AMD Radeon 290X Kuhler mod: Taming Hawaii 'Pic heavy'.

Boomstick777 · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:58

benjii said:
My prolimatech cooler comes with some tiny vrm heatsinks that I don't need, you can have those if you want.

Thanks man, I appreciate the offer. Will see how I get on with the OCUK heatsink kit, hopefully be here in couple days. If they don't fit, that would be great of you to let me try them

benjii · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:59

Boomstick777 said:
Thanks man, I appreciate the offer. Will see how I get on with the OCUK heatsink kit, hopefully be here in couple days. If they don't fit, that would be great of you to let me try them

No worries, just let me know.

flopper · 25 Nov 2013 at 14:15

Donpaolo said:
I am going to say the reason is cost. This mod cost him nearly nothing as he had most of the parts already i think. If you want to go custom loop you are looking at £400-£500 pounds and for some people its not worth it / too expensive. Plus its fun to mod

mine, zero as I had all the stuff at home from previous set ups.
new block would be 100euro or so.
easy choice.

Chrisoldinho · 25 Nov 2013 at 21:16

I'm about to embark on this same mod, albeit without a bracket...trusty old cable ties for me on an R290 (hoping to become an R90X

).

I've been trying to find out if you can leave any part of the stock heatsink on with the cooler? basically the fan i would like to keep.

middle pic - can you just remove the main heatsink in the middle? http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?ct=articles&action=file&id=7148

Failing that looks like I will also need some RAM heat sinks.

Boomstick777 · 26 Nov 2013 at 13:32

Heatsinks arrived today, very fast delivery, even got some haribo :-D

Thank you OCUK.

Just some sinks on VRM1 part for now as VRM2 is 50c under load seems pointless adding heatsinks...

Think it's knocked about 10c - 12c off the temp. Do these temps seem safe?

Boomstick777 · 26 Nov 2013 at 13:44

These fitted easily under the fan bracket.

Freddie1980 · 26 Nov 2013 at 13:54

So how much cooler are you VRAM's now you have heatsink on them? 97c to beat!

Boomstick777 · 26 Nov 2013 at 15:22

Freddie1980 said:
So how much cooler are you VRAM's now you have heatsink on them? 97c to beat!

Using the same test @ full load down to 87c. I'm guessing that's got to be a good thing.. Longer gaming sessions hopefully temps will stay sub 100c.

LtMatt · 26 Nov 2013 at 15:25

I think 90C or under for 24/7 is fine. At least thats how it was with Tahiti vrms. If you went too much past that stability could sometimes become an issue. All depends what vrms are used on the 290. The good thing about the reference cooler is the blower sits right on top of the vrms so they always remain the coolest part vs the core.

HighlandeR · 26 Nov 2013 at 15:27

Awesome job really surprised ATI did such a odd job with their cooling this job round hopefully 3rd party coolers and manufacturers will fix it.

Boomstick777 · 26 Nov 2013 at 15:37

LtMatt said:
I think 90C or under for 24/7 is fine. At least thats how it was with Tahiti vrms. If you went too much past that stability could sometimes become an issue. All depends what vrms are used on the 290. The good thing about the reference cooler is the blower sits right on top of the vrms so they always remain the coolest part vs the core.

HighlandeR said:
Awesome job really surprised ATI did such a odd job with their cooling this job round hopefully 3rd party coolers and manufacturers will fix it.

Cheers guys, happy with the temps now and the card overall, looking forward to testing out Mantle next. Hopefully in December.

Scotspaul · 27 Nov 2013 at 12:43

I'm looking at the H80 Corsair refurb unit at 36 quid and wondering if it would make a suitable cooler for this type of project. Does anyone know if it would work?

I can probably make a small plate / bracket myself to aid mounting if need be.....

LtMatt · 27 Nov 2013 at 12:49

Look at this for a fancy piece of kit.

The Kraken G10 is designed to finally bring high performance, cost-effective cooling to the GPU by incorporating existing all-in-one liquid cooling technology to a majority of modern video cards, regardless of chipset or manufacturer.

