RTX 2070 or should I upgrade - going under water

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Limp Gawd
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Jul 25, 2006
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I want to add my GPU to my water loop but I am not sure if the effort and cost are worth it. I am running an MSI Ventus 2070 right now and performance is fine for my setup. However, the water block is $120+ but I am not sure if it's worth the effort and cost considering it is now a couple of years old. The cost of the water block is pretty consistent regardless of the GPU, so the question becomes do I want to go through the hassle of draining the loop, buying a block, and bending some tubing for a card that is that old or should I buy a newer card and put the effort into that? Once it's in, it will remain in the system for as long as I can keep it there.

Generally speaking, my system would be happier with a water cooled GPU since the CPU radiator fans are pulling cool air into the case where the GPU is using that hot air for cooling.
 
Not worth it right now in my opinion. If you are planning to keep the card as long as you possibly can, I think you will regret not going with a next gen card. If you can wait until the fall I think you will be much happier.

The APU in the new XBOX is going to be more powerful than your 2070 by the end of the year. Both NVIDIA and AMD gpus looks promising this year. Putting in $150 now to watercool your 2070 doesn't make any sense at all to me.
 
Pointless waste of time if your case already had no trouble removing the heat. This is only necessary if you're a completionist (must watercool EVERYTHING), and you have mooney to burn.
 
Definitely not worth $120 to put a block on that card if it's a one-time cost i.e. you'll only be able to use it for the 2070. However, if you can use the block and the rest of the loop across multiple cards it could be worthwhile.
 
Putting a card under water is worth it for the noise reduction alone even if you keep it running at stock. But unless you're planning to skip the 3000 series and wait for the 4000's to upgrade, at this point I wouldn't spend money on a custom GPU block.
 
Agree with just about all previous posters, not worth it unless you're not planning on getting a 30 series card.
 
I agree with most here... The 3000 series definitely sounds like it's worth waiting for. I will most likely be upgrading to a 3070 or 3080 when they come out.
 
Depends on how sensitive you are to noise, and how much you value quietness.

I got the MSI Ventus RTX 2070 super and absolutely could not stand the noise. It was far noiser than my Palit Jetstream 1070 GTX and I found it unacceptable. The fans on the Ventus look good but are rather useless when it comes to noise control, and was tempted to return or sell the card. Solved it by putting on a morpheus ii cooler, but if my system was already on water, I wouldn't have hesitated to watercool it..

So it all depends on your priorities: if noise is important, then $120 for some peace and quiet might be worth it. If you're happy to spend the next 6+ months (or whenever the 3000 series comes out) gritting your teeth while listening to that racket, or if noise is no big deal to you, then wait.
 
Depends on how sensitive you are to noise, and how much you value quietness.

I got the MSI Ventus RTX 2070 super and absolutely could not stand the noise. It was far noiser than my Palit Jetstream 1070 GTX and I found it unacceptable. The fans on the Ventus look good but are rather useless when it comes to noise control, and was tempted to return or sell the card. Solved it by putting on a morpheus ii cooler, but if my system was already on water, I wouldn't have hesitated to watercool it..

So it all depends on your priorities: if noise is important, then $120 for some peace and quiet might be worth it. If you're happy to spend the next 6+ months (or whenever the 3000 series comes out) gritting your teeth while listening to that racket, or if noise is no big deal to you, then wait.

Seems the palit you had is a 2.5/3 slot card and the ventus is a 2. I had a 2080 ti 2 slot and it was also very noisy. I generally won't buy 2 slot GPU coolers anymore but this was too good of a deal to pass up. I went hybrid cooling with mine and solved the problem similarly to you and agree that if noise is an issue there are cheaper solutions than the waterblock.
 
I'm in the same position as you, except I have an even older GTX 1080 Ti. I'll be buying one of the new cards this year so I legitimately would only keep my current card under water for probably 4-6 months. I've been trying to find a second hand block for about a week now but no luck. I wouldn't drop $100+ on a GPU block if you plan on upgrading in a few months.
 
As everyone has said, it's not worth it.

Wait until the next gen of cards comes out, then get a water block at that point.
 
Thanks all. It's good to see my thought process laid before me by others. I really appreciate the help. I can wait indefinitely really but I do like the idea of getting the GPU a little cooler since I am sucking in Threadripper 2950x heat into the case (with the rear exhaust fan pulling most of that out).

The 2070 isn't actually terribly loud to me. The card is about chin level about 2 feet away from me and it is still pretty quiet. I will wait for the next gen to release later this year and see how things look then. I am hoping that I can get to 2080 or better performance a the price point of a 2070 in a next gen card. Maybe even wait for next gen AMD and see what they can come up with. I am no fan boy, but maybe my Threadripper would like an AMD GPU companion...

EDIT: Post 100. After almost 14 years. yay?
 
3000 Series is just a few months away. Just wait and you can waterblock your shiny new GPU! PS reports allege that the 3000 series Ray Tracing will be 4x more powerful! So definitely worth the wait imo.
 
3000 Series is just a few months away. Just wait and you can waterblock your shiny new GPU! PS reports allege that the 3000 series Ray Tracing will be 4x more powerful! So definitely worth the wait imo.

I've seen similar rumors and am torn between the fact that a 4x uplift in a single generation is so huge as to make me skeptical, and hopeful because it's what's needed to get flagship cards doing RT at 4k60 or 1440p120 instead of the 1080p60 that the 2000 series topped out at. The latter prospect does have one somewhat concerning aspect though.

Even with significant architectural and RT core clockspeed enhancements 4x RT perf will probably mean RT and Tensor cores taking most of the increased die area leading to another round of meager improvement in shader performance. If 2080 to 3080 only gives 1080 Ti to 2080 level gains, it will still probably be enough of an upgrade for me to finally replace my bought shortly after release 1080; but I was hoping for more generalized performance gains too.
 
Putting a card under water is worth it for the noise reduction alone even if you keep it running at stock.
Never had a card that bothered me noise-wise over last decade. There may be a few hot and loud cards this may apply to, but doubt the 2070 is one of them.
 
Never had a card that bothered me noise-wise over last decade. There may be a few hot and loud cards this may apply to, but doubt the 2070 is one of them.

It's the same power level as my 1080 (175 vs 180W) or the 980 (165W) I had before that. I can't remember which card I was using the last time I had to go air cooled while rebuilding my loop; but after years of near silent watercooled operation the 2 or 3 fans in the stock cooler spinning up was way louder than all of the 120/140mm case/radiator fans in my system.
 
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