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advice on gpu cooling mod

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oldiron

Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2015
Location
Winston Salem, NC
Hey All,
I need to tap the great minds here and see what advice I can get.
Heres my gaming rig- [email protected] ghz, sabertooth 990fx, 16gb gskill 1866, cooler master 942 haf-x, 2x-xfx r9 280x BE, 2x-1TB WD BE.
Lately I've noticed my gpu temps getting real hot 95-100c, normally 80-85c under load, so I figured they were due for a thermal compound change/upgrade as they have never been touched and while I was at it I'd put them on Krakeng10's with h55's to try and add to my cooling. Also picked up vrm heatsinks from Gelid. So I am looking at the build and the hoses on the H55's are not that long Maybe 11-12" which limits where I can place the rads. I could place one in front drive bays and one on floor(although most of floor intake is covered by psu) or place both on floor and intaking/exhausting through side window. I plan on doing the full window side mod anyway and liked the look of both there like this one already done-
Heres my question I'd like to get input on- should I make them intake as the one in the video? or make them exhaust out? My concern is the large fan intake in the front of my case, If i make them exhaust I thought it would counter act that fan, and flip side, if I make then intake I'm pushing that hot air into my case.
Has anybody done anything similar? or can offer any advice? I know its going to be trial and error just hate to re-do any fab work if I dont have to.
Thanks!!!
Heres a shot of my build
build 2.jpg
 
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You haven't already purchased the Krakeng10 or H55's have you? I sure hope not...

With the money you will spend on two of the Kragen mounts the two H55's you That's just over $200. Money that would be much better spent an a custom loop with full cover blocks and an additional rad/fans and calling it good.

Looking at the pic more I can't seem to see what you have going on as of now with your loop. I don't recognize the water block on the cpu, it looks like a corsair HXX type pump/block just minus the radiator. So I am guessing that's what it is? HXX variant with new hoses and a res?

Edit: Closest thing to full cover is these http://www.performance-pcs.com/alphacool-nexxxos-gpx-ati-r9-280x-m08-incl-backplate-black.html

But then you would need rad/fans, res and pump as well. $220 for the blocks and sli connector, $80 for the pump, $35 for the res, 3x120 rad $100, fans, fittings and hose you are probably $500 in. But you have a real loop that you could add a cpu block and more rads to accommodate your cpu. Any future addition to the machine takes new blocks and that's pretty much it.
 
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thanks ST, I do already have the parts, got both krakens and the 2 h55's for 90 bucks for all on ebay, the cpu cooler I''m running is a h80i and does a decent enough job for now, temps never go over 45-47c under load with my overclock,
My goal is to just get by till the release of the new amd cpu(hopefully) at which time Ill go through the whole system(adding full custom loop) and update my cards to something I can get a full coverage blocks for.
So far I fabbed an acrylic PSU cover that will house the kraken rad for bottom card and exhaust out the side pulling air from bottom of case. The top card will exhaust out the front of case in the drive bays above the front intake fan. This is where Ill start and see what my temps are then move things as needed I guess. I'm going to loose the side 200mm intake when I do the full window mod so will be interesting to see what happens to temps. Just mocking up and I removed gpu covers(leaving fans and cooler only) and replaced tim with gelid extreme have knocked my temps down on the cards from the high 90's to 77c. I checked last night after 4hrs off hard gaming. I'll post more pics when I start assembling, waiting on the 2 alphacool backplates(which will get painted to match) and the carbon fiber film to wrap psu cover.
 
Thought I'd share where I am at so far. waiting on the alphaacool backplates now, My top G10 rad will go in drive bays exhausting out in push/pull. Lower G10 rad will go in custom acrylic PSU cover exhausting out side window in push. I was planning on full window mod and losing the side fan. Notice in pic 2 the hack I used that started this all. That #2 card was my #1 card until the fan failed. It has a cpu fan zip tied to the card now connected to the mobo until I can install the g10s and heatsinks.

1.png 2.png 3.png
 
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