GPU Cooling

[clover]

<----- Complete Noob

I've spent the last few days reading through all of the watercooling guides I could lay my eyes on (by the way, the best ones were located on this site!), and there is one bit that is still confusing me.

Am I correct that if I wanted to WC a video card I would need an extra radiator? Something has to pull the heat away from the water before the same water is used to cool the GPU, right?

As a followup question, if I was to WC two video cards in SLI... would that mean I need 3 radiators?

Example setup: Res -> Pump -> CPU Block -> Radiator 1 -> GPU 1 -> Radiator 2 -> GPU 2 -> Radiator 3 -> Res

Thanks in advance for your help, I've really enjoyed my time here reading through the guides and other people's posts. (Just registered today though)

[WarriorII]

:welcome: to the Forums then !! :D


It really depends on "what" radiator you have to start with.

If you have a really good one- possibly listed here:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=369416

you may not need 2 Rads.

Going SLI.... depending on your temps.

Using 1 card. I would recommend going CPU/GPU/Rad/Pump

but that's just my .02 on it.

:attn:

[crimedog]

please read:
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1088/

[clover]

You post it, I'll read it :)

None of those articles (I've already read all the stickies by the way) mention much about how to "properly" handle SLI. Any SLI WC'ers out there? How did you approach the problem?

And I agree with you that I should make the "coolest" water hit the CPU first, and GPU second if I go with just one radiator.

Perhaps just one radiator in between the CPU and SLI GPU's then? Would that be sufficient to cool them? I'd worry that GPU #1 would outperform GPU #2 by a significant margin - thereby wasting a good overclock.

Edit: I guess I should add that I'm not worried about saving money, more about getting quality products with a quality background knowledge. Phase is waaaay out of my price range though, so don't suggest that!

[Revivalist]

That's a great article crimedog posted. . .

I also read in multiple places that the maximum difference in the temperature of the water between any two places in a water loop is about 1C. So (contrary to what I originally thought), it doesn't make much difference whether you send water to a block straight from the radiator or from the pump or even from a another block just before it. The performance of the setup is determined by how low the temp of the water is throughout, not how low it is just before going into a block. . .

So I would personally rather get one big nice radiator (like a BIX III, BIP III, or a big heatcore) rather than hassle with mounting multiple radiators and routing tubing to each of them. I think with a nice radiator, a strong pump, and some nice blocks, you should be able to take care of the SLI setup. :)

[clover]

Oh ok, I see what you are saying. In the "myths" article that was linked above, I read that the order itself doesn't matter (CPU, PUMP, RAD vs Pump, CPU Rad, etc) - but didn't think that it applied to multiple blocks as well.

That's great to know - even if I'll still be paranoid and cool the CPU first :)

[crimedog]

Oh ok, I see what you are saying. In the "myths" article that was linked above, I read that the order itself doesn't matter (CPU, PUMP, RAD vs Pump, CPU Rad, etc) - but didn't think that it applied to multiple blocks as well.

That's great to know - even if I'll still be paranoid and cool the CPU first :)

do it whichever way minimizes tubing. you think your cpu or gpus care about 1c difference?

[clover]

I'm really starting to narrow down my thoughts on part selection (thank you!), so for fun I started casually browsing the OC guides.

What are the dangers of overclocking?
There are several dangers attached to overclocking, and they should definitely not be overlooked. Running any component out of spec will shorten its lifespan; though newer chips are able to deal with this far better than older ones, so this is less of a problem than it used to be, especially if you upgrade every 6 months or every year. For long term stability, IE computers that are going to be running for more than 2 years or so with a load most of the time, overclocking is not a good idea.

Is this as much of a danger for WC'ers as "Airheads"? I always thought that the only factor involved in lifespan was the temperature of the product - is that correct?

To the WC'ers of this forum, what is the longest lifespan you have gotten out of a standard setup or product? Anyone have problems with this?