water cooling GPUs. worth it?

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Burned_Follower

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are putting water blocks on gpus worth the money one would spend to get it done?

i heard rumors that the 3090 will have heat issues and was thinking of waiting until there's a compatable water block for it so both my cpu and gpu is water cooled. the main reason my i78700k is water cooled is because i wanted my pc to be real quiet because my previous gaming pc build was loud AF due to not water cooling anything

also, when the rtx 2080ti first came out, how long did y'all have to wait before you could get water blocks for them?

if i do get a 3090, and have it water cooled along with my i7 8700k, what two radiators would y'all reccomend i try to put in my pc case? would i even have room for two radiators?

i'm planning on a rebuild of my pc when 3090 comes out and this is a link to the new case i got for it:

https://mycherrytree.com/product/the-artifact/
 
I'm not too familiar with that case and their site description doesn't give much information. The Lian Li PC-011 has a similar squarish shape (but less Star Trek) and has excellent radiator support.

Actually, the 'Picard Borg' model has pictures of the internal setup. Looks like a 'test bench' style design and I'm only seeing single 120mm mounts on it. Might be hard to install a radiator inside there. Does the borg stuff just slide over the internal chassis?
 
i don't know yet. i'm in the process of moving from Georgia to West Virginia. i recently finished driving a u-haul truck worth of stuff from ga to wv. My case arrived in the mail just before i started moving and i won't have time to unbox it till next week due to me flying back to ga tomorrow to get my car and driving it back up here to wv.

but if i have to i plan on carefully drilling a couple holes in it if neccessary, so that the 2nd radiator is outside the case if i need to lol but i hope it don't come to that if i really need to water cool both parts. as soon as i am able to unbox it next week i'll put some pictures here(assuming that's not against any rules in this forum).
 
When I heard Samsung fabs it made me think of how hot Polaris gets at 180watts .
 
Watercooling GPUs is worth it for the silence alone in my opinion, never mind the higher sustained clocks and much cooler core, vrm, and memory modules.

Not gonna lie, that case does not look ideal for watercooling at all. I understand if you like the look but you can get a case for near 1/5 of the price that can fit 3 thick rads and a mixture of 3-4 thick/thin rads in the lian li dynamic xl.

As far as radiators go, Hardwarelabs GTS 360s are excellent slim performers but also have fairly severe flow restriction, so if you can fit thicker rads the Hardwarelabs GTX/SR2 360 are superior. On the EK side I can only really recommend the XE line of radiators. I don't like EK, but the value for that rad in particular is too great to ignore.

As for me, I'm using 3 x EK 420 rads and 1 x HWL GTX in my setup and I'm very pleased with the performance.
 
It looks like you can get a 240mm and a single 120mm in that case. I don't see any intake options? Case does not look to have good airflow. For me watercooling my 5700xt was worth it. I got the 5700xt for $50 off with a 3600 and a bykski waterblock for it was $90. It's silent and regularly boosts to 2100mhz while being about 40-50c cooler than stock.
 
If I had to pick one, I would watercool my GPU only and let my CPU be on air. CPU overclocking headroom is so sparse these days that it's hardly worth the effort, while a GPU will react favourably to the additional thermal headroom even if you don't take the time to dial in a manual overclock.
 
New RTX cards definitely look like they will benefit from watercooling. I'll likely get the 3090 at launch and when EK release blocks I'll do a custom loop.
 
If you plan on keeping a flagship tier card for a fair amount of time, totally worth it! If you swap hardware often, probably not.
 
For that case and the type of cpu gpu loop you want. Your going to want to check out an external solution.
 
For those wanting to water cool the 3090, would you not need two blocks? One for the front and one for the back? If both sides have rather fast/hot ram and other chips on both sides, water cooling maybe a little bit more complicated here.
 
