ECS Hydra Watercooled 9800 GTX+ SLI pack - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 9th Oct 2008, 12:08

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...gtx-sli-pack/1

Water, water everywhere! Well, only if you've fitted it wrong! We take a look at a pre-watercooled pair of 9800 GTX+ cards in SLI from ECS to see if they can compete with the newer GPUs. Can the 9800 GTX+ ride the wave of awesome frame rates, or is it just all washed out? We find out!

Matticus · 9th Oct 2008, 12:13

Well let me be the first to say, "What the hell!?!?"
What sort of nutter would buy that pack, you could build much the same thing for cheaper, probably get better results and have the satisfaction of knowing you had done it.

Baz · 9th Oct 2008, 12:49

And it probably wouldn't fall apart either.

liratheal · 9th Oct 2008, 12:57

What the hell is that?

It's not a graphics card pack. Can't be. Even OEM cards made from match sticks and epoxy look better than those things :/

Probably perform better too..

Naberius · 9th Oct 2008, 13:10

What the hell were they thinking, looks like crap.

naokaji · 9th Oct 2008, 13:37

Quote:

We really struggle to see the point of fitting watercooling on a card, only to whack an air cooler on top of it; it’s as if ECS or Thermaltake didn’t trust the waterblock alone to cool the GPU, and the result is that appears to be an utterly redundant air cooler tacked onto the cards.

Quote:

Unsurprisingly, the naff blue LED paddle fans had absolutely no effect on the operational temperatures of the cards, so are almost certainly better off being left switched off or removed from the cards completely, but the real surprise here was the noise made by the Bigwater 760is’s 120mm cooling fan – it’s significantly louder than anything else in our test system at full speed, and even at half speed, it's much noisier than the stock 9800 GTX+ air cooler when it’s spinning at full speed.

Quote:

Physics fans will immediately spot the problem here – hot air rises, so it’s not exactly a thermally efficient design, and the fact that the hot air is being exhausted directly down and into your case, not out of it, won’t help your system temperatures a great deal either.

Three reasons to not buy that Thermaltake WC solution (or in this case the cards that have it bundled) and all without even comparing it to a real wc solution... wow.. that has to be some kind of negative rec for Thermaltake.

The boy 4rm oz · 9th Oct 2008, 14:08

I saw this last month in one of the PC gaming mags here in Oz. My first reaction was "OMG crap in a box" lol, sadly I wasn't mistaken. A few years back when I knew absolutely nothing about water cooling I considered a Thermaltake system with that GPU block to cool my 8800GTX. Thankfully I looked up Danger Den and my tastes have been getting more expensive ever since lol.

Jojii · 9th Oct 2008, 16:25

Sounds like its time to bust out the volt modding walkthrough using these cards! Or would that piss somebody off who wants these cards back?

Jipa · 9th Oct 2008, 16:56

It's utter crap, isn't it? Just my 2 cents ofc... I just don't see why and who would ever buy this?

zr_ox · 9th Oct 2008, 18:12

I dont know where to begin because there appear to be so many flaws? What a mess.

Fistly why bother with the fans on the water blocks...they really dont get what water cooling is about!
Secondly why then choose to use a molex to power the fan's...did they forget about the fan header on the PCB?
Thirdly why use a monstrosity of a fan on the radiator...again they really dont get what water cooling is about!

This is clearly aimed at someone who has not got the foggiest about anything really :|

Denis_iii · 9th Oct 2008, 18:25

ouch! ECS got fragged lol They should know better, in this day and age you can't put out a shoddy product.

bob_lewis · 9th Oct 2008, 18:30

Interesting, Guru3D seemed to like it...
http://www.guru3d.com/article/ecs-ge...tx-hydra-sli/1

Nitrix · 9th Oct 2008, 18:32

Loving the Full cover blocks with Fans...... i mean really WTF.....

Tim S · 9th Oct 2008, 19:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob_lewis

Interesting, Guru3D seemed to like it...
http://www.guru3d.com/article/ecs-ge...tx-hydra-sli/1

Bizarre, it's like we were looking at two different products.

liratheal · 9th Oct 2008, 20:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim S

Bizarre, it's like we were looking at two different products.

I've had too much to drink to work out if you're being sarcy.. Advice plz.

darklord of chaos · 9th Oct 2008, 20:51

interesting idea but very poor execution used to have a thermaltake water cooling kit they are bad to put it politely

Tim S · 9th Oct 2008, 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by liratheal

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim S

Bizarre, it's like we were looking at two different products.

I've had too much to drink to work out if you're being sarcy.. Advice plz.

Well, their opinion is almost the polar opposite of ours, so either we were unlucky, they were lucky, or we looked at two different products. I suppose my comment was a little sarcy, but I was just pointing out that we had a completely different experience with the same product.

liratheal · 9th Oct 2008, 21:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim S

Well, their opinion is almost the polar opposite of ours, so either we were unlucky, they were lucky, or we looked at two different products. I suppose my comment was a little sarcy, but I was just pointing out that we had a completely different experience with the same product.

Ah. The slightly different review titles got me. I was sat there wondering whether they actually were reviewing another product.

Thank god for Strongbow being as distracting as it is, though.

