Newb just built his first cutsom water cooling loop. OC next!

[Craxo]

Alright, hi fellow OCers and pc enthusiasts!

This is my first post in here, and I'm really looking forward for some suggestions / help regarding my setup.

My build is as followed:

Case:
-Corsair 750D

Mobo:
-Asus Sabertooth Z87

CPU:
-Intel i5 4670K 3,4Ghz

VGA SLI:
-EVGA GTX780 SC
-EVGA GTX780 Classified

PSU:
-Corsair 1200i

Network adapter:
-ASUS PCE-AC68

Storage:
-Corsair Force GS 240GB (SSD)
-Corsair Force LS 120GB (SSD)
-Toshiba 120GB (SSD)
Samsung 3TB (HDD)

I got 2x 24" monitors one of wich is AOC G2460P (144Hz)



I just put my rig under water last weekend and I've been trying to squeeze out every little drop of performance from it.

I currently have successfully overclocked my CPU to 4,5Ghz with 1300mV /1,3V.

I have also tried tweaking my GPU's to its fullest, altough theire both already slightly stock overclocked by EVGA.

I've been using tools such as CPU-Z and HWmonitor for CPU OC. For GPU I've been using MSI Afterburner, GPU-Z, HWmonitor, Furmark, Heaven and some games.

Noticed I've had a lot more trouble with DirectX after OC in both WoW and BF4.

Some questions to end my post:

A thing that confuses me in GPU-Z is that it says: "Bus Interface: PCI-E 3.0 x16 @ x8 3.0", which seems odd to me as both my GPU's are installed in a x16 lane PCI on my mobo and they both support x16 lanes. Why aren't they both running at x16? Some user on another forum said it was because it didn't need more than x8 or so. I've been trying to find a right solution through other peoples problems, but I couldn't quite find any forum or post that described it well. I have my network adapter connected to the 3rd PCI slot which is bottlenecked, but would that affect the GPU's?

Also, I installed my Classified in the 2nd PCI-Slot and the SC in the first. Will this affect my performance as the Classified is a bit more powerful? Do I have anything to gain?

And why is it that I can't see no changes on GPU-Z when I change my Volt slider in MSI Afterburner? It's like it won't accept change in voltage, I've seen people writing about Hard Volt Mod the 780's. But my GPU's only hit 1,175V at max.

Hope you at least enjoy my build, and replies are much appreciated!

 

[Craxo]

Also like to add that my Core Speed drops down to 500-600Mhz whenever I change my volt higher than 1175mV

 

[EarthDog]

Let's seee....

You are running at 8x/8x as that is all your board supports. Whoeve said because that is what you need is lololicoous. You lose maybe 1% vs 16/16.don't sweat it.

As far as slot installation, read your manual for which they go into. Varies by board.

You 'can't see no changes' in gpu voltage for two reasons... 1 it does it on load and you didn't check the sensor page after testing...2. That's the limit on your cards.

So... you have a total of 3x120mm worth of rad cooling cpu and both those gpus???? What are your load temps after an hour so????

 

[Lochekey]

So... you have a total of 3x120mm worth of rad cooling cpu and both those gpus???? What are your load temps after an hour so????

It looks more like 6x120. It appears there is a 120 in the back a 240 up front and a 360 up top.

 

[Craxo]

It looks more like 6x120. It appears there is a 120 in the back a 240 up front and a 360 up top.

Exactly right My GPU's hit 40-50*C under load, even after 10 hour of benchmarking I were just seeing temps like 55*C.

Even with all my fans shut down the system has a good cooling effect.

I always pay attention to my Sensor data while benchmarking and tweaking with the OC

 

[Dlaw]

There's a lot going on in there. I'm assuming that you bought one of those cards before the other? What was the reason behind getting two different cards? I also assume that's the reason for the different blocks as well?

Since they are different cards (and I think different PCBs, as I believe the Classy is non-reference while the SC is not), you may not get a decent overclock on them. Try different drivers is all I can suggest, or wait for someone else who knows more than me.

Why do you have the LAN card? Did the on-board die?

Nice rig!

 

[Craxo]

There's a lot going on in there. I'm assuming that you bought one of those cards before the other? What was the reason behind getting two different cards? I also assume that's the reason for the different blocks as well?

Since they are different cards (and I think different PCBs, as I believe the Classy is non-reference while the SC is not), you may not get a decent overclock on them. Try different drivers is all I can suggest, or wait for someone else who knows more than me.

Why do you have the LAN card? Did the on-board die?

Nice rig!

I bought my SC first, and then felt an urge for more power, and found the classified for a nice price. The classified is a non-reference while SC is reference.
It's a Wi-fi card. 802.11ac technology
Thanks, I've been planning it for a time now, and finally got all the parts. I'm really happy with it! Though I'll make it in hard PVC next time. This is a black and yellow spaghetti! haha

 

[Dlaw]

In the future, it's better to get another of the same model/version card to go SLI or XFire with. Sometimes, they won't even work together otherwise..

Wifi card make sense.

 

[Craxo]

I'm running the loop with only distilled and deionized water. What else should I add to the water? I have a silver coil to kill bacteria and prevent corrosion.

 

[Dlaw]

That's all I run in my loop, and I don't forsee any issues with it. I haven't reached my 6 month maintenance point yet though.