I know the general "rule" is to spend the money on a better GPU instead of watercooling a mid range one, but I fancy giving watercooling a go at some point, just wondering if anyone has done it because there doesn't seem to be any readily available full cover waterblocks for the 580 so looks like it'll have to be a universal water block and then heat sinks on the VRM/RAM.
Has anyone watercooled an RX580?
- Thread starter ste91
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Soldato
It's a silly rule. If you want to watercool just do it. I've watercooled a 480 and it's lovely not having a 747 taking off if you are playing a game. Yeh you could spend the extra on a faster card but then you'd still need to spend on the waterblock.
The only issue is there are no full cover water blocks for the 580s. You can use an EK thermosphere but you'll need some sort of cooling for the VRM's and the ram.
The only issue is there are no full cover water blocks for the 580s. You can use an EK thermosphere but you'll need some sort of cooling for the VRM's and the ram.
It's very easy to simply lower the fan speed in Wattman. The RX480 is an efficient GPU, capable of running very quietly when configured correctly.
It's a very silly idea to watercool such a card, since you could buy a 1070 for the same money, which offer significantly more performance.
Soldato
The RX480 reference is never quiet at full load. I got a second one a few weeks ago and i was shocked how loud it was because i had forgotten how bad it was originally. Lowering the fan speed on a card running at 80c isnt very smart.
but then i would have to spend another £120 for the waterblock for the 1070 making it cost as much as a 1080, so you would then say get a 1080 instead i guess to that too? Then my reply would be i need a waterblock for that 1080 aswell! Putting me in 1080ti territory. So now ive gone from a £319 GPU+WB to a £700-800 GPU+WB... My budget was £350 for a watercooled card.
Also my RX480 cost £219 on release day and the waterblock was about £100, I've NEVER seen a 1070 for £319, especially a watercooled one.
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If you could get a full cover block I would go for it. I've done it on my 480. It's just fun.
But you have the itch so you are going to do it regardless of what we say so just make sure you get some decent keatsinks for the bits your block won't be hitting.
But you have the itch so you are going to do it regardless of what we say so just make sure you get some decent keatsinks for the bits your block won't be hitting.
I did two custom 480s for my first custom loop https://goo.gl/photos/CENFuaFRLqLjBN6y7
I've still kept the backplate which was used to cool it, and I hacksawed part of the original cooler so i only needed half as much of the stick-on heatsinks.
I'll be honest I was a little worried that maybe I had bitten off a bit more than I could chew for my first loop, but I don't think cooling a card can get much harder than this (can it?) and I've gone from 90c+75c to 45c+50c at full loads.
I've still kept the backplate which was used to cool it, and I hacksawed part of the original cooler so i only needed half as much of the stick-on heatsinks.
I'll be honest I was a little worried that maybe I had bitten off a bit more than I could chew for my first loop, but I don't think cooling a card can get much harder than this (can it?) and I've gone from 90c+75c to 45c+50c at full loads.
its not exactly silly rule.
if he wants to watercool it than he should ... but if you buying a 250£ gpu and a fullcover for a 100£ its better to go with a 350£ gpu .. that can take You from rx 580 to gtx 1070 ... it will be a good upgrade...
on the other hand.. if your goal is a quiet PC than having a waterblock is a good choice.
to the OP: if You buy an universal waterblock it doesn't look as fancy as fullcover but you have an advantage that you can use that waterblock with your next card. You will however need to buy some heatsinks for your vram and vrm
I used the kraken G12 to fit a X31 to my 480. Acoustics are greatly improved at full load and I got some extra overclocking headroom as I can actually cool the thing now.
Card is a Nitro+ OC though it looks like I got a rock in terms of clocks, it always instantly crashes beyond 1420MHz. It undervolts at 1340 like a champ though! Only problem is Wattman deciding to ignore my voltages constantly.
Card is a Nitro+ OC though it looks like I got a rock in terms of clocks, it always instantly crashes beyond 1420MHz. It undervolts at 1340 like a champ though! Only problem is Wattman deciding to ignore my voltages constantly.
Soldato
but as i said in my post, if i get a 1070 id need a £100 waterblock for that too. The budget was for a watercooled card, im not going to follow some rule made up by people saying you shouldnt watercool a non top end card.
also:
point still stands.