Water-cooling specialist Koolance announced its full-coverage water block that's common for AMD Radeon HD 6970 and Radeon HD 6950 graphics accelerators. The VID-AR697 from Koolance measures 6.25" x 5.75" x 0.62" (15.9cm x 14.6cm x 1.6cm), weighing 1.5 pounds (680 g). Its primary material is nickel-plated copper, with acetal top. Tailored for AMD reference-design PCB, it offers full-coverage, cooling all heat producing components including the GPU, memory chips, and VRM. It uses a 0.5 mm micro-fin array over the GPU for better heat dissipation. The block uses standard G 1/4 BSP threading. The Koolance VID-AR697 is priced at US $114.99.

Water-cooling specialist Danger Den is ready with a full-coverage water block for NVIDIA's recently introduced GeForce GTX 580 graphics card, tailored to fit the NVIDIA reference PCB. The DD-GTX580 from Danger Den uses a monolithic copper base and black chrome top. It is available in two variants depending on the base finish: mirrored, and satin copper, which are priced at US $146.95 and $134.95, respectively. Weighing in at 3.20 lbs (1.45 kg), the block cools all critical components, including the GPU, memory chips, and VRM on the obverse side of the PCB.

EVGA announced a full-fledged lineup of GeForce GTX 580 graphics cards today, consisting of an NVIDIA reference clock speed version (part number: 015-P3-1580-AR), which also serves as the base model, priced at US $499.99. This is followed by a factory-overclocked version that bears the "SuperClocked" marker (part number: 015-P3-1582-AR), carrying slightly higher clock speeds, but sticking to NVIDIA reference board and cooler design. This one is priced at $519.99. The king of the hill is the FTW Hydro Copper 2 variant, which sports top clock speeds, supported by EVGA's iconic Hydro Copper water-block (part number: 015-P3-1589-AR).

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 is based on a new 40 nm GF110 core, it packs 512 CUDA cores, and 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory over a 384-bit memory interface. Its reference clock speeds are 772/1544/4008 MHz (core/CUDA core/memory, GDDR5 effective). For EVGA's SuperClocked variant it's upped to 797/1594/4050 MHz, and for the FTW Hydro Copper 2 Edition it's all the way up at 850/1700/4196 MHz.

Point of View seems to have struck gold with its association with the TGT overclocking team, with the introduction of what they claim to be the "fastest Fermi around". The Point of View TGT GeForce GTX 480 Beast is essentially a top-tier, hand-tested NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 graphics card with a custom-designed full-coverage water block, and a bleeding-edge profile packed into its BIOS. The card is clocked at 810 MHz (core), 1620 MHz (CUDA cores), and 950 MHz (3800 MHz GDDR5 effective) memory. The water-block is carved out of a single piece of nickel-plated copper, with acetal top, and is originally manufactured by Innovatek. As with every other GeForce GTX 480 card, this one is DirectX 11 compliant, and packs 480 CUDA cores, and 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory over a 384-bit wide memory interface. The TGT GTX 480 Beast is priced at €671. A review can be found at the source.

Rouchon Industries, Inc. dba Swiftech today announced the release of the H20-X20 EDGE series of "all-in-one" liquid cooling kits. The kits are composed of a patent pending heat exchanger combining pump and reservoir, and a CPU waterblock, which considerably simplifies the task of installation for the users. The patent pending heat exchangers called MCR Drive (Rev2) come in two sizes: for dual 120mm fans and for triple 120mm fans; they incorporate a new high power pump with variable speed control managed by the motherboard. The Apogee XTL CPU water-block included in the kits is derived from Swiftech's award winning Apogee XT.

Swiftech is counting on the versatility and performance superiority of their kits 'design to attract an expanded range of users. A key factor with respect to versatility is the kit's ability to easily support additional devices such as liquid cooled graphics coolers or extra radiators which is a must-have among power users; the extremely broad performance range of the H20-X20 kits is of equal importance in terms of competitive advantage, as the kits can be tuned to satisfy both ends of the users 'spectrum: from silent operations to extreme cooling; and finally the ease of installation is expected to appeal to quality oriented first-time users.

