BF2S Forums EVGA GTX 295 Backplate- For Panza

for some reason I can't figure out why would I need this. My temps are fine, card is rock solid stable and not going to get quad sli. And don't really feel like taking off all the screws holding that sandwich together. God know what this will do to the warranty.

edit: out of curiosity I'll place a temp sensor right over the GPU back and see is there really any point even considering this.

Last edited by GC_PaNzerFIN (2009-01-21 17:49:27)

Yes, but it looks fucking cool. So buy it!

Panzer:  Uuh.... if you REALLY think that your warranty would be void, then you don't seem to know anything about eVGA's warranty.  They seem to cover damn near everything but blatantly obvious intentional physical damage.  You don't even have to remove the heatsink between the cards to install the backplate.  In case you've never swapped out a stock heatsink on a video card for an aftermarket version, they don't just fall off the second the screws are removed.  There's usually quite a bit of effort required to separate the heatsink from the card.  usually have to do a fair bit of slight twisting back and forth.  Not only that... even if you WERE to remove the heatsink, and had to RMA the card later because something went wrong... eVGA doesn't care, because changing the heatsink is covered in their warranty, which is something few companies actually allow in their warranty terms.  Granted you'd want to put the stock heatsink back on, since there's a chance you might not get yours back.

As for your whole test where it only reached 45C at the back of the card.... let's think about it this way.  If the back of the exposed PCB on the GTX 295 is at 45C.... what do you think could happen if you were to put the backplate on... which comes with a thermal pad... and is made of aluminum?  If that cools off the PCB, there's a HIGH chance it'll also help keep the GPU cooler, seeing as they idle at around 10C hotter than that.  Had the temperature you witnessed been around room temperature, then yeah, the backplate would be useless.  but seeing as the back of the PCB right behind the GPU is 10C cooler than the GPU, i seriously doubt that the ambient temperature is anywhere close to 45C / 113F.... in Finland.

Last edited by ElementalDragon (2009-01-28 17:36:42)

I'm possibly reading this wrong, but you pay £10 for a little sheet of aluminum and some screws?


Riiiiiight...

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

FatherTed wrote:

I'm possibly reading this wrong, but you pay £10 for a little sheet of aluminum and some screws?


Riiiiiight...

yep... and looks like its sold only in evga site so 10£ + shipping...

won't be worth that what... maybe 2c difference lol.

Quite.

You could just mod a few more fans on and keep the change!

Well..... i wouldn't exactly say that.  Yes..... it's an aesthetics upgrade... but apparently it's also QUITE the cooling upgrade.... at least quite a bit more than 2C

http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/inde … .msg517193

not really a difference at idle, but seems to help a LOT at load.

And no... i don't think "more fans" will help with the cooling all that much.  There's only so many fans you can use before good airflow turns into turbulence and dead-spots.

Last edited by ElementalDragon (2009-01-28 18:02:07)

i'm actually thinking about buying one (and no... not just because of that link.  actually thought it needed one from the get-go).  Find it kind of odd to not believe it'd have a somewhat high impact.  Yes, it kind of seems unbelievable.... but then again, the GTX 295 isn't the only video card to have attempted the backplate cooling method either.  Granted i'm not sure how much of an impact those may or may not have made.... but i get the feeling it did something.... i mean some of them even had heatpipes on the backplate that didn't seem to go anywhere but to a different section of the backplate.

And i just looked at eVGA's forums.  People there seem to be seeing roughly 10C drops with the backplate.  still quite worth it for a card that can quite easily go up to 80C in Crysis: Warhead

Last edited by ElementalDragon (2009-01-28 18:23:49)

30c lol.

erm just no

I dunno.  Like people have been saying.... maybe somehow the heat is also being transferred from the copper heatsink between the cards to the backplate with the screws... which there are quite a few of.  Granted it wouldn't be very much.... but it'd probably help. ~80-90C is HOT!

ElementalDragon wrote:

I dunno.  Like people have been saying.... maybe somehow the heat is also being transferred from the copper heatsink between the cards to the backplate with the screws... which there are quite a few of.  Granted it wouldn't be very much.... but it'd probably help. ~80-90C is HOT!

i am 99% sure heat is not being transferred through the screws to the backplate.  hell, the backplate doesn't have a fan on it.  it's not going to dissipate that much heat before the ambient air around it gets hot too.  that's a dead spot in most cases.

80-90C isn't really that hot, considering that's max load with (i assume to be) stock fan speeds.  a little rivatuner ---> fan speeds up to 50% or so will fix that nicely.

ElementalDragon wrote:

uuh.... i actually OWN a GTX 295, and i can tell you that even at 80C, the fan's speed is already ramped up to around 50%.  it's automatically set to 41% at idle to keep it around mid-high 50's at idle.

okay?  so just raise the fan speed more.

if you really want to, get the backplate.  i hear there are some miraculous temp reductions with it - even up to 30C!!!

it's not too fun to have to turn the fan speed up any further.  even at around 50%, it's noticable over game noises.... at least at the volume i tend to play Crysis: Warhead at (Auzentech control panel volume at around 67%, Z-5500 control center volume at around a bar and a half).