Thinking about WC'ing. First timer here!!

H

hdgamer

Gawd
Joined
Sep 28, 2009
Messages
816
Current setup:

Core I7 920 currently overclocked 3990 with HT on
GTX480 overclocked to 800/1600/2200
DDR1600 ram @1554 1.6V
Asus P6T Motherboard
CPU cooler: Coolermaster V8

Am looking for more effiecent cooling. The fan on the GTX480 is noisy as hell and my room turns into an oven (which won't be so bad since winter is comming) Current load temps

CPU: 88-95
GTX480: 98

I can push my GTX480 to 850/1700/2200 but with the voltage increase, my games run up to 105 C:(

I was looking into Koolance setup but am looking at $500+ for all the parts. Is there any setup I can get away for half that?
 
I did water cooling for about $350 on two GTX 470s. Left the CPU on air.

Basic parts breakdown:

MCW-80 GPU waterblock (costs 1/2 as much as the full GPU waterblocks)
Barbs (cost 1/10th as much as compression fittings)
Swiftec MCR320 (costs 1/2 as much as the most expensive 360 radiators)
MCP-655
Micro-res
$5 Scythe fans on sale
The usual tubing, PT nuke

Costs would have been closer to $300 had I not been a first-timer.

Went from hot and loud on a mild OC on one monitor (95C) to cool and quiet with heavy overvolted OC across three monitors (60C).
 
What's your current case? Are you looking to just bolt something right up? Your CPU is awfully hot, I'd recommend throwing it on water. Are you looking for silence too or just bang/buck performance? For bang for your buck, it'd be tough to beat two MCR320's ($50 each), an MCP-655 or MCP-350 with a top (I like the latter, much quieter) for $80, tubing, barbs, Y-line, and hose clamps for $30, MCW80 for $50, XSPC Rasa for $50, and 6 Yate Loons for $20. That's $320 and will handle your system very well. You could also add in extra for a reservoir (easier to bleed than a T or Y-line). If you give more info on your case, it'd be easier to see what would fit/work where.
 
I've read that you can remove ONLY the GPU portion of the factory heatsink and leave the ram/vrm cooler.
 
Mr. K6 said:
What's your current case? Are you looking to just bolt something right up? Your CPU is awfully hot, I'd recommend throwing it on water. Are you looking for silence too or just bang/buck performance? For bang for your buck, it'd be tough to beat two MCR320's ($50 each), an MCP-655 or MCP-350 with a top (I like the latter, much quieter) for $80, tubing, barbs, Y-line, and hose clamps for $30, MCW80 for $50, XSPC Rasa for $50, and 6 Yate Loons for $20. That's $320 and will handle your system very well. You could also add in extra for a reservoir (easier to bleed than a T or Y-line). If you give more info on your case, it'd be easier to see what would fit/work where.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info. My current case is the Coolermaster Cosmos S. Got plenty of room for just about anything....
 
Oh yeah CPU is hot because of the overclocks. If I turn off HT I would probably top out in the mid 70's... :D
 
Yea, hdgamer, watercooling will definitely bring all your temps down if you set it up correctly. Plenty of info. on the sticky's and forums that will help narrow down the parts that will fit your budget...

Here's a brief article showing the 480 full waterblock installation process.
 
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SandShark said:
Curious, since the MCW-80 only cools the GPU, what did you use to cool the rest of the card(s) with?

Did you use these Swiftech GTX 470-HS?
Click to expand...

Those didn't exist at the time, and Swiftec's website coyly neglected to mention that the MCW-80 did NOT fit the stock plate of the GTX 470 (you have to sand down some nubs). However, that's not a problem with the GTX 480 - works fine with the stock VRM/RAM plate.

Anyway, having done the little sanding mod myself, I can't see any reason why you'd need to spend the money on a full GPU block or on replacing the stock plate. I have no problem maxing out the cards on water using just the GPU-only block. I think it's because most of the heat was generated by the GPU core, so the stock plate doesn't have much work left to do now that the core heat is being transferred on water rather than blown across the heatsink. After all, My PCB temps went down by like 30C.
 
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