8800 Watercooling

[PorscheGuy997]

Hello everyone!

Well, I have come into some money to spend. I just completed my build three weeks ago and I already want to upgrade. I have a U-120 Extreme and Hr-05 on the way.

I really like Thermalright (as you can see), but I CAN NOT afford to give up the slots to fit a Hr-03 Plus on my Leadtek 8800GTS . I must have my soundcard and wireless setup in the two PCI slots.

So, that leaves me with watercooling as my only option for my 8800GTS. This is where I get confused.

I found the DangerDen and Koolance coolers and both of them look pretty nice. Which is better and are there any others that you would reccommend?

I don't want to cool my cpu (already have two heatsinks for it and it runs cool); just the graphics card. Can you reccommend a small system that isn't too expensive.

I was hoping that this wouldn't cost a fortune, but I would like something that does an excellent job of cooling down the 8800GTS.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Synomenon]

Can't the HR-03 Plus be installed the other way (so that it wraps over the card) so that it won't block a slot? Or is there something in the way on the other side of the 8800 as well? If you can install it that way, you can just mount a fan over the video card instead of directly on the HR-03.

 

[SparkyJJO]

The HR-03 plus can be mounted either way, on top or on the bottom.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Porscheguy said:
"but I CAN NOT afford to give up the slots to fit a Hr-03 Plus on my Leadtek 8800GTS"

Your "handle" may explain why you've been partial to air-cooling. It's a shame now, that after 9-11-01, the number "911" has such a bad connotation.

IF you can hang the HR-03-Plus pipes and fins over on the CPU side of the card, you will have no PCI/-E slot obstruction. This was my plan from "the git-go," but my Striker audio-riser card interferes slightly, and I'm contemplating a "dremel" operation on a small chunk of each and every HR-03-Plus heatsink fin.

ThermalTake -- that's Thermal followed by "T-a-k-e" -- makes a watercooling device exclusively for VGA cards, with a dual-card SLI option. But it fits in a PCI slot!

As I was saying, to put it in "presidential wording, -- "Ah feel yur pain . . . " I"ve posted several entries in this last few days after installing my own HR-03-Plus on the problem of massive heatpipe coolers getting in the way of PCI slots.

With the Ultra-120-Extreme, you should be able to flip its orientation 90-degrees, so the broad side of its fins face against the HR-03 fins and leave plenty of room to spare for a good 120mm fan. My own idea was to do exactly that.

It eliminates the need for a fan on the HR-03-Plus, and if the CPU fan is beefy enough, doing double duty for both coolers shouldn't require a really significant increase in fan-speed, nor any significant increase in either VGA temps of CPU temps. But you would either have to duct the exhaust from the Ultra 120, or let it blow up toward your PSU fan intake -- an option some people are less enthusiastic for. On my end, I would consider it because my Seasonic 650HT doesn't generate enough heat of its own to prevent being cooled by slightly warmer air.

If you HAVE to put the HR-03-Plus in its installation option where the cooler hangs over your PCI slots, use an 80mm x 15mm (I repeat -- 15mm) Zalman OP-1 fan, or a similar 15mm fan. That will save you a PCI slot, and the fan will still be so close to the expansion card in the saved slot that it will keep it wonderfully cool.

 

[Raider1284]

DO NOT get the kooolance block it is worthless. You can either get a full coverage waterblock like: http://www.petrastechshop.com/ekfucowaforn2.html These offer amazing performance but arent transferable to another card.

Or you get get just the gpu waterblock like: http://www.petrastechshop.com/swmcgpuwawg8.html This is an incredibly popular block and will most likely be transferrable to new hardware. This will offer great performance for the gpu, but you will need to get heatsinks for the ram chips, like: http://www.petrastechshop.com/swmcsmccokit.html or http://www.petrastechshop.com/dgfxun88e5.html

your looking at ~100 for the cooling hardware for your 8800gts. This doesn't include a pump and radiator. If you upgrade your cards often def go with the mcw60 waterblock with the ramsinks, but if you want max performance going with the custom full coverage EK waterblock should perform better.

 

[aigomorla]

If you want to watercool the GTS, and your not super concern about ultra low temps. Look for these:

Swiftech MCR120 <-- uses 3/8 OD barbs.
Swiftech MCP-350 <--- also uses 3/8 barbs.
Swiftech MCW60 + 8800 GTS ram sink kit. Comes with mosfet sinks, and ram sinks.


All should be 3/8ID compatiable. And should cool better then the HR-05


Dont try to be smart and drop your CPU on that loop. You'll cry with such a small radiator.

 

[PCTC2]

also, for a little more, you can get a full-cover waterblock like the EK-FC8800 GTS. it's also 3/8ID compatible.

 

[drakore]

Crazy duck and his dremmel