FrankPooleFloating wrote:I have read more than a couple reviews of Arctic's various coolers (not just hybrid), where most everyone says those backside heatsinks are useless... Tom, if Rahi has a backplate, could he not use that, rather than that ridiculous heatsink?
it depends on the backplate =) I mean, just recently I disassembled one of 780 model (6GB, non ref cooler etc.) - everything looks good, as I will not use that cooler anyway.. but what I noticed surprised me to say the least =) Backplate was for cosmetic purpuse only - it wasn't even touching anything on the back side!!! Only washers under it - these were the only contact points =) so for sure I could say some backplates are prety worthless..
..but there are situations where backplate get's very hot (like on my 670 from EVGA) & that depends on PCB design & how they scatter elements around, what bios are seated. I would look how the card runs, try to disassemble it & use simple logic to see what was factory cooled or not. Then try to think..if You're going to OC memory, why not put some heatsinks or better backplate, but if not..- leave pure airflow.
TitanBlacks seems to run good enough on air =) though I do not OC it at all =) no heatsings needed or such, but if I put it under water with full cover waterblcok, paying like 20$/eu for backplate seems to be not so bad of idea either..but I would get good one (like ek or such) so it would act as a heat spreader & not just barrier for airflow =) so it depends..guess there are various answers to this =)