Swiftech released a pair of hybrid cooling solutions for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480, GTX 470 and GTX 465 graphics cards, that are aimed to provide better cooling compared to full-coverage water blocks. The principle revolves around treating the GPU as a separate thermal zone from the rest of the card, so that water-cooling can focus on cooling the GPU, while heat from the GPU isn't transferred to the rest of the relatively cooler heat producing parts (such as memory chips, VRM FETs, etc.). Swiftech's offer includes MCW-GTX480 and MCW-GTX470 (which should be compatible with GTX 465 reference design, too). These consist of the MCW80 GPU water block that's designed to handle the thermal loads of GF100, and a full-coverage aluminum heatsink that covers all critical heat-producing areas on the PCB, including the memory chips and the VRM. The heatsink is further designed such that the user can mount an 80 mm fan onto it, for even higher cooling performance. The sets are priced lower than most full-coverage water-blocks, the MCW80-GTX480 is priced at $99.95, while the MCW80-GTX470 goes for $98.95.

Koolance introduced one of the first full-coverage water blocks for NVIDIA's recently released GeForce GTX graphics cards. The Koolance VID-NX460 as it is called, is made of nickel-plated copper with an acrylic top and stainless steel film covering it. It measures 6.25" x 5.75" x 0.62" (15.9cm x 14.6cm x 1.6cm), weighing 1.5 lbs (680g). Being a full-coverage block, it cools the GPU, memory, and VRM areas of the card. Internally, the block channels water through a dense micro-fin array that increases heat dissipation area over the GPU, and a pass over the memory/VRM area. The acrylic top has holes from which common 5 mm cylindrical LEDs can be inserted giving the block a glow. The block includes a blue one. The VID-NX460 has G 1/4 threads, nozzles are to be purchased separately. It is priced at US $109.99.

Inno3D is excited to launch the i-ChiLL GeForce GTX 470 Black Series equipped with liquid cooling technology. The "full cover" water-block cools the GPU, Voltage Regulators, I/O chip, memory modules, and other critical components allowing for longer care-free gaming knowing your GPU is well looked after. This is definitely the ultimate cooling solution for enthusiast gamers.

In the i-ChiLL Black Series system, the water block first takes up the heat and passes it to the water flowing into it. Through the hose system, the water carries the heat to the radiator. Once it arrives in the radiator, the water passes the heat to the air via the ribs. The thinner the ribs and the larger the radiator's surface is as a result, the more powerful the cooling system. The "cooled" water flows from the outlet side of the radiator back into the CPU water block. The air flow within the water block is also important in ensuring adequate cooling. That is because the more thermal discharge the water can absorb from the surrounding material in the block, the better the cooling performance.

EVGA started offering the Hydro Copper water-block for GeForce GTX 470 as an accessory. Until now the block was available only as part of the EVGA GTX 470 Hydro Copper FTW graphics card, which is priced at $499.99. With the block being sold loose, users with the air-cooled variants of GTX 470 have the option of upgrading to water-cooling. The Hydro Cooper block costs $139.99.

Manufactured by Swiftech, the EVGA Hydro Copper water-block consists of a central portion from which the coolant flows, this part is directly over the GPU and memory, and makes use of 0.6 x 0.6 mm thin copper pin matrix for heat dissipation. The base consists of chrome electro-plated copper. The other two segments are heatsinks which convey heat to the central portion, cooling the VRM areas. Both both 1/2" and 3/8" high-flow fittings are supported.