When gaming, both my CPU and GPU are upwards of 60-70C. The difference is my CPU is on the box "Wraith Prism" cooler and my GPU is on a 120mm AIO. Before the AIO, my 2070S would ping up against 82C and throttle. So it's definitely worth it.
 
noko said:
For those wanting to water cool the 3090, would you not need two blocks? One for the front and one for the back? If both sides have rather fast/hot ram and other chips on both sides, water cooling maybe a little bit more complicated here.
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Could be. There have been waterblocks with active backplates in the past. If that's the way it is though, I'm sure the waterblock manufacturers will make active backplates.
 
Damagedgoods420 said:
Watercooling GPUs is worth it for the silence alone in my opinion, never mind the higher sustained clocks and much cooler core, vrm, and memory modules.

Not gonna lie, that case does not look ideal for watercooling at all. I understand if you like the look but you can get a case for near 1/5 of the price that can fit 3 thick rads and a mixture of 3-4 thick/thin rads in the lian li dynamic xl.

As far as radiators go, Hardwarelabs GTS 360s are excellent slim performers but also have fairly severe flow restriction, so if you can fit thicker rads the Hardwarelabs GTX/SR2 360 are superior. On the EK side I can only really recommend the XE line of radiators. I don't like EK, but the value for that rad in particular is too great to ignore.

As for me, I'm using 3 x EK 420 rads and 1 x HWL GTX in my setup and I'm very pleased with the performance.
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+1 I would only add that longevity is significantly increased. Heat kills electronics of all types the cooler they are kept the longer they last especially important too if you intend to resell when you are done with it. Every time I look for a used GPU I look for one that has lived it's life under water ;) .
 
Massively quieter, clocks better and runs waaaayyy cooler. Makes way more sense to me than the Strix Prime Aorus XXX edition.


Downside is the Waterblock will have almost zero value when you come to sell. However that’s similar for the super duper version 3 cards too, pretty much like options on a car, you might get enjoyment in the meantime but it ain’t changing your resale price
 
owcraftsman said:
+1 I would only add that longevity is significantly increased. Heat kills electronics of all types the cooler they are kept the longer they last especially important too if you intend to resell when you are done with it. Every time I look for a used GPU I look for one that has lived it's life under water ;) .
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Second this. Water keeps the cards from degrading.
 
UltraTaco said:
How long do you tend to keep your card to notice degradation?


Ps-wow that case looks like unfinished Lego. How do you wipe dust off?😳
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Every card I've watercooled and that's all of them are fresh at the end of the use duration. Right now that's my TXP, which is going on four years. And at the end of my use, I re-use the cards as hand me downs or I sell them. It's pretty fucking nice to not have a burnt out card at the end of it all. Conversely I avoid aircooled cards that have been used that whole time like the plague.
 
Damagedgoods420 said:
Watercooling GPUs is worth it for the silence alone in my opinion, never mind the higher sustained clocks and much cooler core, vrm, and memory modules.

Not gonna lie, that case does not look ideal for watercooling at all. I understand if you like the look but you can get a case for near 1/5 of the price that can fit 3 thick rads and a mixture of 3-4 thick/thin rads in the lian li dynamic xl.

As far as radiators go, Hardwarelabs GTS 360s are excellent slim performers but also have fairly severe flow restriction, so if you can fit thicker rads the Hardwarelabs GTX/SR2 360 are superior. On the EK side I can only really recommend the XE line of radiators. I don't like EK, but the value for that rad in particular is too great to ignore.

As for me, I'm using 3 x EK 420 rads and 1 x HWL GTX in my setup and I'm very pleased with the performance.
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Welcome to my hood! Test that B die we got dirt cheap yet?!!?

I will chime in and add that I fully support watercooling. The loop can move from build to build to build. I have about $700 worth of gear between what is in my rig and my spare parts (who am I kidding, its the [h]ording closet) and if you spread that out over the 10 years I have used this current loop, its quite cheap. My current 2080Super is a great OC'er...It would do +1350 stable on the giant air cooler, but moving it under water let me take it to +1550, and net the number 2 spot world wide for Port Royal. This cost does not cover the $1800 I have spent on GPU blocks over this period, but I have had mGPU setups up until the Vega VII, and have often gotten great resale value from them.

