New to Watercooling.... what kit to buy for GTX470 - help appreciated :)

kill1308 · 15 Feb 2011 at 12:10

Hi all,

I recently acquired a Swiftech MCW80 waterblock with G80 adapter kit for my Gigabyte GTX470 Super OC. I wanted two 470's in SLI but due to the design of the cooler the 1st card would run far too hot and start throttling. I never intended going SLI initially which is why I chose the Gigabyte as a good single card, but caved and bought another one when I saw my friends dual GTX470 setup. Lack of knowledge got me to this point.

Anyway, I took some advise and bought the above GPU Waterblock to cool the first card and I've been racking my brains as to what exactly else I need to buy to water cool it. I've been reading articles and looking at kits, but they seem aimed at people that want a whole kit for a particular purpose, ie to cool a 775 or 1366 or whatever.

If anyone can point me in the right direction with a check-list of what I need for water-cooling so I can do some more research I'd greatly appreciate it. I think I also need to get some RAM sinks for the video card but I'm currently researching that too.

Thanks for taking the time to read

Here is the block I bought : http://www.swiftnets.com/products/mcw80.asp

Bubo · 15 Feb 2011 at 12:51

Am I right in thinking then that you are going to sli two 470's but only water cool one of them? A 120.1 rad and a Laing DDC Pro 10W pump with T line will be enough for this, though it will be a waste just running one of the cards under water. Maybe go for one of the pump/res combos if you want to keep the cost down but limit your future upgrade options, i.e. crap pump in the combo.

However, add in the cost of the gpu block you bought, the extra water cooling kit needed and the second 470 and I'd say you won't be far off the cost of a single 580, especially as you would then be able to sell the original 470. I'm only guessing that a single 580 would be as fast as sli 470's though tbh.

kill1308 · 15 Feb 2011 at 13:02

Bubo said:
Am I right in thinking then that you are going to sli two 470's but only water cool one of them? A 120.1 rad and a Laing DDC Pro 10W pump with T line will be enough for this, though it will be a waste just running one of the cards under water. Maybe go for one of the pump/res combos if you want to keep the cost down but limit your future upgrade options, i.e. crap pump in the combo.

However, add in the cost of the gpu block you bought, the extra water cooling kit needed and the second 470 and I'd say you won't be far off the cost of a single 580, especially as you would then be able to sell the original 470. I'm only guessing that a single 580 would be as fast as sli 470's though tbh.

Hi Bubo, thanks for the reply. You are correct yes, for the time being I only really need to cool one of the cards.

Yeah I wish I'd done more research before I bought the other 470, but by the time I'd realised it wasn't the best option I couldn't send it back. The benchmarks for SLI 470's are pretty good in comparison to a 580 and a lot of people I've spoken to have opted for 2 x 470's over 580. Whether or not these people are 'in the know' or not is another question

I certainly don't have enough knowledge to challenge them.

So what you're saying is :

120.1 RAD
Laing DDC Pro 10w Pump
T-Line

With this option would I not need a reservoir as well then?

Thanks for the help

Bubo · 15 Feb 2011 at 13:20

A dedicated reservoir is always preferably to a T line but I'm suggesting this just to keep the cost down. The T line will take longer to bleed but since it is a one block loop it shouldn't be that difficult to fill.

kill1308 · 15 Feb 2011 at 13:24

Ok thanks Bubo, really appreciate the help

Bubo · 15 Feb 2011 at 13:28

BTW I would hold off buying the ram sinks. The 470 cooler separates into two pieces, the core heat pipe cooler itself and the one piece alu board sink. You may be able to just remove the core cooler and leave the board sink in place to cool the ram. This is what I did with the 580,though it needed a slight amount of modding to the water block to miss some raised bits on the 580 board sink, just needed the corners of the block filing down slightly. Anway, you'll know if you need to take the board sink off when you offer up the waterblock to it.

edit: I've looked at some pics of a 470 and the mounting holes for the core block are a bit different to the 580, so I'm thinking that you may well have to loose the board sink and buy ram sinks after all. Though I suggest taking it apart to check just to be sure.

kill1308 · 16 Feb 2011 at 15:18

Bubo said:
BTW I would hold off buying the ram sinks. The 470 cooler separates into two pieces, the core heat pipe cooler itself and the one piece alu board sink. You may be able to just remove the core cooler and leave the board sink in place to cool the ram. This is what I did with the 580,though it needed a slight amount of modding to the water block to miss some raised bits on the 580 board sink, just needed the corners of the block filing down slightly. Anway, you'll know if you need to take the board sink off when you offer up the waterblock to it.

edit: I've looked at some pics of a 470 and the mounting holes for the core block are a bit different to the 580, so I'm thinking that you may well have to loose the board sink and buy ram sinks after all. Though I suggest taking it apart to check just to be sure.

