Watercooling two GTX 480's, Rad & setup questions

Guys I'm trying to decide on a rad/setup to cool two 480's. Right now I've got an XSPC RX420 cooling an i7 960, the CPU stays very cool with this rad. I'm leaning towards adding another RX420, but I'm also considering adding a third GTX 480 later and i only have room for 2X 420 rads in my rad box...

Option 1
Add another separate RX420 loop for the two 480's, keep CPU on original loop. If I add another 480 later then add it to the CPU loop. (after CPU water flow)

Option 2
Add another RX420 to the CPU loop, making one large loop. Won't have to buy another pump and res possibly?
Possible flow would be: Res-> pump-> Rad -> Rad-> CPU-> GPU-> GPU.

Keep in mind the two GPU's are the EVGA Superclocked editions, i do not plan to overclock the GPU's beyond what EVGA has already done.

My assumption from reading posts about dual loop vs single loop is the last block or two in line won't be so cool... is this always the case with two big rads in one loop? Is the water temp increase significant from block to block if your flow rate is good?

I really appreciate the help. Man i've really enjoyed watercooling! I'm totally hooked hehe I just want to be sure I get this GPU setup done well as we all know these cards are expensive! I want them to last..


Jon

Significant no....but yes it will warm up a little, 3-4 degrees, maybe a little more.

I'd go for two loops and put the two GPUs in parallel if you want to keep everything as cool and equal as possible.

... i hope you have a cpu that can keep up to those beasts. and how many banks did you rob to afford them?

rustyfender said:

... i hope you have a cpu that can keep up to those beasts. and how many banks did you rob to afford them?

Click to expand...

Well the Core i7 960 runs really well and cool, no banks to rob here hehe
The third may seem like overkill, i just want to be ready for 3d surround and i don't want to have to upgrade for a few years after this

Hey man, you own us some pics after you get this thing put together OK?

Will do!

jamsde - nothing wrong with robbing banks in the name of 480 science, you should walk with that excuse.

I understand your need #Laughs#

offcourse if you dont give us hard data `n pics you deserve two 480 life centences back to back

Hehehe i'm about to finish two benches with my 2X 285's and post em somewhere for ya along with some pics, then tomorrow i'll run the same tests with the 480's after they arrive, and have pics too! hopefully Friday i'll get the blocks on and have the water loops going by Friday night or Saturday (depending on shipping times) and i'll run the same tests again and post temps

Question: where do I post the test results? Right here? Or on another thread? Please forgive my newbieness when it comes to this...

dont feel rushed buddy

take your time and make sure all is well, GPU`s give me the fear to block and I wouldnt rush for man nor beast

think of yourself as a maticulous pioneer of the 480, our appreciations cued up `n ready when you are

Once your done, put a pic or two up (proper size, please no 17 billion by 12 billion pic size) and a screenshot of your temps etc. That is usually what peeps do to close out the build.

There is a post your rig thread you can add all the pics you want.

you could post in the Nvidia GPU section or roll with the watercool theme and keep it all here.

I think one thread here as the result is waterblocked in the long run would be just fine.

you could even shove it onto your block pics thread for us

EDIT: evening conum, you found the action too... post fight #Laughs#