Water cooling for dual gtx 780 ti

I'm interested in water cooling both of my gtx 780 ti classifieds. I've never water cooled gpu's so this is all new to me. The reason I bought these cards was because they have great OC potential and now I'm ready to move on to the next step. I'd like to mention I have an evga P2 1000w psu. Will this be enough to get a good OC or must I get a higher wattage?

Water cooling is new to me. I'd like to see if it's possible to have a budget water cooling set up

I was taking a look at the brackets like the nzxt KrakenG10 that allow you to mount one of the pre filled cpu coolers onto your gpu. Are these a good budget option? What kind of OC would I be able to get with this option?

1000 watts is plenty of power, and those brackets are a great budget option that will get you to near the same overclocks a custom loop would get you.

The custom loop would just get you a higher quality pump and the option to add more radiator surface area which allows you to use slower fans for less noise while keeping the same temperature. Well, that and the ability to add your cpu to the loop as well if you want.

Given the age of those cards you might have trouble finding full cover blocks anyway, making the nzxt bracket the winner by default.

You might need two of the Krakens is the biggest problem I see. And I think it only is the GPU chip, doesn't do well on temps for the Vregs. When you overclock they get hot too. Not sure, might be fine depending on how you push it.

Full cover blocks could be an issue to find. Maybe XSPC has some in a dust bin etc. You could start by searching high and low across many good Forums/web to find the blocks.

Alternatively, you could go with a GPU only block, get some nice heatsinks for the Vregs and maybe memory if needed. Then buy a nice pump/hose/res/radiators in the 120x5 minimum area and since you're watercooling the GPU's do the CPU too.

Going custom watercooling with used full cover blocks, about $600, blocks should only be $50 each methinks, add in the CPU block, another $100. That's without fancy fittings etc. Krakens? They are pretty cheap.

You should look at radiator usage, might need a new case for any watercooling over 120x2 size.

In reality, sell the 780ti's and buy a 980ti. Probably cheaper.

What OC will you get? Depends on the card and how good you are. That is fully dependent on your gene pool and bankroll.

What have you read about better temp control on 2 780ti's vs a new card vs the cost and hassle of watercooling? WCing is lots of fun, it's a hobby though, not an end game. Hobbies get expensive.

Supertrucker said:

1000 watts is plenty of power, and those brackets are a great budget option that will get you to near the same overclocks a custom loop would get you.

The custom loop would just get you a higher quality pump and the option to add more radiator surface area which allows you to use slower fans for less noise while keeping the same temperature. Well, that and the ability to add your cpu to the loop as well if you want.

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I disagree with all do respect. AIOs are just as good if not a tad better than most premium priced AIOs. Hell, sometimes they get beat and some air coolers are even quieter in some instances but they are very big in size. Most AIOs are 120.1 of heat surface which can handle on a good day 100w. A custom loop with more rads, water flow, air flow and premium blocks will run laps around a AIO. I never compare the two. Same idea but different outcomes.

For budget, yes you could go with a AIO strap-on but your rad positioning might be limited on the length of the AIO's tubing.

To do this justice OP, give us more information on your build like the case and components, etc and what you're cooling as well as what budget you have at hand. If you're really wanting to go custom which I feel is the way to go but that's just me, read up on our water cooling stickies and have a look at this great beginners video to custom water cooling at the bottom of this post. Many things to read up on as its a fun hobby. Going custom will give you the best possible approach on lower temps at higher clocks, depending on the GPU but if I recall correctly, classifieds are hand picked chips so you should fairly clock nice.

To give you an example of my overkill system, I caught the infamous water cooling "bug", 120.9 of heat surface on a 5930K OC @ 4.5Ghz + 1.28v and a single GTX 780 Classified Hydro Copper @ 1200Mhz @ stock voltages. At full bore whether its benchmarks or Folding which I usually do from time to time weekly, I get a CPU temp of 60c average and 40c for the GPU. Game temps at the most will be the same if not less. My water temps are anywhere from 30c-34c at the most when its Folding which all depends on my ambient room temperature which gives me a delta temp of under 10c at full load and under 5c at idle.

I'm at pretty much similar WC specs as Jack [2x 480 rads] - Delta hovers at around 4.5c @ idle, surfing the net etc... and around 9c delta when gaming.

I also run an EVGA 780Ti classified. If you push this card, what you will find is that it really dumps quite a bit of extra heat into the system when OC'ing by increasing the volts to the card. It dumps a considerable amount above its normal non over-volted OC capabilities.

I run one of Skynet's bios's for the 780Ti Classified and also the Classified voltage controller which allows you to dial up the voltage above what is normally allowed by Precision X etc.

The VRM's dump a fair amount of extra heat you dial up the voltage - so be mindful of that.

Ensure that if sourcing water blocks for your Classifieds that they also are designed to cool the VRM section as well - especially so if you will be increasing the voltage to your GPUs.

GTXJackBauer said:

To do this justice OP, give us more information on your build like the case and components, etc and what you're cooling as well as what budget you have at hand.

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i5 4670k @ 4.5ghz cooled by corsair h100i with push/pull fan set up
GTX 780 TI classified X2
EVGA p2 1000w PSU
Asus maximus VI formula
16gb ddr3 1600mhz memory
corsair 750D case

and your name is awesome Mr. Bauer

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Conumdrum said:

In reality, sell the 780ti's and buy a 980ti. Probably cheaper.

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Why would I downgrade my performance? 2 780 Ti's > 1 980 Ti

Because of the cost of two blocks and trying to find the blocks.

There seems to be several different blocks still available at PPCS.com for the 780Ti. EK still shows limited stocks on their website, so it's not out of stock yet. EK also doesn't list any of the blocks for EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Classified ACX Cooler 3GB GDDR5 (03G-P4-2888) as EOL so it might still be ok to upgrade what he has without issue. NVidia seems to last longer than AMD products, might be because of the difference in market shares that they are available for longer, but that's just an observation I've made in a limited time scope.