Cunning plan.. cooling OCed 780s

[SAFry]

Hey all, I have a couple of GTX 780s and a monitor that can do 4k (I still often play in 1440 though) and I've noticed that the top card often runs 10C or more hotter than the bottom. I also like things to be as quiet as possible. If I could have all the money for my parts back I might have done something different but I have to work with what I've got. My build is about value for money and balance, I have to watch my budget.

So here is my idea, what if I get 2 of these NZXT KRAKEN G10 GPU Cooling Adapter and a couple of Corsair Hydro H55 Quiet Liquid CPU Cooler, or more likely one to go with the H55 I already have then get a H80i for my CPU.

Alternatively, how about a couple of Arctic Accelero Hybrid II?

Questions/considerations, I'd prefer to keep it below £150, I'd rather use the top exhaust ports but I will use the top 2 intakes on the front as exhausts if it wont reach. I have a spare 4 pin power on chassis fan 1 for the pumps but I would need a 2-way splitter, the rad fans would be controlled by my fan controller. Does my Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz edition have a reference layout? Will the 320w cooling capacity of the Arctic Accelero (or any other given cooler) actually be worse than the 450w Windforce cooler?

Any comments or suggestions as to possible alternatives please. I've love to do it all again with a custom water cooling loop but I think it's out of my price range.

Full system specs:

asrock 990fx extreme3
AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor OCed to 4.2GHz
8gb dual channel DDR3 1600Mhz
Corsair h55 cooler
128gb Samsung 840 Pro
2x Seagate 1TB Hybrid Internal Solid State Drive in RAID 0
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
2x Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz edition GPUs in SLI (same BIOS, rev etc despite differences with decal and heat pipes, odd!)
Superflower leadex 750w Gold
Inateck PCI-E to USB 3.0 2-Port PCI Express Card (for the USB 3 front panel as the mobo didn't have a USB 3 header)
Asus PB287Q 28" 4K 60Hz 1MS monitor

Photo:

Spoiler

Thanks!

 

[MrMD]

If your looking at value for money i would be looking at new CPU instead of WC your cards tbh,an FX6300 is definatly Gonna bottleneck a pair of 780's in SLI.

 

[SAFry]

Really? How would I tell if it was? Because I've been running CPU monitors and it never gets upto 100%. I have been looking at a 8370 but it's essentially the same architecture as a 6300 so if there was something going on to bottleneck it behind the scenes then would that really be much better?

An i5 and motherboard would be like £275, an AMD 8370 £150. Only thing is the AMD would push my wattage just over 750w according to the calculator I was using, probably be OK, only 15w over..

**edit**

I've done a bit of research and the symptom of CPU bottlenecking is high CPU usage which I don't have. The overclocked 6300 is fine for everything I play, I can play say State of Decay or Civ 4 at 1440 or 4k the only real difference is the heat and noise from the GPUs. I have to turn the fans up, when the 780s get close to 80C they turn their fans up, get that fan white noise that bugs me. This is why I'm interested in WCing the GPUs.

I'd love a nice DDR4 X99 i7 with 6 cores and 40 lanes, just got to hold out a couple more years until I can afford it, don't want to spend too much on incremental advancements on the way and at the moment I don't see any evidence of CPU bottlenecking.

 

[MrMD]

Really? How would I tell if it was? Because I've been running CPU monitors and it never gets upto 100%. I have been looking at a 8370 but it's essentially the same architecture as a 6300 so if there was something going on to bottleneck it behind the scenes then would that really be much better?

An i5 and motherboard would be like £275, an AMD 8370 £150. Only thing is the AMD would push my wattage just over 750w according to the calculator I was using, probably be OK, only 15w over..

**edit**

I've done a bit of research and the symptom of CPU bottlenecking is high CPU usage which I don't have. The overclocked 6300 is fine for everything I play, I can play say State of Decay or Civ 4 at 1440 or 4k the only real difference is the heat and noise from the GPUs. I have to turn the fans up, when the 780s get close to 80C they turn their fans up, get that fan white noise that bugs me. This is why I'm interested in WCing the GPUs.