Made entirely of steel, the Kraken G10 bracket allows users to mount NZXT Kraken coolers as well as non-NZXT brand liquid coolers to their GPU with ease. (See compatibility list for compatible coolers) Included with the bracket is a 92 mm fan used to cool the VRM and other video card components.

Combined with the high performance abilities of the Kraken cooler, the Kraken G10 offers over 40% cooling increases over stock coolers, a level of performance that is traditionally only achievable with a costly custom liquid cooled setup. Combined with Nvidia's GPU Boost 2.0 or AMD's PowerTune, Kraken G10 equipped video cards can perform cooler and faster than ever.

The Kraken G10 also includes zip-tie points to hide tubing behind its slick exterior, ensuring your video card looks just as amazing as it performs. Available now for just $29.99, the Kraken G10 comes in black, white or red and can be purchased directly from the NZXT armory store.

http://www.techpowerup.com/195042/nzxt-releases-the-kraken-g10-liquid-cooling-gpu-bracket.html

Available in white, black & red.

GPU Compatibility
Nvidia : GTX 780, 770, 760, Titan, 680, 670, 660Ti, 580, 570, 560Ti, 560, 560SE
AMD : R9 290X, 290, 280X, 280, 270X, 270 HD7970, 7950, 7870, 7850, 6970, 6950, 6870, 6850, 6790, 6770, 5870, 5850, 5830
The compatibility list is based on AMD Radeon and NVIDIA's reference board layout only. Please check the height restriction before purchase.

AIO Compatibility
NZXT : Kraken X60, Kraken X40
Corsair : H110, H90 , H55 , H50
Antec : KUHLER H2O 920V4, KUHLER H2O 620V4, KUHLER H2O 920, KUHLER H2O 620
Thermaltake : Water 3.0 Extreme, Water 3.0 Pro, Water 3.0 Performer Water 2.0 Extreme, Water 2.0 Pro, Water 3.0 Performer
Zalman : LQ-320, LQ-315, LQ-310

Product page http://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/138-kraken-g10-gpu-bracket.html

SiDeards73 · 27 Nov 2013 at 12:54

Liking the look of that, could slap my 920 kuhler straight onto that badboy, anyone tried it on a 290 board yet?

almighty15 · 27 Nov 2013 at 13:01

And that bracket + All in one CPU cooler + VRM/VRAM sinks still costs more then an Arctic Cooling Hybrid while being less flexible in terms of the amount of cards it will fit on.

Waste of money...

Boomstick777 · 27 Nov 2013 at 13:11

That bracket is almost identical to mine except the side and rear part which do look nice. Only big difference is mine only cost $5

It's cool that water cooling is becoming cheaper and cheaper, these all in one solutions like Antec 620 / 920 etc, do a great job for very little money.

Rasch · 27 Nov 2013 at 18:00

I bought myself an Antex 620 after saw this topic and damn i have to say this little thing is awesome with a pair of good fans.With Noctua's 7V adapter with SP120 i get 52C top in Heaven 4.0 at full speed i was like getting 47 and my room's ambient is always pretty hot around 25-26.

Scotspaul · 27 Nov 2013 at 21:23

Can someone tell me which of the manufacturers will still honour the warranty if you fit an after-market cooler? I have read it here somewhere but cant find it any more.

Not even sure which thread its in

thefogo · 27 Nov 2013 at 21:36

Scotspaul said:
Can someone tell me which of the manufacturers will still honour the warranty if you fit an after-market cooler? I have read it here somewhere but cant find it any more.

Not even sure which thread its in

MSI and Sapphire I think.

Tonester0011 · 27 Nov 2013 at 21:42

Scotspaul said:
Can someone tell me which of the manufacturers will still honour the warranty if you fit an after-market cooler? I have read it here somewhere but cant find it any more.

Not even sure which thread its in

thefogo said:
MSI and Sapphire I think.

^^
Only if bought from OCUK.
The others, only if you don't tell them and they dont have void stickers covering the screws