Cooling Watercooling GPU Is it worth it?

back again.

Struggling to find a decent GPU waterblock with matching CPU waterblock.

Cannot find the GF3 Dangerden one in the UK. The OCPC GF3 block is almost £50, so is it worth watercooling.

How much quieter will it be, or should I just cool the CPU?

 

If your gonna overclock then yes....if not then no....

 

Don't Radeon 9700 and GeForce 3 take the same size waterblocks? if so you could just use the DangerDen 9700 block i think.
I think it is worth cooling gpu if only just to get rid of the stupid fan
/me glares at stupid, noisy, irritating gf3

 

Id rather use one of these: http://www.themodfathers.com/article.php?18.0

 

Actually, I'd highly recommend WCing a 9700! I used to get idle temps around 100F and loads about 120F which is pretty bloody hot considering my CPU (P4) would rarely go above 110 OCd and under load!

Anybody running a GPU which gets hotter than their CPU should definitely consider watercooling. Bottom line was my GPU was idling higher than my CPU load temps.

Cheers.

 

And how do u see this? Comparing gpu temp to a cpu temp is like apples to oranges.....Both are completely different in design. The stock cooling that comes with any vid card is just fine for that card..Baring no overclocking...

 

There are only two reasons most people water cool a PC.

1.) High performance = overclocking

2.) Quiet

Both call for the water cooling of the vid card. My reasoning?

If you want high performance then you need to o/c the card to get the most from your system. Unless you are willing to put up with a good deal of noise from a performance air cooling set up. And you aren't really looking at the total cost of the water block for the vid card. What you are really looking at is the differance in the cost of a high performance air cooler and the water block. In order to keep noise to the lowest possible (sane) level I'd pay that differance in a half a heartbeat.

And if you want quiet then you need to get rid of the fan on the video card. To leave the vid card on air defeats to a degree the search for peace and quiet. You've already paying out a good deal of money for pump, rad, tubing and CPU block. If you leave the vid card on air then the noise from the rad fan will partly offset the noise saved from having the CPU water cooled. So you don't gain as much for your investment as you could. For a fraction of the cost of the w/c items you're already paying for you can reduce the noise more, and that is worth it, at least to me.

I myself, would not trust a passive cooler on a 9700. Note that link that Haddy gave, the guy had to add a fan to that passive cooler. So just how much did he gain? Use a w/c block and you gian all the reduction possible. And again you would be paying not the total cost of the waterblock, but only the differance. I know that passive coolers are not high cost but it should still be a consideration. Another consideration is the fact that a water cooled card can take a pretty good o/c in silence. There isn't a passive cooler built by anyone that can. If you seek quiet then you could still have a pretty fair o/c with the best of silence as well.

The Atlantis line is not low cost, true. But it (CPU block) is also one of the best cooling blocks now on the market, this is even more true if you require the components to be a matched set. I'd say go for them.

 

Waiting for a quote

Thanks for all this chaps.

Ive decided I will get the GF3 cooler so I can o/clock a little on my gainward ti4600.

So at present Ive been checking my email every hour from overclockedpc as Ive decided to go with the Atlantis gear.

Should be pretty tasty once Ive got it all.

My only concern now is how much a new block will cost once the Nvidia Fx cards come out.

 

i hope u mean GF4 cooler because gf3 blocks don't fit gf4's :/

 

I know but I need a GF3 cooler for my GF3 card.

I dont want a GF4 card now as end Q1 next year the new Nvidia (NV30) cards should be available and will not be same spec as GF4 and therefore need a new waterblock

 

Jon,

Just curious, what are your goals in watercooling your system?

Uses?

And isn't a ti 4600 a GF 4 card ? ? Have to admit I'm a bit confused after reading your last 2 posts.

 

Simple to be ulta quiet. I have a 1 yr old daughter and I need to keep my machine quiet if i want to run through the night.

Also if the temps do come down signifcantly then a little oc would'nt hurt either but this is an optional secondary traget to the primary of no loud humming noises

 

Might i suggest getting some sound proofing material for your case....Always worked wonders for me...even though it does raise the case temp a lil *dont matter if your watercooling as you dont use the case air for much of anything in terms of cooling*

 

I will probably try some once Ive got my watercooling rig if I still have some residual noise.

At the mo I know its the fans that are making the most noise. They are at 12v but my temps in the case are at the 45 degree for my cpu which is liveable temp wise but not noise wise.

 

That with your watercooling?

 

A good point Haddy, noise deadening sheets would help the goal of low noise out as well. Also some Papst or other ultra quiet fans.

I'd like my next build to be a uber performance system that controls noise as much as that is possible. (yeah, the 2 don't go well with each other.) Be interesting to see how much noise can be lowered while not making any cuts in the max performance. But with only use of water and air it may be hard to limit the noise much. But I can't handle the cost of phase change equipment.