Cooling / Overclocking - Just getting started!

[Kowalski3500]

His went up to 95c? Is that going to fry my cards!? That sounds incredibly hot, like, ridiculous, that can't be normal can it?

EDIT: What is the best way to cool down the 2x GTX 480 setup? Something exclusively for the GPU's and that's all?

When an single GPU gets to 70-75c you can imagine what happens when you put two on one PCB...then put two of those next to each other The 480s are the hottest cards ever, if not in the top range

I'm not the watercooling expert, or even n00b, but if you really want those temps down, you'd probably have seperate loops (another water cooler basically) for the CPU and GPUs. Hell, maybe seperate loops for each card + the CPU.

 

[m0r7if3r]

When an single GPU gets to 70-75c you can imagine what happens when you put two on one PCB...then put two of those next to each other The 480s are the hottest cards ever, if not in the top range

I'm not the watercooling expert, or even n00b, but if you really want those temps down, you'd probably have seperate loops (another water cooler basically) for the CPU and GPUs. Hell, maybe seperate loops for each card + the CPU.

well...dual loops (cpu+gpus) is pretty common, it is a good way to reduce temps, but it's sorta expensive, they will run on air...separate loops for separate gpus is just silly though.

 

[Mancry]

well...dual loops (cpu+gpus) is pretty common, it is a good way to reduce temps, but it's sorta expensive, they will run on air...separate loops for separate gpus is just silly though.

Why would additional loops for the GPU's be bad?

EDIT: If it'd get my temps down (help the cards last longer, remain more stable) I'd be totally down!

 

[m0r7if3r]

Its not so much bad per se as expensive. I could make the arguement about 1 pump being sufficient and the 20w heat dump of pumps, but honestly, even with a single gfx card and a pump being your only heatsources, the pump is pretty nominal at 20w...pumps are $75+ a pop though, and rads will run you $50 for a single or $60 for a double, so it really just makes sense to spend $40 less on raddage and $75 less on pumps (>$100 easily) and just spend the money on an sli fitting (they start around $15 or so) since both heatloads in the loop have the same thermal limit and thermal profile (idle load, loaded load, surface area of dissipation) and wouldn't be adversely affected by another heatload in the loop. Does that make sense? I can explain it with numbers if not.

 

[Mancry]

Its not so much bad per se as expensive. I could make the arguement about 1 pump being sufficient and the 20w heat dump of pumps, but honestly, even with a single gfx card and a pump being your only heatsources, the pump is pretty nominal at 20w...pumps are $75+ a pop though, and rads will run you $50 for a single or $60 for a double, so it really just makes sense to spend $40 less on raddage and $75 less on pumps (>$100 easily) and just spend the money on an sli fitting (they start around $15 or so) since both heatloads in the loop have the same thermal limit and thermal profile (idle load, loaded load, surface area of dissipation) and wouldn't be adversely affected by another heatload in the loop. Does that make sense? I can explain it with numbers if not.

It does make sense, yes, but if it can save me more money in the long run it's something I'd be interested in. Your advice has been critical for me thus far, I really do appreciate everything you've input! You guys are really helping me get a better understanding of what I can do, and the concept of cooling, power usage, et cetera.

Money isn't so much an issue to be honest, I just want a stable and fast work environment!

 

[m0r7if3r]

The main thing watercooling will give you is better temps and lower noise...head over to the watercoooling section and read the sticky, see if you think it's for you. A good dual loop system will be $550 or so for the basics.