EKWB Announces Radeon R9 280X Water Block Compatibility

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EKWB has released compatibility information for water blocks that fit on the just-released R9-280X graphics card from AMD.

EKWB has announced the compatibility of its water blocks on the new AMD Radeon R9-280X graphics cards.

EKWB explains that due to the similarities between the older Radeon HD 7970 and the new Radeon R9-280X, and since there was no official reference design for the PCB, most of the AIB partners have decided to either re-use the older reference design (AMD 109-C38637) or proprietary designs, including Asus' DirectCUII boards. EKWB has also renamed the EK-FC7970 Matrix to the EK-FX R9-280X Matrix, just to prevent confusion.

Because of this, EKWB has announced that its older EK-FC7970 CSQ series of water blocks, or other EKWB EK-FC7970 series of water blocks, will work on the according graphics cards. EKWB has also announced that it has added compatibility in the compatibility database to make finding a water block for your new Radeon R9-280X easier.

Lastly, EKWB also announced that it is working on a water block for the upcoming Radeon R9-290X, and that the official blocks will be available starting October 18, 2013.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • gsxrme
    Hah yes AMD refresh release. Well now im not worried about titan killer from 290x because the 280x can hardly keepup with the gtx770. 290x is a gtx780 market. I guess ill wait for Maxwell .... :(
    Reply
  • ammaross
    The 280X is of similar performance to a stock 770. Unfortunately for AMD, the 770 has OC headroom that makes it the better option, albeit for $50 more...

    However, the 290X will obviously be /better/ than the 280X, thus will probably slide well ahead of the 770, but less than Titan, and be inline with a proper $/performance for the ~$650 range.
    Reply
  • cats_Paw
    Good idea. Especially since few games can put pressure on even nVidia 500 sereis and AMD 6000 series nowdays (perhaps not maxed and fullhd but still).
    I think im better of waiting till the investment has a reason behind it.
    Reply
  • realibrad
    @ gsxrme

    Considering that the 290 is a different design than the 280, you can't draw any conclusions about what the 290 can or can't do. The 280X is just a refresh of the 7970 card, and the 290 will have a new design, and the benchmarks of that chip have yet to be released.

    Reply
  • hannibal
    @ gsxrme
    The balance of 290X is very different from 280X (and 7970) In some tasks it will be much faster in some other, it will be guite near the older sibling. So you are right, it is not easy to draw conclusion about 290X based on 7970.

    Reply
  • gsxrme
    What upsets me is with the launch price of $650 or $599 the push for highend cards like the Titan or the fully unleased & unlocked Nvidia K6000 "currently no Geforce version" that has 2880 cuda cores will not release for the market nor prices of current hardware will not lower.

    Take back the Maxwell comments the refresh refresh refresh may release first. We all know the K6000 will release but for what price? This is really reminding me of the 8800Ultra vs 8800GTX days.. gr...
    Reply
  • zniiiv
    the author of the first comment must feel stupid now...lol
    Reply