EK Water Blocks released as many as eight water blocks for the GeForce 400 series, four each for the GTX 470 and GTX 480. All four carry essentially the same full-coverage monolithic design, but differ with the selection of materials. The EK-FC470 GTX and EK-FC480 GTX are base-models, which are copper-based, and which use clear acrylic tops. These are priced at 74.95€ and 80.00€, respectively. A little higher up, are the EK-FC470 GTX Acetal and EK-FC480 GTX Acetal, which use acetal top. These go for 77.65€ and 82.9€, respectively. A little further, is are the EK-FC470 GTX Nickel and EK-FC480 GTX Nickel, which use nickel-plated copper for the block, with clear acrylic top, priced at 80.95€ and 85.90€, respectively. At the highest-end are the EK-FC470 GTX Acetal+Nickel and EK-FC480 GTX Acetal+Nickel, which use nickel-plated copper blocks with acetal tops, priced at 84.95€ and 89.90€, respectively.

The monolithic full-coverage design ensures cooling for all vital components on the obverse-side of the PCB, including GPU, memory, and VRM. Heat dissipation over the GPU is done by wavy copper ridges. The blocks use G 1/4 threads for the optional fittings. EK has started taking orders for these on its online store.

Without making much noise, Swiftech introduced its latest creation, a successor to the MCW60, the MCW80 universal GPU water-block. This water block has a wide-range of compatibility with this generation of GPUs. It uses a copper block with a high-density pin matrix to increase surface area of heat dissipation. The housing is made of black Delrin. It measures 49.6 x 49.6 x 32.2 mm, and weighs 141 g. The block is compatible with eurostyle fittings with built-in o-ring, and sticks to G 1/4 thread specification for the ports. With the appropriate hold-down, the MCW80 supports the latest GPUs, including ATI Radeon HD 5800/5900 series, and NVIDIA GeForce 400 series. It is priced at US $56.95. The GeForce 400 series kit is coming soon, at a price of $11.99.

Germany-based Aqua Computer is ready with its water-block for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 graphics accelerator, the AquagraFX GTX480. The block is full-coverage and monolithic in design, and cools all vital heat-producing parts of the card. Its main unit is cut from a block of copper. The block weighs 850 g (1.87 lbs). It has a stainless steel top with laser-etched lettering on it. Aqua Computer used distance pieces for all threads. They are pre-assembled so users won't have to fumble around with them. All surfaces which have contact to the GPU/RAM/VRM are high gloss polished (mirror-finish). The block also comes with a small backplate that cools voltage regulators on the reverse-side of the PCB. The company will start shipping these from next week, at a price of 89.90 EUR or around US $101 excl. VAT.

Koolance is ready with water blocks designed for NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 graphics cards. The Koolance VID-NX480 and VID-NX470 are full-coverage water blocks that cool all vital heat-producing components on the obverse side of the PCB, including the GPU, memory and VRM areas. Both measure 6.25" x 5.75" x 0.62" (15.9cm x 14.6cm x 1.6cm), weighing 1.5 lbs (680 g), slim and light enough to make the card occupy a single expansion slot. The block makes use of nickel-plated copper, with an acrylic top. The area over the GPU has an array of 0.5 mm micro-fins that increases surface area for heat dissipation. While the VID-NX480 is priced at US $119, the VID-NX470 goes for $109, as listed on the company store.

Specialists with water-cooling, Danger Den is ready with its first offering for NVIDIA's GeForce 400 series. The block provides full-coverage to the obverse side of the PCB, cooling all critical areas such as the GPU, the memory chips, and the VRM area. Designed for the GeForce GTX 480, it is expected to come in three variants based on materials: 1. all-copper (pictured below), 2. nickel top and copper base, and 3. nickel-top and nickel-plated copper base. The top of the block will have mirror-finish. There is no word on an acrylic-top variant. The three are expected to be priced in the US $140-$150 range. Danger Den will release these by the end of the week, so users could have one ready by the time their GeForce GTX 480 arrives.

Inno3D seems to be in a bit of a hurry to bag the title of "first to come out with a non-reference GeForce GTX 400 graphics card," and is working tirelessly to get there. The company is readying a new "non-reference" graphics card, put in quotes because for the most part it is in fact a reference design. Traditionally, NVIDIA disallows its board partners from designing their own non-reference graphics cards based on newly-launched high-end GPUs, with a few concessions made for designs with factory-fitted water-blocks, or minor cosmetic changes, apart from letting their own sticker design, box design, bundle, and to an extant, pricing.

