GPU/CPU watercooling vs Air

Flymo23

Flymo23

Flymo23

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hello all!

Strangely enough, i cannot seem to find a simple air vs water comparison graph to show the difference in CPU/GPU temps?

Probably being stupid, however does anyone have a link or something that i can refer to?

Looking to build a new rig soon so i'm weighing up my options :)

Any help is appreciated
 
well it's almost impossible to do a comparison table.
As each rig would have so many variables, it depends how much rad space you have, airflow, cpu/gpu block.
they all effect it.
What rig are you looking at cooling?
 
the plan would would be a 5820k and 2 x G1 gaming 970's...

I understand that there are those kinds of variables, but still shocked to see someone hasn't recorded something on a test bench just to give an understanding of the level of cooling performance
 
I suppose,
Well I'm not sure with this, without knowing what kind of setup it's coming from and how many rads it's going to.
I have a 4790K and a 290x. 2 * 240 rads and I idle at 16 and Prime95 at 48.
I'm putting in 2 more rads this weekend so I could give you more numbers, but that's one system, one type of rad and one type of fan.
It's all about a balance and a goal, are you going for as cool as possible? as quiet? a mix? how much noise can you live with?

I can just say, if you don't care about noise then watercooling will 100% be colder, with the right setup you can drop it to damn near ambient temps
 
Anecdotal,but to give you an idea

Just switched from a 212 with noctua f12's to a d5/240mm rad loop for my cpu,temp difference is around 15-20c at stock speeds and 20-25c at my current OC (Load temps)
 
i think the goal for me is to maintain good temps with a sensible OC and quiet as possible, although i might find myself in the situation where ill go all out with OC unless i can resist temptation...

The plan is to potentially build into a Parvum MATX case also (or another MATX case with a decent sized window), so internal case temps will be a factor to take into consideration as they will be higher than in a mid tower/full tower.

Giraffe are both CPU and GPU in the same loop in your rig?
 
Yep, same loop

parvum's a limited space for rads,
And I hear it's noisy. (That's only one report though)

So I dunno how it's going to go, how many rads can a Parvum MATX take?
I've seen extended ones that have a 360 in the roof
 
Ok interesting.

I'm not 100% how many rads could be stuffed in :L and could potentially be a reason for not choosing that case; but it is a very nice looking case!

I do quite like the look of the new Bit-Fenix MATX cases
 
Flymo23 said:
the plan would would be a 5820k and 2 x G1 gaming 970's...

I understand that there are those kinds of variables, but still shocked to see someone hasn't recorded something on a test bench just to give an understanding of the level of cooling performance
Click to expand...

With the GPU's it's a no brainer, really. With SLI 970s your cards will be heading north of 70C and thermal throttling will kick in, the top card especially. The heat dumped into your case will also be a nightmare. Under water, they will sit at mid 40C during heavy load, and the only heat being dumped into your case will be from the back plates (minimal). The reduction in noise will also be significant.

The thermals for your CPU will be better under water, but a decent air cooler can still yield acceptable results. As with the GPU's, water will create much less noise.
 
Excellent, thanks String.

has anyone documented anything from their own rig in terms of a graph or chart?

I will be sure to do it when i build
 
Flymo23 said:
Excellent, thanks String.

has anyone documented anything from their own rig in terms of a graph or chart?

I will be sure to do it when i build
Click to expand...

I had 2 970s on air and my cpu was under water. 970s are cool cards, but even then I found the bottom card at mid 60s and the top card would be 10c higher. This was with a custom fan curve and an Air540 case with plenty of airflow. The rig was loud, and that's something that you can't really measure.

I now have my cpu and one 980 under water, and the 2nd 980 on air. Card under water sits at high 30s to mid 40s and the card on air touches low 70s. Again, the case has great air flow (8 fans).

I'm currently in the process of getting the 2nd card under water.
 
nice string, which 980's did you go for?

Also not as to hijack my own thread, but i'm curious about custom bios; how would one even obtain a custom bios and then reflash the GPU?
 
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Flymo23 said:
nice string, which 980's did you go for?

Also not as to hijack my own thread, but i'm curious about custom bios; how would one even obtain a custom bios and then reflash the GPU?
Click to expand...

I went for the Gigabyte G1 Gaming. I've not bothered modding my bios as these cards are in the FirestrikeExtreme top 100 hall of fame when overclocked on the stock bios. I don't see the point in risking turning them into a pair of paper weights for a slight performance boost.

The 980 owners thread will be a good place to start for custom bios.
 
Watercooling is quite diverse, so direct comparisons aren't really going to work. You could be going for a PC that's as quiet as possible, or one that's as well cooled as you can manage to help overclocking.

That will determine what sort of differences in cooling performance you'll get.

If you go the silent way, the chances are that your temps won't be massively different from air cooled, but it'll be significantly quieter.

*I really wish people would stop calling PCs "rigs" ughhh*
 
String said:
I went for the Gigabyte G1 Gaming. I've not bothered modding my bios as these cards are in the FirestrikeExtreme top 100 hall of fame when overclocked on the stock bios. I don't see the point in risking turning them into a pair of paper weights for a slight performance boost.

The 980 owners thread will be a good place to start for custom bios.
Click to expand...

Fair point, the G1 Gaming 970 is the option I was going for; there's just something I like about gigabyte cards.

Thanks for all the advice
 
String said:
When it comes to SLI I simply cannot say this has been my experience. The cards are miles cooler and near silent.
Click to expand...

That'll be more to do with dead spots in airflow than because of watercooling as such as well as motherboard dependent. If your PCI-E slots are close together, then your air cooled cards will run a lot hotter, if they're more widely spaced there'll be less of a gap.
 
spoffle said:
That'll be more to do with dead spots in airflow than because of watercooling as such as well as motherboard dependent. If your PCI-E slots are close together, then your air cooled cards will run a lot hotter, if they're more widely spaced there'll be less of a gap.
Click to expand...

I'm more inclined to think it's down to the fact GPU heatsink fans need to pound away at 70-100% to keep the cards below 70c, whereas water blocks keep them below 40c with rad fans spinning at 700rpm or lower.
 
The one thing that I feel always gets over looked is maintenance and when both are all new and performance is 100% both have good cooling and look great. How ever over time dust starts to build up and can unbalance the fans which will aid in making noise and with water if the water is not changed it tends to warm up and performance with both starts to be poor. If air cooled and maintaining lots of fans etc is not your thing it can be a pain, as to just changing some water. How ever I do feel there is a limit to air and with lots of hardware in a case I do feel water is a far better option.
 
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