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Installing The CryoVenom R9 295X2

VisionTek CryoVenom R9 295X2: Two GPUs In One Slot
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All of the included parts appear daunting when they're laid out on a table. But open-loop liquid cooling systems are a lot less complicated than they look. The first step is always good planning, of course. A simple hand drawing of the loop should help you visualize what you're trying to accomplish. Of course this is Tom's Hardware, so we put together something a little fancier. Our order of operations is pump, then the cooling blocks and finally the radiator. Some power users place the pump before the radiator, but we prefer to put it after so that the pump is not heated unnecessarily.

Next, we're going to measure the hose length requirements. It's good practice to perform a dry install so you know exactly where your components will sit and how long the tubing needs to be before you start cutting.

Here's a great example of why careful planning is the way to go. This wasn't a problem with the CryoVenom; this is on me. I could have used the inlet and outlet options on the other side of the graphics card. It's workable on the test bed, but isn't pretty. Fortunately, the freedom to make changes is exactly why an open loop is so attractive to customization-hungry enthusiasts. Closed-loop systems are not adjustable in this respect.

When you know how long your hoses need to be, make sure you have enough length before proceeding. Once cut, the 1/2" tubing (3/8" inside diameter) requires no tools to assemble. Simply sheathe the tube over the inlet or outlet and hand-tighten the compression fitting.

We installed the CryoVenom R9 295X2 on our test bench, so the hose lengths are longer than we'd need in a standard PC case. Nevertheless, there was enough included tubing to do the job.

Other colors are available, but our test card came with blood-red coolant that needed to be mixed in a 1:9 ratio with distilled water. Make sure you don't use tap water because impurities may cause unwanted wear and build-up. If you have a container to store the coolant, you can use that to mix it all. Alternatively, you can put 100ml of coolant in the reservoir and chase it with 900ml of distilled water, continuing until there is enough to reach the maximum level.

We're not done yet. Before we can turn on the PC, we need to purge air bubbles from the system. First, close the fill hole (on the left) so that coolant doesn't leak out when the pump is engaged. Leave the reservoir hole on the right open though, allowing air bubbles to escape.

The pump is powered by a single Molex connector, and in order to get coolant running through the system, we need to switch it on without energizing the PC. To do this, VisionTek includes a power supply connector. To activate the pump, simply disconnect the power supply from the motherboard and clip the connector to the PSU, allowing power to run to the auxilliary power connectors. Remember, running the pump dry will damage it, so only supply power until the coolant falls below the minimum level. After that, stop the pump, open the fill hole, add more coolant, and close the fill hole again. Repeat this process until all of the air has been pushed out of the loop.

While you're doing this, it's important to keep an eye out for leaks. Once the air bubbles in the system have been purged and the liquid coolant is between the minimum and maximum levels as shown on the reservoir, the system is ready to run. You may now plug the reservoir hole and re-insert the power supply connector on the motherboard. Fire up the PC and install drivers as necessary.

No, it's not a cut. I just spilled a little red coolant on my pasty, white leg.No, it's not a cut. I just spilled a little red coolant on my pasty, white leg.

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  • 0 Hide
    youcanDUit , October 13, 2014 12:36 AM
    YOU GOT ZOMBIE BLOOD ON YOUR LEG. YOU'RE INFECTED!

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x87h9y_28-days-later-28-days-later-blood-i_shortfilms
  • 0 Hide
    Nuckles_56 , October 13, 2014 12:53 AM
    I'm impressed with how cool that card runs, and damn is it sexy as well- apart from the price...
  • 2 Hide
    AndrewJacksonZA , October 13, 2014 1:57 AM
    I would *NOT* mind two of these in my computer!!! However, how much are 4x 980s? :-(

    Although the inner geek in me STILL wants two of these cards! :-)
  • 0 Hide
    Nuckles_56 , October 13, 2014 2:06 AM
    Quote:
    I would *NOT* mind two of these in my computer!!! However, how much are 4x 980s? :-(

    Although the inner geek in me STILL wants two of these cards! :-)


    4 gtx 980's will be less than two of these
  • 1 Hide
    ta152h , October 13, 2014 2:25 AM
    With the 390 coming out in a few months, and being moved to 20nm, this is heading towards severe obsolescence in the near future. The magnitude of the change is pretty large, since it's the first shrink in years, and is purported to be an extensive redesign as well.

    It's hard to justify tossing away $1000 away with this in mind. $2000 is even more difficult.

    Yes, new technology is always around the corner, but these days it's often relatively minor, compared to what the 390 will be. We don't get shrinks that often anymore. I'd wait for it, unless you have enough money you can get both with no difficulty. Then, why not?
  • 1 Hide
    B4vB5 , October 13, 2014 3:49 AM
    This card is pretty irrelevant for normal people unless they want it out of spite.

    For computation farms and HPC, it's kinda interesting as you can now stuff 6-7 of these cards on the same motherboard and use 14 GPU's for OpenCL programming before you have to pay the overhead of another node in the farm(mb, cpu,ram,psu,cooling components).
    The question is though if the high price tag and the high power consumption will pay off this cost saving in the long run, or 7x 290x is the better choice?

    Nvidia is irrelevant for HPC/compute farms or at least use to be as they are much slower than AMDs cards.