Inno3D's concession comes in the form of two things: 1. an NVIDIA reference-design PCB, which is now green instead of black, and 2. looking at the pictures, possibly a different cooler shroud design, although internally the cooling assembly remains reference design. Inno3D may roll out graphics cards with reference NVIDIA clock speeds, and also those with higher clock speeds. As with every other GTX 470 made so far, Inno3D's card is based on the GF100 GPU, it is DirectX 11 compliant, packs 448 CUDA cores, and 1.25 GB (1280 MB) of GDDR5 memory across a 320-bit wide interface. It supports 3-way SLI. At this point, there is no word on when exactly the card comes out, or pricing.

CoolIT silently introduced its newest CPU pre-assembled thermoelectric couple water-cooling kit, the Freezone Elite V2. Like the Freezone Elite, the new cooler comprises of a CPU water-block with factory fitted water loop connecting a reservoir, pump, and radiator. Its CPU block has a nickel-plated copper base, its retention modules support sockets LGA775, LGA1366, and AM3/AM2+. Its pump can circulate 210 litres per hour with a noise output of under 15 dBA. Heat is dissipated in a 121 x 82 x 65 mm aluminum radiator, cooled by a 120 mm dual-ball bearing fan that spins at 1100 to 2500 rpm. The CoolIT Freezone Elite V2 should be available soon at a price of 339.99 EUR.

Koolance rolled out its newest CPU water-block, the CPU-360. The new block boasts of broad compatibility with all current CPU socket types, an advanced microfin cold plate with 0.25mm fins, 0.30 mm channels, and an optimized flow path. The cold plate is complemented with a brass top, all metal surfaces have nickel plating to minimize corrosion. The block measures 4.9" x 4.9" x 0.6" (12.5cm x 12.5cm x 1.5xcm), and weighs 411 g (14.5 oz). While the package excludes nozzles, it includes all the retention material needed for Intel sockets LGA-775, LGA-1156, LGA-1366, and AMD sockets AM3/AM2+/AM2. The CPU-360 is listed on Koolance website at US $84.99.

PC water-cooling specialist Koolance is ready with its water-block for the ATI Radeon HD 5970 dual-GPU graphics card. The Koolance VID-AR597 water-block provides full-coverage to the obverse side of the PCB, covering all essential components such as the two AMD Cypress GPUs, the ATI/PLX bridge chip, the VRM areas, and some of the memory chips. From the looks of it, users will have to retain the back-plate for cooling memory chips on the reverse side. The block material is nickel-plated copper, the plating minimizes oxidation of the block, some parts of which are constantly in contact with the water/coolant. It is expected to be available in three days from now, priced at US $140.

Closely trailing the GA-X58A-UD7, Gigabyte is preparing a new high-end socket LGA-1156 motherboard based on the Intel P55 chipset. The GA-P55A-UD7 is touted to lead the new pack of motherboards under the P55A series, which bring technologies such as USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s integrated for the LGA-1156 platform. Observantly, after a very long time, Gigabyte has made use of an NVIDIA nForce chip on its high-end motherboards, certainly the first time it has made use of the nForce 200 PCI-Express bridge chip. Gigabyte made some clever use of its real-estate, especially with regards to the PCI-Express bandwidth.

The LGA-1156 socket is powered by a 24+3 phase circuit. It connects to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. Its PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link is wired to an NVIDIA nForce 200 chip, which gives out 32 PCI-Express 2.0 lanes to ensure support for 3-way NVIDIA SLI, ATI CrossFireX is naturally supported. There are three PCI-Express x16 slots (which arrange into x16, x16, NC; or x16, x8, x8, depending on how they're populated). A PLX-made PCI-Express bridge chip (probably connected to the PCH) ensures full-bandwidth PCI-Express 2.0 x1 connections to the NEC two port USB 3.0 controller, and the two port SATA 6 Gb/s controller made by Marvell. Apart from the six (color-coded blue) SATA 3 Gb/s ports the PCH provides, the two color-coded white ports on the south are SATA 6 Gb/s, while the two on the north are connected to a Gigabyte GSATA2 SATA 3 Gb/s controller, which also gives out an IDE connector.

