First custom watercooling - my GPU will be the guinea pig

Mockingbird

Mockingbird

Mockingbird

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Hello folks,

current system has the CPU cooled by an all-in-one cooler (Antec 620 IIRC) but my GPU is still noisy.

I'd like to try water cooling the GPU.

I know I'll need a water block, likely a back plate, a pump, reservoir, radiator, fans and tubing (plus coolant) but I have decided to start by looking at the block.

I have an MSI HD7950 3Gb boost edition Twin Frozr 2 - I don't know if it's reference 7950 or 7970 PCB design - any way to tell without dismantling?

Any recommendations for a water block for such a card?

Once I get an idea how much the block will be, I will start working out the full budget, and whether it'll end up being a full loop or GPU only (I suspect GPU only).
 
According to EKWB's cooling configurator that card needs a 7970 block. Cost you about £80 for a full cover block.

Adding your CPU to your loop will probably cost you an additional £100 (CPU block, rad & fittings).
 
Quite correct its a reference 7970 pcb. Will advise to check model numbers match as iirc there was a batch with different boards I believe the initial release.

As to weather to go gpu only or with cpu.

Look at the xspc kits with the d5 pump. Once you have that you have enough to cool both cpu and gpu and it wouldn't be much hassle. (360rad would be my ideal spec).


For example this should be absolutely adequate;

YOUR BASKET
1 x XSPC RayStorm D5 AX360 WaterCooling Kit £252.95
1 x Watercool Heatkiller GPU-X³ 79X0 Ni-Bl £89.99
2 x XSPC G1/4" to 7/16" ID, 5/8" OD Compression Fitting (Black Chrome) £3.19 (£6.38)
Total : £358.92 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Hmm, nice, and cheaper than my initial ballpark estimate. That kit has a heck of a lot of stuff in it.

Looks like I know what this year's birthday money's going to be going towards now (plus a bit of saving up ofc).

Would a bay reservoir and pump like the one in that kit transfer more vibration to the chassis than a separate foam-mounted pump, or is it mounted to the bay in some cunning fashion? (or am I worrying about nothing)?
 
Bay pump/res tend to be a bit noisier due to the mount. It isnt a lot of noise though and the D5 can be turned down a few notches to an inaudible level.
 
I have no personal experience with the D5 so I cant vouch for it however its supposed to be rather quiet. I have its brother the 18w DDC in a bay res and its lovely and silent.

It does make noise but nothing to worry about in my opinion.

That kit has everything you could need in it. More than enough tubing. The gpu block and the extra 2 fittings should complete everything you need to for a full loop.

Only thing additional I would suggest is to use a different thermal paste. If I'm reading its specs correctly it appears rather conductive so wouldn't be suitable for a gpu. I use artic silver 5 which is also conductive but not as much. So just need to be a bit careful around the gpu area. Used it on both my 7970s and theyre still alive :D
 
Mynight said:
Quite correct its a reference 7970 pcb. Will advise to check model numbers match as iirc there was a batch with different boards I believe the initial release.

As to weather to go gpu only or with cpu.

Look at the xspc kits with the d5 pump. Once you have that you have enough to cool both cpu and gpu and it wouldn't be much hassle. (360rad would be my ideal spec).


For example this should be absolutely adequate;

YOUR BASKET
1 x XSPC RayStorm D5 AX360 WaterCooling Kit £252.95
1 x Watercool Heatkiller GPU-X³ 79X0 Ni-Bl £89.99
2 x XSPC G1/4" to 7/16" ID, 5/8" OD Compression Fitting (Black Chrome) £3.19 (£6.38)
Total : £358.92 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Click to expand...
I'm not sure a 360 rad is enough for CPU & GPU - definitely not if you're going to do any overclocking.

Maybe something like this for CPU & GPU:

YOUR BASKET
1 x XSPC RayStorm D5 AX240 WaterCooling Kit £234.95
1 x Watercool Heatkiller GPU-X³ 79X0 Ni-Bl £89.99
1 x XSPC AX240 Dual Fan Radiator (Black) £74.95
4 x XSPC G1/4" to 7/16" ID, 5/8" OD Compression Fitting (Black Chrome) £3.19 (£12.76)
Total : £422.26 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Not too shabby for just over £420, certainly not a bank-breaker :)
 
TDPs;
200w gpu
100w (up to) for cpu.

Using this link;

http://www.pureoverclock.com/Review-detail/xspc-ax360-radiator/4/

The test is performed using a 300w water heater the rad has a delta t of 6.3 (so 6.3c above ambient water temps) with 1200rpm fans.

If I knew the cpu I could be a lot more specific but unless your planning on pushing all components to their limits it should be adequate for a mild overclock.

So in theory you could use this for say 400-500watts without having to worry too much.
 
360 is easily enough for a CPU and GPU, even if you go for some decent clocks. Unless you plan to be pushing +30% overclocks on both, i doubt you will run into problems.
 
I'm more likely to go for just the basic kit as it's not really about overclocking for me, more about stability (i.e. keping temps low) and low noise.

I'll be happy if I get a cooler, quieter version of my PC with the same performance as it currently has, TBH.

If there's a little overhead for some tweaking I'm not going to complain, but nearly £65 more for the extra rad isn't chump change!
 
If you stay at stock clocks then you might be able to run passively only turning fans on when temps go past a certain point.

My comp is nigh on silent (pump being no louder than a harddrive idling). Only when I hit 40 degrees do my fans kick in slowly. If I run heaven and prime at the same time bring temps above 60 thats when the 12 fans kick in full blast and the pump speeds up. (Also the point the pc case starts hovering and the neighbors complain :D haha).
 
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