The Impetus: PNY’s Liquid-Cooled GeForce GTX 580 Graphics In SLI
GeForce GTX 580 round-ups are “so last-season,” and PNY’s parts arrived just as we were putting away the white summer wear. Fashion jokes aside, we simply didn’t have any more comparisons lined up when these parts arrived in our lab, but knew we could do great things with any GeForce GTX 580 factory-overclocked by 11% (to 857 MHz).
Simplified maintenance is a key advantage sealed liquid cooling has over do-it-yourself open loops, and increased radiator size is its key advantage over standard air-cooled parts. The biggest problem with sealed systems is that they can’t be disassembled and combined. So, if you have two kits, you have to find room for two radiators. Often, that simply isn't possible.
In case you didn’t notice (we didn’t at first), PNY included two different products for this build. Its XLR8 VCGGTX580XPB-LC-CPU is equipped with two fans, a double-thick (48 mm) radiator, and a CPU cooling block, while its XLR8 VCGGTX580XPB-LC has only a single-thickness radiator, a single fan, and no CPU cooling components.
The –CPU version of this GeForce GTX 580 includes mounting hardware for AMD’s Sockets AM2/AM2+/AM3 and Intel’s LGA 1155/1156/1366, plus an extra set of larger mounting screws for an upcoming Intel socket that uses a built-in support mechanism.