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InvisiBill
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2003
- Messages
- 2,608
INTRO: I stumbled across the Kraken G10 on sale a while back. I hadn't been paying much attention to hardware, so I wasn't familiar with it. I looked it up, thought it was cool, and found a deal on a Tt Water 3.0 Performer to go with it. The intention was to put it on my HD5870, which previously had an Accelero Twin Turbo Pro installed on it to quiet things down, but had been left stock after a warranty replacement.
Before I got a chance to put it on the HD5870, I upgraded to an EVGA GTX970 SSC ACX 2.0+. This is the revised "2.0+" model, which includes a cooling plate for the memory and VRMs among its improvements. This 970 runs pretty quiet and cool stock, but I figured I might as well throw the AIO on since I already had the parts.
Here's what the card looks like with the stock cooler removed. The stock cooler uses the inner holes, which are spaced at 48mm. It also has holes at 58mm, which is one of the G10's options. I have the G10 backplate installed here, and you can see the mounting bolts sticking up through the card.
With the quiet settings in the BIOS, the fans stay completely off until it hits 60°C. The MMCP is cooled only by whatever air the fans push down through the cooler, which is none when the GPU is <60°C. In normal usage, the fans only spin up to about 350RPM to keep it cooled in the 60s, so the MMCP isn't getting a ton of air in any situation. Combined with the fact that the G10 puts the fan over the rear half of the card (the VRMs on the GTX970 are in front of the GPU), I decided not to bother with the rather large bracket of the G10. I used the G10 bracket as a template and drilled holes at 58mm in the TtW3's included CPU bracket, and basically just followed the G10's instructions, but substituting the CPU bracket in place of the G10's bracket/fan.
I was worried that the diameter of the cooler would be too big for the GPU opening in the MMCP, and I'd have to cut a bigger hole or use a shim. Luckily, the waterblock part of the cooler is smaller than the upper pump part, and easily fits inside the GPU cutout of the MMCP.
Here's a profile shot showing the G10 backplate, the PCB, the MMCP, and the cooler held down with the CPU bracket.
The only real issue is that the CPU bracket hangs over the 6-pin power socket. It doesn't contact it at all, but it prevents the plug from latching onto the socket.
And here's what it looks like on the card.
To permanently mount the 120mm rad, I need to get an adapter as all of my available fan bays are 140mm. For my first test, I simply set the rad in the case behind one of the stock 140mm intake fans. For now, I installed one of the TtW3's fans on it, and have it hooked up to the video card's fan header (the pump is connected to a mobo fan header running at 100%). FYI, the TT-1225 fans included with the TtW3 are .38A each, while the stock cooler's fans are .55A each. After playing with the fan curve for a bit, I got the GPU to peak at 65°C with the fan at 45% (1800RPM) during a 5 minute Furmark run. I played HotS for a while, and the fan never ramps up enough to get louder than my other case fans and the GPU peaked at 49°C. I'm planning to get a different bracket to avoid the conflict with the power connector. That will allow me to replace the G10 backplate and sell the whole G10, plus I won't have to look at a chopped up CPU bracket on my GPU.
FINAL THOUGHTS: This was a relatively cheap and easy way to add watercooling to my GPU. EVGA's GTX970 SSC ACX 2.0+ seems to make a great candidate for this mod, providing the cooling plate for the rest of the card and enough room to mount the AIO. The G10 is a nice way for just about anyone to add an AIO to their GPU. However, the G10's bracket is rather large and may not be optimal for your specific card's layout. Even without using their bracket, the rest of the G10 hardware is pretty nice and makes for an easy, good-looking install just by drilling a few new holes in the CPU bracket. No, it's not real watercooling, but I get a lot of the benefits with less effort and money invested. It's sort of like a DIY, non-FC version of the (abandoned) CoolIT Omni.
Before I got a chance to put it on the HD5870, I upgraded to an EVGA GTX970 SSC ACX 2.0+. This is the revised "2.0+" model, which includes a cooling plate for the memory and VRMs among its improvements. This 970 runs pretty quiet and cool stock, but I figured I might as well throw the AIO on since I already had the parts.
Here's what the card looks like with the stock cooler removed. The stock cooler uses the inner holes, which are spaced at 48mm. It also has holes at 58mm, which is one of the G10's options. I have the G10 backplate installed here, and you can see the mounting bolts sticking up through the card.
With the quiet settings in the BIOS, the fans stay completely off until it hits 60°C. The MMCP is cooled only by whatever air the fans push down through the cooler, which is none when the GPU is <60°C. In normal usage, the fans only spin up to about 350RPM to keep it cooled in the 60s, so the MMCP isn't getting a ton of air in any situation. Combined with the fact that the G10 puts the fan over the rear half of the card (the VRMs on the GTX970 are in front of the GPU), I decided not to bother with the rather large bracket of the G10. I used the G10 bracket as a template and drilled holes at 58mm in the TtW3's included CPU bracket, and basically just followed the G10's instructions, but substituting the CPU bracket in place of the G10's bracket/fan.
I was worried that the diameter of the cooler would be too big for the GPU opening in the MMCP, and I'd have to cut a bigger hole or use a shim. Luckily, the waterblock part of the cooler is smaller than the upper pump part, and easily fits inside the GPU cutout of the MMCP.
Here's a profile shot showing the G10 backplate, the PCB, the MMCP, and the cooler held down with the CPU bracket.
The only real issue is that the CPU bracket hangs over the 6-pin power socket. It doesn't contact it at all, but it prevents the plug from latching onto the socket.
And here's what it looks like on the card.
To permanently mount the 120mm rad, I need to get an adapter as all of my available fan bays are 140mm. For my first test, I simply set the rad in the case behind one of the stock 140mm intake fans. For now, I installed one of the TtW3's fans on it, and have it hooked up to the video card's fan header (the pump is connected to a mobo fan header running at 100%). FYI, the TT-1225 fans included with the TtW3 are .38A each, while the stock cooler's fans are .55A each. After playing with the fan curve for a bit, I got the GPU to peak at 65°C with the fan at 45% (1800RPM) during a 5 minute Furmark run. I played HotS for a while, and the fan never ramps up enough to get louder than my other case fans and the GPU peaked at 49°C. I'm planning to get a different bracket to avoid the conflict with the power connector. That will allow me to replace the G10 backplate and sell the whole G10, plus I won't have to look at a chopped up CPU bracket on my GPU.
FINAL THOUGHTS: This was a relatively cheap and easy way to add watercooling to my GPU. EVGA's GTX970 SSC ACX 2.0+ seems to make a great candidate for this mod, providing the cooling plate for the rest of the card and enough room to mount the AIO. The G10 is a nice way for just about anyone to add an AIO to their GPU. However, the G10's bracket is rather large and may not be optimal for your specific card's layout. Even without using their bracket, the rest of the G10 hardware is pretty nice and makes for an easy, good-looking install just by drilling a few new holes in the CPU bracket. No, it's not real watercooling, but I get a lot of the benefits with less effort and money invested. It's sort of like a DIY, non-FC version of the (abandoned) CoolIT Omni.