Kraken G12 X53 and GTX 1080 in 680x

masscrazy · 29 Apr 2020 at 22:09

I want to get a sinch more performance and much lower accoustics from the my MSI GTX1080 GamingX.
I've seen on youtube, someone use the g12 on the GamingX with the baseplate/front plate in tact, which
should help take care of the heat from VRMs.

I was after some opinions on how to setup my case the Corsair 680x. I currently have a Antec Kuhler 920,
49mm radiator AIO. Its at the rear of the case.

I want to add a 240mm or 280mm AIO with the Kraken G12. Question is where can I put it? And it seems
the 280mm wont work on the roof of the case as the Kuhler 920 will be in the way.

So attached are two pictures, where would you suggest I mount the 240 Kraken X53 dual radiator AIO.
And should I use the Kuhler for teh GPU and the X53 for the CPU?

fyi-rear radiator config is push pull

Heres the shopping list:

Kraken G12 - £25
Kraken x53 - £120
MX-4 thermal paste - £5
VGA to 3pin Fan connector - £10
Riser cable - £50

varkanoid · 29 Apr 2020 at 23:25

Leave the 920 on the CPU put the X53 on the GPU and attach it at the front where the top two fans are. Simple.

To me a 240mm looks like it would fit at the top, at the front or on the bottom. I had a X61 cooling my 1080ti with a G12 and I tried it on the CPU and on the GPU and having it on the GPU gave the most drop in temperature of the two.

Looking at side on picture then fitting it at the front would be best. Even if you did fit it at the top the piping would not work because the G12 is designed to have pipes going at the back of the GPU which makes it better for the radiator to be front mounted, or even at the bottom.

masscrazy · 29 Apr 2020 at 23:54

varkanoid said:
Leave the 920 on the CPU put the X53 on the GPU and attach it at the front where the top two fans are. Simple.

To me a 240mm looks like it would fit at the top, at the front or on the bottom. I had a X61 cooling my 1080ti with a G12 and I tried it on the CPU and on the GPU and having it on the GPU gave the most drop in temperature of the two.

Looking at side on picture then fitting it at the front would be best. Even if you did fit it at the top the piping would not work because the G12 is designed to have pipes going at the back of the GPU which makes it better for the radiator to be front mounted, or even at the bottom.

Interesting you say at the bottom? Then I could get the 280 version!!
However would it be sensible to have 240/280 AIO draw air in from bottom and into the case and exhaust through top and rear?

fyi, GPU will be mounted vertically with a riser cable, not sure which one yet.

varkanoid · 30 Apr 2020 at 09:21

masscrazy said:
fyi, GPU will be mounted vertically with a riser cable, not sure which one yet.

Why ??

As long as you stick to airflow in front/bottom out back/top you can mount it bottom or front. Front would give best airflow through it as bottom you are limited by legs on case so airflow in is not as efficient. I've always tried to put GPU AIO on front as you get the cool area hitting it first. Okay slightly warmer air is hitting the CPU but I've found with a single AIO it only made about 1/2c difference to the CPU temp but with the X61 it made no difference at all it was almost overkill for the GPU but it knocked something like 20c off the stock cooler in idle/load. Also noticed how the room was cooler too.

I've got the original cooler on my 2080 and you can tell the difference in room temp when I`m gaming I've seen it get to 76c in some games and I know if I put a AIO on it then it would max around 64c from experience. Just this time round I've not bothered after having a bad experience with a 2080ti and their EVGA AIO.

masscrazy · 30 Apr 2020 at 10:12

varkanoid said:
Why ??

Vertically mounted to show off the card, it will actually be uglier than the GamingX stock cooler but nzxt block/pump looks good.

Aside from that, my room gets super hot especially in the corner it is in with my current setup. Looking forward to this benefit also.

I'm now tempted to get the X72, its on sale with the G12 for total 139. Which makes it worthwhile, as the x53 is £120 by itself.

It will be overkill and may just put it on the CPU?! and the kuhler on the GPU, but will try with GPU first.

Whats the after market like for AIOs, I plan to build a custom loop in a microatx case at the end of the year, and will no longer need it, upgrade my 2012 beast I still use haha

varkanoid · 30 Apr 2020 at 10:19

GPU's benefit more from an AIO than a CPU you will get more of a temperature drop. From experience whether you get a X72 or X53 I would def put it on the GPU. As an example the CPU will run happily on the current AIO even with an overclock but stick the bigger AIO on the GPU and it will really stretch its legs automatically with Turbo Boost without you doing anything to the stock clock. Overclock it yourself and you get extra performance gains again. That £139 kit if it fits is a no-brainer.

I would say you get about £80 for the X72 easily. Its massive. You could probably sell the kit for £95 to £100.

masscrazy · 30 Apr 2020 at 11:04

I hear ya, but the Antec Kuhler 920 AIO I have on the CPU currently, 49MM rad, keeps my i7 3770k @4.2Ghz, at a solid 66C on load. It seems like a solid performer. Which makes me think it would work just as well on the GPU.

Having said that, I think I would prefer getting max perfomance from GPU and considering the X72 is huge and what I've seen paired with a G12, that can produce great results.

