Recently Overclockers UK stopped selling the 7970 with the XSPC Razor waterblock pre-installed, and I was wondering if anyone knows where I might be able to buy one? I don't have the guts to attempt to install my own, and I wouldn't be saving much money at all by installing my own anyway, as the price of the GPU at overclockers was £409.56, so I'd much rather buy one with the waterblock preinstalled. Thanks.
Installing a GPU block is much scarier than installing a CPU, NB/SB, or RAM block, but is really easy. I can't find any 7970s with a block installed, only 680s, but, if you were to buy an MSI Twin Frozr (non Lightning), and a reference block, like a Heatkiller GPU3, then the installation is really easy.
I do really like the XSPC Razer one, but it says reference cards only. Sorry to be a total noob, I'm but I'm not really sure what that means. I gather that the cards that have the red and black heatsink design are all reference, but I don't know which (if any) are also reference cards. Sorry to be a pest, but which 7970 would you reccomend that is a reference design for overclocking? Thanks for the swift reply!
Reference card means the official AMD PCB, or printed circuit board. Certain cards, like the MSI Lightning 7970, and Asus DCUII, use custom PCBs, either to accomodate more hardware, different hardware, or cooling, etc. The MSI non-Lightning 7970, i.e., the MSI Twin Frozr, is reference. If you can find a red/black one, though, those are also reference. I recommend the MSI Twin Frozr over all other cards in that price-range for OCing. It looks great with the "stock" cooler, and is completely voltage unlocked. Having a black PCB is nice, as well. Also, the XSPC Razer is discontinued for the 7970 reference series.
Thanks so much, you have been really helpful. I will look into getting the MSI Twin Frozr then! Thanks again.
No problem :)
The razer discontiued for the 7970 ?
I see it in stock in a bunch of stores right now, and im pretty sure they released it within the last 6 months aswell
http://shop.xs-pc.com/xsp/XSPC-Razor-7970_25734.html
This is the waterblock I think BeyondNight was talking about. At any rate, it was the waterblock I was talking about, so I think I may be in luck! http://shop.xs-pc.com/xsp/XSPC-Full-Cover-Razor-7970-New-Style_36736.html
This is what i was talking about http://shop.xs-pc.com/xsp/XSPC-Full-Cover-Razor-7970-New-Style_36736.html
Oh - my mistake!