I'd love a nice DDR4 X99 i7 with 6 cores and 40 lanes, just got to hold out a couple more years until I can afford it, don't want to spend too much on incremental advancements on the way and at the moment I don't see any evidence of CPU bottlenecking.

Very few games will ever push an Fx6300 to 100% usage due to extremely few games being able to use 6 threads.
Your most likely seeing 60-70% usage in most games i'd imagine(4 threads maxxed).

I had one of these cpu's overclocked to 4.3Ghz in a lot of games it bottlenecked a 280x.Its defiantly gonna be bottle-necking 780's in sli

Edit: If you really want to WC the cards, this is a pretty cheap and effective way to do it http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-083-TL&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=787

But i would seriously consider upgrading investing that cash into a new CPU/mobo or CPU rather than WC

 

[SAFry]

I just tried Metro 2033 Redux in 4k and the CPU was at 50% pretty solid. Thanks for the suggestion though, it is something I've considered before and a 8370 is definitely on my shopping list if I can sell this 6300 to cover some of it. I'd love to try my 780s out in my mates i7 and see if it really did make much difference but I'm afraid he wouldn't give them back

 

[setter]

10c higher on the top card is pretty much the norm on sli, I've seen mine as much as 20c. Non ghz wf 780's in sli, (84 and 64c) though you look to have a better sized gap between your cards. What are the card temps like at load?

 

[SAFry]

They seem to be quite happy to get up to 80C but then the Windforce fans really start to fight back. Never seen the fan speed hit 100% before, temp levels off after 80C in FurMark and some games. Elite Dangerous will go to some silly pointless FPS when you are in menus at a station and start baking the GPUs if you don't limit them!
I'm actually thinking that a single 120mm fan won't actually outdo the Windforce cooler and it may end up a downgrade or be noisier. Have to save up for that custom loop : /

 

[MrMD]

Theirs 240mm rad versions of those kits aswell.

I'd imagine even just putting one of these on the bottom card would make a pretty substantial differenace as it wouldnt be dumping its heat directly into the path of the top card.

 

[SAFry]

I was considering if I could use the Corsair H90 which has a 140mm rad, I can fit 2 of them in the front of the case but I'd rather use the top exhausts if the tubes will reach. Plus the NZXT kit plus the H90 works out at £160 for the pair which is OK..

I'm still waiting to hear back from the OCz tech lab guys on their post, I still don't know if the kit will work on my card if the chip isn't in the exact same spot as the reference. How long their tubes are (do they may them custom? the brand of pump/cooler the use is unusual) and what kind of TDP can they handle.

Been trying to work out the same for the H90 but not getting very far yet either.

 

[snips86x]

10c higher on the top card is pretty much the norm on sli, I've seen mine as much as 20c. Non ghz wf 780's in sli, (84 and 64c) though you look to have a better sized gap between your cards. What are the card temps like at load?

Same here, my Titans reach 80c/70c respectively.

If the OP doesn't mind a bit of an eye sore, you could always get a 120mm/140mm fan and fit it to the end of the 2 cards so you've got better air movement. The alternative would be to get some fans with better static pressure.

 

[setter]

Strangely though snips, I updated afterburner last week and my cards are running much cooler. 64 and 54c. In some games ny clocks and gpu use has dropped a bit. But benchmarks are spot on. Ran the valley bench on my 1-1 fan curve, 71c max on the too card, normally to stay at 70c Ono I had to manually set 100% fan speed for that bench.

 

[SAFry]

I'd imagine even just putting one of these on the bottom card would make a pretty substantial differenace as it wouldnt be dumping its heat directly into the path of the top card.

Hmm, bottom one or top one? Top one is suffering from extra heat, bottom one is creating the extra heat, hard choices but once the kit is on you could swap them over.

If the OP doesn't mind a bit of an eye sore, you could always get a 120mm/140mm fan and fit it to the end of the 2 cards so you've got better air movement. The alternative would be to get some fans with better static pressure.