Side note: Why does anyone trust Thermaltakes W/C products? I mean, sure, TT make cases that weigh as much as a small moon, but that hardly qualifies them as W/C experts..

naokaji · 9th Oct 2008, 21:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by liratheal

Side note: Why does anyone trust Thermaltakes W/C products? I mean, sure, TT make cases that weigh as much as a small moon, but that hardly qualifies them as W/C experts..

To say it with the review:

Quote:

t’s as if ECS or Thermaltake didn’t trust the waterblock alone to cool the GPU, and the result is that appears to be an utterly redundant air cooler tacked onto the cards.

bjrcboy · 9th Oct 2008, 21:25

Personally I LOVE the idea of a "all in one box" watercooled sli setup but it needs work. I surely would pay a tad bit more if I could buy a quality kit(danger den, swifttech, Innovatek, ect) all in one box WITH a complete warranty... A warranty is like car insurance to me.. You hope you never need it but if something happens and you DO need it you regret not getting it!

9th Oct 2008, 12:08	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	ECS Hydra Watercooled 9800 GTX+ SLI pack http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...gtx-sli-pack/1 Water, water everywhere! Well, only if you've fitted it wrong! We take a look at a pre-watercooled pair of 9800 GTX+ cards in SLI from ECS to see if they can compete with the newer GPUs. Can the 9800 GTX+ ride the wave of awesome frame rates, or is it just all washed out? We find out! __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

9th Oct 2008, 12:13	#2
Matticus Do me a favour, plug me into a Sega Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Peterborough Posts: 1,412	Well let me be the first to say, "What the hell!?!?" What sort of nutter would buy that pack, you could build much the same thing for cheaper, probably get better results and have the satisfaction of knowing you had done it. __________________ \|\|\|E8200@3.4ghz\|\|\|GA-P35-DS3L\|\|\|4GB OCZ/Corsair DDR2 800\|\|\|8800GT 512mb\|\|\|VX450w\|\|\|Under Water\|\|\|

9th Oct 2008, 12:57	#4
liratheal Just got a great book on tape Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: High Wycombe, UK Posts: 3,637	What the hell is that? It's not a graphics card pack. Can't be. Even OEM cards made from match sticks and epoxy look better than those things :/ Probably perform better too.. __________________ Gigabyte MA790FX, X4 9950 Black Edition, 8gb Geil Black Dragon, 2x4870 512mb, Antec TruePower Quattro 850w I game, Do you?

9th Oct 2008, 16:56	#9
Jipa Licenced idiot. Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Tampere, Finland Posts: 3,067	It's utter crap, isn't it? Just my 2 cents ofc... I just don't see why and who would ever buy this? __________________ Abit IP35 - E6750 - 8800GT 1024 MB - 2 GB 800 MHz - enough HDDs - 750 W Silverstone - CM Storm Sniper Asus P5Q-VM - Q9450 - 4 GB - 400 W Silverstone - Fortress FT01 AllTheMods - MetkuMods - LedCalc

9th Oct 2008, 18:12	#10
zr_ox Whooolapoook Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Stalking Orco Posts: 1,117	I dont know where to begin because there appear to be so many flaws? What a mess. Fistly why bother with the fans on the water blocks...they really dont get what water cooling is about! Secondly why then choose to use a molex to power the fan's...did they forget about the fan header on the PCB? Thirdly why use a monstrosity of a fan on the radiator...again they really dont get what water cooling is about! This is clearly aimed at someone who has not got the foggiest about anything really :\| __________________ 0ptimizm :PC under review

9th Oct 2008, 12:49	#3
Baz Benchmarketeer bit-tech Staff Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Ruislip Posts: 589	And it probably wouldn't fall apart either.

9th Oct 2008, 13:10	#5
Naberius Multimodder Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Posts: 193	What the hell were they thinking, looks like crap.

9th Oct 2008, 16:25	#8
Jojii hardware freak Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Nevada, USA Posts: 121	Sounds like its time to bust out the volt modding walkthrough using these cards! Or would that piss somebody off who wants these cards back?

9th Oct 2008, 18:25	#11
Denis_iii Hypermodder Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 874	ouch! ECS got fragged lol They should know better, in this day and age you can't put out a shoddy product.

9th Oct 2008, 18:30	#12
bob_lewis A natural, like Tyrone. Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Sweden Posts: 4	Interesting, Guru3D seemed to like it... http://www.guru3d.com/article/ecs-ge...tx-hydra-sli/1

9th Oct 2008, 18:32	#13
Nitrix Aquatuning UK Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: UK Posts: 209	Loving the Full cover blocks with Fans...... i mean really WTF..... __________________ *Aquatuning UK Sales Manager* Become a Fan of Aquatuning on facebook

9th Oct 2008, 20:51	#16
darklord of chaos Modder Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 51	interesting idea but very poor execution used to have a thermaltake water cooling kit they are bad to put it politely __________________ Knowledge is good.... imagination is better - albert enstien main rig: .....under repair... I used too big a hammer

9th Oct 2008, 21:25	#20
bjrcboy Minimodder Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 38	Personally I LOVE the idea of a "all in one box" watercooled sli setup but it needs work. I surely would pay a tad bit more if I could buy a quality kit(danger den, swifttech, Innovatek, ect) all in one box WITH a complete warranty... A warranty is like car insurance to me.. You hope you never need it but if something happens and you DO need it you regret not getting it!