Now I'm totally confused about all the fittings and what tubing I need to get. The outlets on the Swiftech MCW80 seem to be 3/8 internal diameter and 1/2 external diameter, yet radiators I've been looking at state G1/4 threads.

I think maybe I should just take my PC to someone who knows about watercooling rather than attemping it myself.

Josh P · 16 Feb 2011 at 15:30

Why don't you try improving airflow around the air-cooled cards first? It may be if you position a couple of fans blowing on to them you will prevent any throttling that might occur...

kill1308 · 16 Feb 2011 at 15:48

Josh P said:
Why don't you try improving airflow around the air-cooled cards first? It may be if you position a couple of fans blowing on to them you will prevent any throttling that might occur...

Thanks for the suggestion Josh, but I've already been down that road. I've tried fans blowing directly on the cards, in between the cards, taking air away from the cards. Air-cooling isn't an option unfortunately due to a.) The design of the cooling system on the cards and b.) the space between the cards is minimal.

Squakingcow · 16 Feb 2011 at 16:39

I have an MCW60 with the G80 adaptor kit mounted on my 470. With the MCW60 the stock backplate is usable, and all that is needed is a slow spinning fan pointed at the PCB to prevent the VRMs from overheating.

MikeTimbers · 16 Feb 2011 at 17:39

A thread is completely different from an outlet.

Let's take this from the beginning.

If all you have is an MCW80 with ½" outside diameter (OD) barbs, you will need to buy:

½" Internal diameter (ID) tubing (you could buy 7/16" ID tubing which then has to be heated to fit but it does look a bit nicer than ½" ID tubing because by the time you add the thickness of the walls of the tubing ½" ID tubing can look rather large.)

A radiator - this will likely have G1/4 threads. This is the size of the bit you screw a barb into. Like this for example. I would get a 240 as you might want to cool the other card one day.

Barbs - these should have G1/4 threads on the end that screws into the radiator and ½" OD ends for the tubing. Like this for example.

The radiator will obviously need fans, you choose.

As to a reservoir, if you want cheap use a T-line which just needs a plastic T-piece which you can get from any garden centre and something to plug the top (I often just use an AA battery which fits perfectly).

Then you need something to make the water move! A pump can be expensive but the good news is that they last for a very long time and through multiple generations of your computer. If you're serious about doing this, buy a decent pump which means Laing (or Swiftech who re-brand the Laing pumps). The pump should have ½" fittings obviously so watch out! The MCP350 has 3/8" OD fittings and they can't be changed without changing the whole pump top. Look out for a DB-1 Compact 12v pump which is a nice little pump with standard G1/4 threads.

Read the sticky linked in my sig for all you should need to know.

kill1308 · 17 Feb 2011 at 08:41

MikeTimbers said:
A thread is completely different from an outlet.

Let's take this from the beginning.

If all you have is an MCW80 with ½" outside diameter (OD) barbs, you will need to buy:

½" Internal diameter (ID) tubing (you could buy 7/16" ID tubing which then has to be heated to fit but it does look a bit nicer than ½" ID tubing because by the time you add the thickness of the walls of the tubing ½" ID tubing can look rather large.)

A radiator - this will likely have G1/4 threads. This is the size of the bit you screw a barb into. Like this for example. I would get a 240 as you might want to cool the other card one day.

Barbs - these should have G1/4 threads on the end that screws into the radiator and ½" OD ends for the tubing. Like this for example.

The radiator will obviously need fans, you choose.

As to a reservoir, if you want cheap use a T-line which just needs a plastic T-piece which you can get from any garden centre and something to plug the top (I often just use an AA battery which fits perfectly).

Then you need something to make the water move! A pump can be expensive but the good news is that they last for a very long time and through multiple generations of your computer. If you're serious about doing this, buy a decent pump which means Laing (or Swiftech who re-brand the Laing pumps). The pump should have ½" fittings obviously so watch out! The MCP350 has 3/8" OD fittings and they can't be changed without changing the whole pump top. Look out for a DB-1 Compact 12v pump which is a nice little pump with standard G1/4 threads.

Read the sticky linked in my sig for all you should need to know.

Thanks for taking the time to write all that out, really appreciate it!! That's really helped me get my head round the whole thing, I think I was over complicating in my head what I needed to do.

Thank-you very much

I'll post some pics up once it's all sorted

kill1308 · 17 Feb 2011 at 08:42

Squakingcow said:
I have an MCW60 with the G80 adaptor kit mounted on my 470. With the MCW60 the stock backplate is usable, and all that is needed is a slow spinning fan pointed at the PCB to prevent the VRMs from overheating.

Ah great that's good to know, the stock cooler on my card wasn't touching the VRM's anyway so I was thinking to myself that a fan might be enough.