IdiotInCharge, I finally fell to the dark side...Until Big Navi drops :)
 
Iratus said:
Hopefully means someone who isn’t EK will too.

Was really worried I’d be waiting 3 months to be able to have my new machine done. I have this weird thing where I like all the bits of a new machine to be new, a 3 month old gpu I’ve had on air in my old pc would make me sad.
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I'm sure BP will be on the same schedule or very close.
 
I went to a custom loop roughly 3 years ago and have no regrets. I've had a few minor mishaps with liquid overflowing when trying to clean my case (my fault), but never had a leak when it's been put together. I've slowly recycled my Mayhem's white water coolant over the past 3 years with no problems of sediment or corrosion build up.

I added a few things over time, but I'm especially satisfied with the koolance quick disconnects for easy swapping of parts, especially GPUs. Makes water cooling and maintenance nearly hassle free. I was able to pop out my 2080ti and pop in my 980ti within 20 minutes. Looking forward getting the next flagship with a WB in the next month or two.

IMG_4766 (1).jpg
 
Yes you should water cool the gpu if you are able to.
Everything runs cooler.
Adding a gpu to the water loop won't change the overall temp much you will reach delta faster tho but most will never notice a difference.
 
If youre (general comment) new to REAL water cooling, no I dont believe AIO is water cooling, and yes I said that, please do not think that your room will be cooler. Your still going to have a hotbox of a machine. The heat has to go somewhere and it will go to your sweaty flesh if you dont have AC. So a hot ass CPU plus hot ass GPU in a custom loop means hot ass radiators and hot ass exhaust air. So be forewarned if youre one of those folks that think water cooling means everything is mysteriously cooler ha!! Your room will still heat up just the same as before with your 800 watt space heating gaming rig. Mine sure as shit does. I had to buy a portable AC to cool my Threadripper 2080ti room down. Now a 5600xt temp card until 3090 or bignavi. Room is cooler now not running a 2080ti. 5600xt is much cooler.
 
tangoseal said:
If youre (general comment) new to REAL water cooling, no I dont believe AIO is water cooling, and yes I said that, please do not think that your room will be cooler. Your still going to have a hotbox of a machine. The heat has to go somewhere and it will go to your sweaty flesh if you dont have AC. So a hot ass CPU plus hot ass GPU in a custom loop means hot ass radiators and hot ass exhaust air. So be forewarned if youre one of those folks that think water cooling means everything is mysteriously cooler ha!! Your room will still heat up just the same as before with your 800 watt space heating gaming rig. Mine sure as shit does. I had to buy a portable AC to cool my Threadripper 2080ti room down. Now a 5600xt temp card until 3090 or bignavi. Room is cooler now not running a 2080ti. 5600xt is much cooler.
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Yep! The box is still emitting the same amount of heat, it's just emitting it more efficiently now!
 
After building my own custom loop for my two 980 Ti and a couple years later getting MSI 1080Ti Gaming X, I'm gonna go and say no.
Yes, you get a quieter and cooler video card, but I think the hassle is not worth it. Not just building a custom loop, but all the issues that come with having a custom loop and the dreaded day when you decide it's time to upgrade, which means draining the whole loop...
My Gaming X was cool and quiet enough for OCing and gaming, and it was a monster of a card.

Now, if there's an actual AIO loop like for CPUs, then sure, it's not hard to remove the original cooler and put the new one on, but you'll void the warranty.
 
Nebell said:
After building my own custom loop for my two 980 Ti and a couple years later getting MSI 1080Ti Gaming X, I'm gonna go and say no.
Yes, you get a quieter and cooler video card, but I think the hassle is not worth it. Not just building a custom loop, but all the issues that come with having a custom loop and the dreaded day when you decide it's time to upgrade, which means draining the whole loop...
My Gaming X was cool and quiet enough for OCing and gaming, and it was a monster of a card.