You know I was considering drilling a bunch of holes in the window and sticking a 140mm exhaust blowing out the side. I think the Gigabyte Windforce coolers are pretty good, it's not that they aren't working, I just don't like the noise. The bottom front intake blows right between the two cards and it's a Corsair AF 120mm, I don't think the top two do much good. I'd love a FLIR camera to see what's actually going on.

Ran the valley bench on my 1-1 fan curve, 71c max on the too card, normally to stay at 70c Ono I had to manually set 100% fan speed for that bench.

I tried the Gigabyte OC guru but I managed to make my post hang somehow and ended up uninstalling it. I then also got into a muddle as the nVidia driver updated then FurMark kept not doing SLI so I thought the driver update broke it but turns out it's working fine on games, just not the benchmark. I was going to show you how they get upto 80 but then plateau off. Maybe I'll try this valley bench.

I'm still trying to figure out if my card is close enough to the reference card or this is all academic. I'm no expert but looks pretty similar, GHz on the right:

 

[MrMD]

Hmm, bottom one or top one? Top one is suffering from extra heat, bottom one is creating the extra heat, hard choices but once the kit is on you could swap them over

[/IMG]

Try on the bottom card first.By doin that your taking almost all the heat it would normally produce and dumping all that heat into a radiator rather than directly into the airflow of the topcard.

The bottom card would obviously get significantly lower temps as its under water,but so would the top card as its not intaking 200w+ of hot air normally dumped into its path by the bottom card

 

[setter]

Id say it might work better on the top card, due to the space the heat gets trapped between both cards. Therefore the warm air just keeps getting circulated into it. Below is a shot of my pair.



My board spacing isnt great tbh, but i ran wf 670's in a Z77 board with a much wider gap, temps with those cards were much better. My front cooling consists of x2 140mm silverstone air penetrator fans as intake, and a pair of the 120mm versions of theese directly behind the cards mointed on the hdd bays.

 

[SAFry]

@setter, I think the heat gets blown out the sides of the card then rises where, like you say, it gets uptaked and circulated. I think the airflow in the case goes in the front then out the top via the shortest route. Ironically the top right corner is probably the best aerated and the bottom left where the card is the worst!

By the way, how come you got the two custom cables in the bottom card? I would put one in each card and one black one in each card for extra mystic symmetry!

 

[setter]

In my case i also have two 120mm intake fans in the bottom, ive toyed with the idea of fitting a fan to the side window to see what it does.

Regarding the cables, i may look into that. Ive got another pair on order, but as my cards are a mix of a rev1 and a rev2. I need x2 8 pin for the top one, (rev2) and a 6pin and 8 pin for the bottom one.

 

[SAFry]

Tempting, the x41s have 16" tubing so will reach my 2 top exhaust ports, 140mm extra thick rads, sounds impressive on their website, certainly more advanced than my H55, got some fancy LED lighting options too. Only £40 over my budget, now just got to start working on the wife...

 

[adrichardson81]

I'm having a similar experience with mine... A side fan definitely helped - knocked about 5c off load temps.

Anyone know if changing the tim will help? I've seen big differences in the past using IC Diamond on cards with the reference cooler, but I'm not sure if it'll make a difference with my setup (Twin Frozr)

 

[katinacooker]

Tempting, the x41s have 16" tubing so will reach my 2 top exhaust ports, 140mm extra thick rads, sounds impressive on their website, certainly more advanced than my H55, got some fancy LED lighting options too. Only £40 over my budget, now just got to start working on the wife...

Why not drop down to the X31. It has the same variable speed pump, extra long tubing but a 120mm rad/fan. I use one & a G10 bracket on my 7950 and it never really gets above 55C, even on the silent setting

 

[SAFry]

Why not drop down to the X31.

They are now on special offer too at £45! I could just buy one X31 and G10 to try out, sure I could repurpose I'd it didn't work out. I only have one spare 4 pin chassis fan anyway so things might get complicated with 2.