, a decent built-in OC with room for more and is very quiet using the twin frozer III fans included when used as a single card. As one other poster noted many MBs force you to put the two cards on top of each other with no slots in between to allow air to get in. I have a very high airflow case, Antec 1200 with 6 120mm fans (the case has a slot for a side fan to blow right on the graphics cards which I am using as well) and one 200mm on top. My MB is a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 which allows for triple SLI but only two out of three PCIe slots are 16x and they are next to each other, so you can not space out the cards for 2x SLI. When I set up the MSIs I immediately began to OC them since all the reviews said you could get 900 on the core clocks with ease and 950 to 1000 with some voltage increases. Also with the current games you can really see the benefits especially when you are using a 120 hertz monitors and or 3D which really pushes the limits of these cards. I could OC them easily but the temps started climbing like crazy when I did this for the top card. It routinely hit 90C playing WOW in 3d with any OC. This really shocked me, same for BF3 and SWTOR. I had to user define the fan speed protocol just to keep the system from thermal shutdown and even then the top card was pushing 88 to 93C with regular game play with all the case fans on max and the twin frozer fans screaming. In the end I had to not OC them at all to keep temp max at 88C on the top card.
I said all that as I am very pleased that PNY came out with what I thought everyone wanted which is a 580 with a high out of the box OC, self contained liquid cooled card that out performs every other stock 580 in speed, temps, fan noise, and has headroom for even higher OCs at a fantastic price.
I am returning the MSIs and going with two of these cards for those reasons. I am in no way trying to say anything bad about the MSIs except heat & noise can be an issue if you have to put them next to each other. Everything else about them I really liked.
And in response to some of the posts, every review of the card I read said it was quiet and I am sure it makes less noise that those twin frozers at full tilt, I have the ability to build my own loops but I have to ask why would anyone do that with these now available? As I see it I have a choice, I can pay a couple of hundred extra for a card with a built in waterblock and a lower stock overclock, I buy oc'ed cards take them apart throw away parts I paid for and put in an after market block for $150+ and the time and parts it takes to add them to the loop while voiding the warranty, or I can buy one of these for $30-$40 more than a stock card $0-$20 more than other OC'ed cards and have the highest out of the box OC on the market, great temps, and low noise.
Just my 2 centsQuote
When I built it I put in a GTX 295 which I also wanted to water cool but the idea of pulling apart the card, voiding the warranty, and paying $170+ for a water block just was not worth the effort after I paid $500+ for the card and it could run any game at 60fps already with no fan noise in my case. I just upgraded that 295 to two MSI Lightning gtx 580s in SLI so I could play BF3, MW3 WOW SWTOR etc in DX11 and on ultra settings. The MSI card had great reviews, a decent built-in OC with room for more and is very quiet using the twin frozer III fans included when used as a single card. As one other poster noted many MBs force you to put the two cards on top of each other with no slots in between to allow air to get in. I have a very high airflow case, Antec 1200 with 6 120mm fans (the case has a slot for a side fan to blow right on the graphics cards which I am using as well) and one 200mm on top. My MB is a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 which allows for triple SLI but only two out of three PCIe slots are 16x and they are next to each other, so you can not space out the cards for 2x SLI. When I set up the MSIs I immediately began to OC them since all the reviews said you could get 900 on the core clocks with ease and 950 to 1000 with some voltage increases. Also with the current games you can really see the benefits especially when you are using a 120 hertz monitors and or 3D which really pushes the limits of these cards. I could OC them easily but the temps started climbing like crazy when I did this for the top card. It routinely hit 90C playing WOW in 3d with any OC. This really shocked me, same for BF3 and SWTOR. I had to user define the fan speed protocol just to keep the system from thermal shutdown and even then the top card was pushing 88 to 93C with regular game play with all the case fans on max and the twin frozer fans screaming. In the end I had to not OC them at all to keep temp max at 88C on the top card.
I said all that as I am very pleased that PNY came out with what I thought everyone wanted which is a 580 with a high out of the box OC, self contained liquid cooled card that out performs every other stock 580 in speed, temps, fan noise, and has headroom for even higher OCs at a fantastic price.
I am returning the MSIs and going with two of these cards for those reasons. I am in no way trying to say anything bad about the MSIs except heat & noise can be an issue if you have to put them next to each other. Everything else about them I really liked.
And in response to some of the posts, every review of the card I read said it was quiet and I am sure it makes less noise that those twin frozers at full tilt, I have the ability to build my own loops but I have to ask why would anyone do that with these now available? As I see it I have a choice, I can pay a couple of hundred extra for a card with a built in waterblock and a lower stock overclock, I buy oc'ed cards take them apart throw away parts I paid for and put in an after market block for $150+ and the time and parts it takes to add them to the loop while voiding the warranty, or I can buy one of these for $30-$40 more than a stock card $0-$20 more than other OC'ed cards and have the highest out of the box OC on the market, great temps, and low noise.
Just my 2 centsQuote
Follow up to my previous post. I got the PNY's hooked up now in SLI and I could not be more pleased. Factory over clock is higher and temps are way down, I have not hit 60C yet on the same game content that was pushing my top card to 88C and Fans to 90-100%. I was able to turn all of the fans in my case down as well so my rigs overall noise is way down as well. Great cards very pleased customer. I can't wait to OC them higher.Quote
Impressed. I see they also do a PNY GTX 580 Liquid Cooled Graphics Card with CPU Cooling reviewed over at www.pureoverclock.com. Has anyone here used this and is their any chance of seeing it reviewed here?
I have been lurking a while and this is now one of my first ports of call for info. Great stuff. Thanks and kudos to you all. Love Tom's vids. Cheers and hello, Steve.Quote
I have been lurking a while and this is now one of my first ports of call for info. Great stuff. Thanks and kudos to you all. Love Tom's vids. Cheers and hello, Steve.Quote
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Today we look at a rather unique take on an alternate cooling option for the GTX580 from PNY.
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