Watercooling for EVGA 980 worth it?

S

Sarra

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 2, 2017
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I have an EVGA GTX 980. This is the first top of the line video card I have ever purchased, and I quite like it. I got the one with the upgraded cooler on it, and using MSI Afterburner, I set the fan speed to 30% up to 60c, then it ramps up as the card heats up. My general temps are around 35c, with newer games like SE4 bumping me up to around 55c.

The problem is that the fan closer to the IO plate is buzzing. I took the card out of my case and cleaned it, though that was unnecessary as there was no dust in the fans or heatsink anyway. Finding an aftermarket cooler that is as good as or better than what's on the card already is going to be impossible, so I have thought about watercooling.

The problem is that I'm a total n0b at watercooling. I've never done watercooling. I've been watching Jay and Linus on youtube quite a bit, and would really like to try my hand at it, but I cannot find a waterblock for this GPU. EK, evercool, etc., are all out of stock on the 980 blocks, at least for the reference cards. My card is a reference card.

My case is set up for watercooling, and I can easily find waterblocks for my CPU, but I'm not going to just watercool my CPU and not my GPU, as my CPU cooler isn't dieing.

Also, I'm not dropping $700 on a new video card right now, when most of the games I play run just fine on the card I've got.

Any suggestions?
 
Have you considered a used block? It might be worth asking on the fsft forum. There is also a hydro kit from evga like https://www.adorama.com/ev400hy5188...uWASOuElAMzC5_WfdhLh8qBpYYwxd6FhoCUEAQAvD_BwE that could potentially work if you don't mind a CLC.

I would say though your card is basically on par with a 1060 GTX nowadays so the question is if the investment is justified being spent on older hotter tech vs investing in more efficient and less heat generating cards like 40w. At the least the evga hydro can be swapped to a newer card in the future. But that is my 2c from looking at my 980ti.
 
Not worth the hassle if your description of the temps is correct. I'd work on silencing the buzzing bracket. Throw a layer of tape at it to try and absorb the vibration w/o blocking the cooling grate, etc.
 
Also if it is the fan, and you have a warranty you can rma it, evga is cool with cross ship. If no warranty you can oil or put graphite in there to help the bearings.

If it is like an coil wine I have found that turning on vsync sorta helps with gpus.
 
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