PC water-cooling components specialist Danger Den is almost ready with its water-block compatible with AMD's upcoming dual-GPU accelerator codenamed "Hemlock". Almost, since the base-plate of the water-block has already been designed and molded, which makes for most of the product in itself, requiring only the top, its sealing, and fittings. The monolithic, full-coverage block base is made of copper. Its top portion reveals its intricately carved water channels. The copper grooves over the areas of the block which make contact with some of the most important components such as the GPU, memory, and bridge chip, increase area of heat dissipation. The block is CrossFire certified, and weighs about 3.00 lbs / 1.37 kg. Danger Den is waiting for an engineering sample from AMD, so it can complete running tests, and name its block after getting clarity on what AMD ends up naming Hemlock. AMD's new flagship graphics accelerator is expected to arrive in time for the crucial X-Mas shopping season.

CoolIT Systems, of the Domino A.L.C. CPU cooler fame, has detailed plans of another turnkey water-cooling system, this time for the ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card. The water-cooling system is factory-assembled, requiring you to merely install the water-blocks on the graphics cards, and placing the radiator, which triples up as the reservoir and pump, in an appropriate location.

From the CGI drawings that the company released, it looks like a single unit of this water-cooling system will be able to cool two Radeon HD 5870 cards. The radiator unit looks to be as big as most radiators that can hold two 120 mm fans per side. The water-blocks look to be full-coverage (on the obverse side of the PCB), and monolithic, while the reverse side of the PCB seems to need to rely on AMD's back-plate. In the upcoming 2 GB variant of the Radeon HD 5870, the back-plate will find greater utility. Water-cooling typically provides higher overclocking headroom, and lower effective noise output. CoolIT's Radeon HD 5870 WC system will be unveiled today at the AMD Technical Forum & Exhibition 2009 in Taipei.

Danger Den continues to extend their broad line of full coverage video card blocks with the new ATI 5870 water block. The DD-5870 block is a single slot solution cooling all of the major heat components including the GPU, RAM, power mofsets, and more.

The DD-5870 block is designed to have superior cooling performance while minimizing the pressure loss across the block. This combined with other Danger Den blocks maintains a high flow rate through the entire system maximizing the cooling performance of all the components.

Slovenian water-cooling components specialist EK Water Blocks is readying one of the first water blocks for the AMD Radeon HD 5870 accelerator. Called EK FCS5870, it is a full-coverage water block from the looks of it, cooling all essential components on the PCB, including the GPU, memory, and VRM. The first picture below shows a CAD drawing of a design candidate. The second one is a picture of the ready copper block sans its top, revealing the water channel, and the heat-dissipation ribs over the GPU area. EK intends to complete the design of the FCS5870 by the end of this month.

Innovatek introduced a new GPU water-block it chooses to call "Universal", while is targeted at upper mid-range graphics cards. Its fittings are along the plane of the block, which covers only the GPU. The block measures 60 x 75 x 25 mm (L x W x H), and weighs around 260 g. It uses a thick copper base. With a mount hole spacing of 53.2 mm, the block supports most popular GPUs in the category it's intended for use on, including GeForce GTS 250 (so it should support all G92 based single-GPU cards), Radeon HD 4000 series (including HD 4870, HD 4850, and below), and Radeon HD 3000 series. It comes with G1/4" fittings. It is priced at around 40 EUR.

Inno3D has its latest offering to the high-end consumer market ready, with the water-block pre-installed GeForce GTX 295 iChill Black Series. This single PCB GeForce GTX 295 accelerator comes with a full coverage single slot water-block that is factory installed. This accelerator packs 1792 MB of GDDR3 memory, 480 shader processors, and is Quad-SLI capable with any other GeForce GTX 295 card. It is believed that the card comes with factory-overclocked settings. What isn't known however, is the pricing and availability.