-Waiting in line to know if G12+X72 will be dispatched anytime soon, currently on pre-order, expected today though, fingers crossed!!!!

varkanoid · 30 Apr 2020 at 11:45

Other reason would be I couldnt be arsed to change it round and easier to leave it on the CPU if I was happy.

masscrazy · 30 Apr 2020 at 14:48

Yea I would have left it too. But I am going to take of the Kuhler from the CPU to reapply thermal paste its been a few years since I've done that so probably worth doing. Might get better temps that 66 and try push the CPU a bit more.

masscrazy · 4 May 2020 at 02:38

Update:

Installed the Kraken G12 and x72.

Temps: idle 28c at ambient 26c. Load around 45-51c.

So overall great results.

Trouble though with the stress tests its all good. But benchmarks its crashes. And crashes games. Not sure why. Even at stock clock settings on the 1080 gaminx.
The VRMs and VRAM are covered with the original plates and has heatsinks as standard. Also the G12 fan is on full speed.

There is some instability after mounting the GPU. The temps are great, and its currently on stock clocks. Enough airflow with two fans directly under the gpu.

Not sure what else it could be?

kidloco · 4 May 2020 at 08:54

If your temps are that low then it must be the VRMs I would have thought. Are they getting decent airflow from the G12s fan? Could maybe leaving all the original plates etc on be restricting the fan from doing its job?

Your getting pretty much identical temps to me and mine is rock solid. 1080ti with nothing but bare VRMs. The G12 fan is on a near silent curve as well.

varkanoid · 4 May 2020 at 11:27

How hot is the baseplate to touch ? (be careful) I just put a single custom heatsink strip on the VRM and individually heatsinks on ram it was fine. Although I changed the G12 fan for a better Noctua one.

masscrazy · 5 May 2020 at 13:40

I've put back the original stock cooler to see if there was no permanent damage done and a fresh lick of paint has improved the temps a ton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And especially the noise. I barely hear it hits, mid sixties after quick stress test. And I imagine it will take some pushing to get it high 70s like it was!
So the system is quite quiet now LOOOL.

Also giving back the x72 in favour of the x53 (not 63, case doesnt quite like the config). The x53 because 120mm and I want to keep my LL120s, cost saving essentially.

kidloco said:
If your temps are that low then it must be the VRMs I would have thought. Are they getting decent airflow from the G12s fan? Could maybe leaving all the original plates etc on be restricting the fan from doing its job?

Your getting pretty much identical temps to me and mine is rock solid. 1080ti with nothing but bare VRMs. The G12 fan is on a near silent curve as well.

So I left the thermal pad on the VRMS which might be the problem. I did put the stock cooler back to check, seems all good no damange done.
I will wait for Friday when I get the x53, to try the G12 once again and this time remove the thermal pad (the one just to the right of the board)
https://i.ibb.co/ngsxVLG/image.png

varkanoid said:
How hot is the baseplate to touch ? (be careful) I just put a single custom heatsink strip on the VRM and individually heatsinks on ram it was fine. Although I changed the G12 fan for a better Noctua one.

Backplate? Its pretty hot, can touch and can continue to touch but its hot! And with the stock cooler back on the backplate is also still very very hot!! What does this mean? That how its meant to be?
I will get the silent wings 1900rpm 92mm fan on Friday too.

All in all is it actually worth getting it!! LOOL, i want to try be super quiet, but seems unlikely since I want to use LL120, but its not very good in a rad.

Decisions decision :cryface: haha

varkanoid · 5 May 2020 at 14:32

Is it stable with the stock cooler back on ?

masscrazy · 5 May 2020 at 15:07

Yes it is

masscrazy · 6 May 2020 at 14:58

Update:

Took off the thermal pad covering the mosfet VRMs I left on when I took off the stock cooler. Now Kraken G12+x72 with backplate, front plate still installed but no thermal pad, AND its stable!

Did a whole bunch of stress tests, Anno 1800 DX12 bench, GTA5 bench and FurMark and Unigine Heaven bench.

No artifacts and no crashes. And I overclocked to +90mhz (2075.5mhz) on the core and +170 memory(1293.8mhz). NEVER had it be stable over 50+mhz with stock cooler.

What does this mean? It was the thermal pad that had such a massive affect?

masscrazy · 9 May 2020 at 04:23

Final build

varkanoid · 9 May 2020 at 10:47

Looks good, if you were blowing air at the VRMs with just the thermal pad on then the pad will have acted like a barrier to the airflow.

masscrazy · 10 May 2020 at 00:41

varkanoid said:
Looks good, if you were blowing air at the VRMs with just the thermal pad on then the pad will have acted like a barrier to the airflow.

Yes I think that was teh case.

All seems stable except GTA5, seems like when it hits the video memory max just above 7GB and it crashes. Similar thing was happening with Anno1800 but that was RAM running out and pagefile being too low. So no crashes with that so far after increasing page file. Never played much GTA before, only few weeks before upgrading and it never crashed with stock cooler, maybe it would have eventually. But does with this. I've reduced the quality of the game but still gets to use over 7gb of video memory and then crashes.