VR Devs, Keep Your AMD Radeon Pro Duo Chilled With EK’s Water Block
AMD recently launched the Radeon Pro Duo. The card features two of AMD’s Fiji GPUs, each paired with 4GB of HBM memory, which likely means that it will generate a good deal of heat. AMD chose to primarily market the Radeon Pro Duo to VR game developers, limiting its likely market, but that hasn’t stopped EK Water Blocks from building a better cooler for it.
EKWB launched the EK-FC Radeon Pro Duo full cover water block, which will allow you to add AMD’s flagship graphics card to your custom water cooling setup. EKWB said the block offers the same high-flow design as all of the company’s recent water blocks. The low resistance of EKWB’s micro fin design allows you to reverse the flow of your loop without any adverse effects. It also accommodates pumps with low head pressure.
EKWB is offering the EK-FC Radeon Pro Duo block in two variants. You can get a version with a clear acrylic top, or you can opt for a black Acetal top instead. Both options feature nickel-plated electrolytic copper. EKWB also includes a single-slot I/O bracket with each block. Once you install the block, there’s no reason to use two slots in the back of your case.
The EK-FC Radeon Pro Duo full cover blocks are available for $176.99, and they can be found at the company’s webshop and its network of resellers around the globe. EKWB is also offering an optional backplate to go along with the card. The EK-FC Radeon Pro Duo Backplate is an additional $41.99.
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Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.
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photonboy The Duo was already tested and showed throttling due to temperature down to 90% and that wasn't in a hot room.Reply
Some places get hotter than normal, so there probably is a market.
It surprises me that AMD didn't put in a slightly better liquid cooler. A little thicker radiator or something. -
photonboy Update:Reply
I may be wrong on the throttling. The following is very confusing:
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/AMD-Radeon-Pro-Duo-Review/Clock-Speeds-Power-Consumption-Pricing-and-Conclusi
At the top it reads like the GPU is actually being throttled down due to temperature, but then lower down it says the GPU is at 50degC so that doesn't make sense.
I would guess the benchmark is CPU bottlenecked slightly thus the GPU is automatically throttled down slightly to save power.
(which means a custom cooler only serves the MOD crowd as there appears to be no practical reason) -
Comandante_J Update:
I may be wrong on the throttling. The following is very confusing:
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/AMD-Radeon-Pro-Duo-Review/Clock-Speeds-Power-Consumption-Pricing-and-Conclusi
At the top it reads like the GPU is actually being throttled down due to temperature, but then lower down it says the GPU is at 50degC so that doesn't make sense.
I would guess the benchmark is CPU bottlenecked slightly thus the GPU is automatically throttled down slightly to save power.
(which means a custom cooler only serves the MOD crowd as there appears to be no practical reason)
Extreme overlocking, maybe?