Now, if there's an actual AIO loop like for CPUs, then sure, it's not hard to remove the original cooler and put the new one on, but you'll void the warranty.
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Draining is not that big a deal if you design your loop with it in mind. There are closed loop coolers you can add to GPU, and it doesn't void the warranty any more than putting a full waterblock on. You just have to keep the stock cooler and return the card to stock before making a warranty claim on it.
 
You can also get an external radiator that's large, quiet, and put it where you want. Mine is in my basement (along with pump + resevoir) so the heat doesn't affect my living area / AC. Also makes the PC silent.

My GPUs have been pulling 400W since Maxwell so the 3090 rumors don't really apply lol.
 
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VanGoghComplex said:
Draining is not that big a deal if you design your loop with it in mind. There are closed loop coolers you can add to GPU, and it doesn't void the warranty any more than putting a full waterblock on. You just have to keep the stock cooler and return the card to stock before making a warranty claim on it.
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A loop is certainly more work that just air cooling, but if you're the type that likes to tinker and do stuff it's actually a positive IMO
 
If you can use a giant air cooler like the Arctic Accelero Xtreme III, then I would say that gives you the best temp and noise performance for the money.

It made my 1080Ti run at 61C and it was virtually silent with a pair of Noctua fans - then the GPU died....

Unfortunately, that cooler doesn't seem to work on a 2080Ti and I doubt it will work on the high end Ampere cards.

I took the plunge and I'm very happy with my WC system - I decided to just use an external radiator but I'm not running a 5.2Ghz 8700K and a 2100Mhz 2080Ti and my cooling is virtually silent

I'm super happy, but it did cost somewhere in the $1300-1500 range so it's not for casuals, but I'll probably stick with it.
 
My loop is probably in the $600 range, but the nice thing is a lot of things can be used indefinitely with the exception of full cover gpu blocks.
 
Burned_Follower said:
are putting water blocks on gpus worth the money one would spend to get it done?

i heard rumors that the 3090 will have heat issues and was thinking of waiting until there's a compatable water block for it so both my cpu and gpu is water cooled. the main reason my i78700k is water cooled is because i wanted my pc to be real quiet because my previous gaming pc build was loud AF due to not water cooling anything

also, when the rtx 2080ti first came out, how long did y'all have to wait before you could get water blocks for them?

if i do get a 3090, and have it water cooled along with my i7 8700k, what two radiators would y'all reccomend i try to put in my pc case? would i even have room for two radiators?

i'm planning on a rebuild of my pc when 3090 comes out and this is a link to the new case i got for it:

https://mycherrytree.com/product/the-artifact/
Click to expand...

Honestly if you need a flagship GPU to run the quietest you will have to water cool it. Based on it's size and proposed power draw, it will probably be a while till we get newer cooler solutions and designs from board partners for this generation.

If available, get a reservoir that supports larger fan sizes, they go a long ways towards keeping the sound in check.

DoubleTap said:
I took the plunge and I'm very happy with my WC system - I decided to just use an external radiator but I'm not running a 5.2Ghz 8700K and a 2100Mhz 2080Ti and my cooling is virtually silent

I'm super happy, but it did cost somewhere in the $1300-1500 range so it's not for casuals, but I'll probably stick with it.
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Any pics of your rig?
 
oldmanbal said:
Honestly if you need a flagship GPU to run the quietest you will have to water cool it. Based on it's size and proposed power draw, it will probably be a while till we get newer cooler solutions and designs from board partners for this generation.

If available, get a reservoir that supports larger fan sizes, they go a long ways towards keeping the sound in check.



Any pics of your rig?
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Dayaks said:
You can also get an external radiator that's large, quiet, and put it where you want. Mine is in my basement (along with pump + resevoir) so the heat doesn't affect my living area / AC. Also makes the PC silent.

My GPUs have been pulling 400W since Maxwell so the 3090 rumors don't really apply lol.
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This does not sound portable in any fashion :).
 
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