    If physical space matters and cost not so much, this could be a grand choice for now, simply for being able to stuff 14 GPU on one motherboard. SLI/Xfire dont matter and PCI 3.0 1x is usually enough although WS mb's from Asus with PLX onboard can handle PCI 3.0 8x/16x(well 84 total lanes) for high interaction/communication capability, though this is usually not the case in my experience with HPC via gfx.

    Of cause you could also pick 7x normal 295x2s with extenders to PCI-e ports but then space and adequate cooling becomes a major issue(compute farms are suppose to run the cards at 80-100% most of the time to justify their existance).

    I can see a slim market for this card though. And maybe for 5K gaming for extremist rich people in 3-4x Xfire if that even works and doesn't just falter in actual gaming performance like Linus latest video on the subject showed with 3-4x SLI.
  • 0 Hide
    WilliamChan4 , October 13, 2014 4:28 AM
    What happened to Eyefinity 6? Some time ago, having 6 mini-displayports in a single slot was supposed to be "the way of the future". Surely, if people still have legacy hardware, a simple converter cable would be a much better option than less display bandwidth.
  • 0 Hide
    Haravikk , October 13, 2014 4:28 AM
    $2000 for a graphics card that will probably still be lagging behind in a few years? No thanks! Hell, I'm not sure I'd even spend $2000 in total to make a strong gaming rig, this just seems like one of these things that is only suited to people who feel a crushing burden from having too much money in their bank account, as anyone with any sense can build an extremely good system with $600-700 worth of GPU(s), and even that's still a bit overkill.
  • 2 Hide
    SessouXFX , October 13, 2014 4:34 AM
    Not worth it. Just get 2 970's or 980's and be happy with the outcome.
  • 1 Hide
    kamhagh , October 13, 2014 6:31 AM
    i want one of thooosee :( 
  • 1 Hide
    sea monkey , October 13, 2014 6:33 AM
    Even if this card isn't worth the price for most, especially after the release of the GTX 980, what they've accomplished in terms of heat and size reduction is certainly commendable. It's always neat to see every bit of potential performance squeezed out of a particular architecture.
  • 1 Hide
    warezme , October 13, 2014 7:19 AM
    Knobby kneed. Don't forget, pasty, white, knobby kneed leg.

    Great review though.
  • 0 Hide
    rubix_1011 , October 13, 2014 7:21 AM
    That is a great pump/reservoir combo from EK, by the way. I used the EK branded version for my own mITX build a few weeks ago...it's excellent for any watercooling loop. Happy to see it being used in something like this, as well.
  • 0 Hide
    Musaab , October 13, 2014 10:20 AM
    Intel Core i7-5820K 390$
    Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WIFI 300$
    Kingston Technology HyperX Predator 16GB Kit 2800MHz 253$
    2x EVGA EVGA GTX980 ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 1100$
    2x Water Blocks for GTX980 250$
    XSPC Raystorm AX360 Extreme Universal CPU Water Cooling Kit w/ D5 Photon 265$
    Total 2558$
    Do your math. for extra 500$ you can get dream machine and the total pack consume power less than singel graphics card.
  • 1 Hide
    rubix_1011 , October 13, 2014 10:36 AM
    'Dream Machine' means different things to different people. There isn't a one size fits all hardware list that corrects any retail price point without causing debate in other areas.
  • 0 Hide
    g-unit1111 , October 13, 2014 11:18 AM
    I'm curious as to why the test PC - the CPU is air cooled but the GPU is liquid cooled? If this is running on a three fan radiator couldn't you route the tubing so it goes through a CPU water block and the GPU water block? Is the cooling system capable of that?
  • 0 Hide
    rubix_1011 , October 13, 2014 11:23 AM
    Technically you could, although everything I'm seeing lists this dual GPU graphics card around 500w TDP. This is really almost beginning to push the thermal boundaries of an acceptable delta-T on this 360 radiator, although I don't know exactly what it is capable of in terms of cooling potential. If you had some really good fans on this, you could potentially drop this card and a stock CPU into the loop, but even then I'd question the delta with the one radiator. When you consider that a typical CPU is around 90-125w TDP at stock speeds, you're asking a single 360 rad to be able to dissipate over 600w of heat (potentially at 100% load) just at stock speeds of both CPU and this dual GPU.

    That's a bit much. However, you could easily just add another radiator...that DDC pump is more than capable of that.
  • 0 Hide
    IInuyasha74 , October 13, 2014 11:33 AM
    I do feel that everyone should give them an A for effort at the very least. Wouldn't take too much to turn that water cooler to work for the CPU also and it looks cool. Its too bad that these cards are quickly being out valued by the next generation of cards, but this is easily the best thing VisionTek has ever done so it gives me hope that they will have better designed coolers in the future for all of their cards.
  • 1 Hide
    WyomingKnott , October 13, 2014 1:39 PM
    I think that they did a magnificent job of meeting all the complaints of their rarified-air, highest-end gaming customers. I suspect that with development costs factored in this will be a loss for them, but it will
    1) Get them a heck of a lot of "cred."
    2) Pave the way for them to yell "first" in the single-slot card market for more mainstream gaming cards. And I suspect that that could gain them significant market share.

    EDIT: A small nitpick. "VisionTek's card weighs a substantial 1.564 kilograms." Kilograms ain't weight. Was this an artifact of translation?
  • 0 Hide
    Musaab , October 13, 2014 2:25 PM
    EVGA do water cooled cards for ages with out this much fuzz in fact ASUS made hybrid air/water cooled cards
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