Hardware PNY XLR8 Liquid Cooled GTX 580 OC 1.5GB Review

Play nice.

 

Not quite understanding how the card uses reference PCB, with reference heatsink plate, reference fan and reference heatsink shell to channel the air in almost exactly the same way......with a fair chunk of the core heat removed.... and ends up with a hotter PCB.

Ah well, the Lightning, DCUII and matrix are cheaper anyway and easier to work with, with better design

 

I think the answer is that the fan does not scale with PCB heat but rather with GPU heat which is greatly reduced in this design.

Cheaper- I am sure prices vary but I got the PNYs for less than the lightnings (and the matrix was more than the lightnings), I think they are about the same cost on ***egg but I dont see the 1.5 lightning on that site right now. The PNY is out of stock there as well but if you hunt around you can find them.

Easier to work with-liquid is always harder and you do have plan for your case so I agree here.

I am not sure we know the others are better designs and only time will tell, the PNY has a higher factory OC which they were willing to do because of the greater cooling, not that the OC will make that much of a real world difference but the design issue comes down to if the GPU will last longer with a high OC to due the superior liquid cooling, or if the non liquid cooled part of the board will have any issues due to higher temps (I addressed by doing a simple custom fan profile). Any hybrid design has questions that only time will tell, but again for anyone doing a OC in SLI with cards in adjacent slots these cards are great for temps, noise, and performance.