Air vs. Water Cooling

MikeTimbers · 19 Apr 2014 at 20:06

Just replaced the stock air cooling on an EVGA GTX670 with a used EK GTX670 full-cover block (£41), an old heatercore and an old DDC1 with an XSPC reservoir top, some old 10mm tubing and old barbs and clamps. Everything was from previous rigs except for the GPU block. Air temperatures were on the 80C limit and the card was boosting to around 1100 with >60% fan so definitely audible; card now runs at 38C and the card is boosting to 1228 running GPUGRID 24/7 and is silent.

No after-market air-cooling solution gets near to even second-hand water when it comes to graphics cards.

ukbilleh · 20 Apr 2014 at 03:15

Avenged7Fold said:
Wouldn't go in with anything less than this if you plan to further expand:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ - Acetal £49.99
1 x EK DCP 4.0 Pump (12v) £39.98
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream PE 240 (Dual) £39.95
1 x Alphacool Reservoir Repack-Cooling Slot-In Black £21.98
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 13/10 - Clear £5.99 (£11.98)
8 x EK Water Blocks EK-CSQ Fitting 10/13mm G1/4 - Black £2.99 (£23.92)
Total : £187.79 (includes shipping : ).

needs fans i think
will also need to have high static pressure as 39fpi rad!! :O bring the noise

dfour · 20 Apr 2014 at 13:02

ukbilleh said:
needs fans i think
will also need to have high static pressure as 39fpi rad!! :O bring the noise

Pair of corsair sp120's = done

deFiniLoGy · 20 Apr 2014 at 13:03

dfour said:
Pair of corsair sp120's = done

Or NB eLoops

dfour · 20 Apr 2014 at 13:20

deFiniLoGy said:
Or NB eLoops

Yes I have looked at them and they look really interesting but I dont need any more fans hanging around so the same reason I havent tried the air rippers that are on offer this week.

Avenged7Fold · 20 Apr 2014 at 14:52

ukbilleh said:
needs fans i think
will also need to have high static pressure as 39fpi rad!! :O bring the noise

OFC it needs fans but its not actually 38fpi, its 38 fpi split fin. There are two smaller sets of fins between copper chambers rather than one, which is why the fpi seems high. You wont need all that much static pressure, a single set of GTs running on a moderate speed would do fine.

ubersonic · 6 May 2014 at 09:48

I know the OP has made his decision, but for reference (in case other people are in the same position).

iB CoMpL3XiTy said:
Having a look at a review of the zalman reserator 1 plus, it seems that it's quite poor, and old.

It's neither, they were very underrated in the day due to their CPU blocks which are a joke by today's standards (A solid lump of aluminium, rpelacing with a new EK block will drop temps by up to 20c), the cooling tower itself is the business and can dissipate a massive amount of heat depending on ambient. I used a pair of them to cool a 3770K and a HD7950 passively, I could even overclock them if I turned the case's side fan on (the reserators were in line with the case side fan to leech it's airflow if it was running).

Avenged7Fold said:
Wouldn't go in with anything less than this if you plan to further expand:

You forgot he already has a pump and res, he could have got buy with a new block, some tubing, a couple of fittings, and maybe a 120mm rad to ensure low temps. Could have been done for <£100.