980Ti cooling replacement

[parrot1553]

hello guys,I own a Zotac GeForce GTX 980 Ti AMP!

I have overclocked it as much as stock voltage allows(not able to increase voltage with stock bios,and I dont feel like changing bios) and The card is still 24/7 stable,reaching up to 85C sometimes,but it never throttles.The problem is,the card is very loud when on high usage,I was looking at this cooler http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186145 and was thinking if it will be compatible with my card?? as the info says it will only work with reference pcb only..Any help would be appreciated.

Another question I have is,will there be much improvement? When it comes to CPU cooling some high end air cooling works just as well as some mid range watercooling aio kits,is the story same with the GPUs? after all the zotac cooler is much better than the reference nvidia cooler..

 

[KaRLiToS]

Which Zotac AMP do you have? If you have the standard model ( ZT-90503-10P ) then it is a reference card.

I think this means it is time for you to watercool your whole PC, with budget of 500$, you can watercool GPU and CPU.

 

[railven]

Similar boat as you. I bought a Zotac 980Ti reference board. As long as you have the Amp! and not the Amp! Extreme, the board should still be reference.

I went with this kit when I upgraded my cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Pro...8105&cm_re=evga_hybrid-_-14-998-105-_-Product

So far it has reduced my temps to idle <25c, with loads in the upper 40C. It only gave me perhaps 15mhz more on stable core clocks, but I believe I'm hitting a power wall (I too am not interested in using a custom bios to overcome this).

 

[KaRLiToS]

Similar boat as you. I bought a Zotac 980Ti reference board. As long as you have the Amp! and not the Amp! Extreme, the board should still be reference.

I went with this kit when I upgraded my cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Pro...8105&cm_re=evga_hybrid-_-14-998-105-_-Product

So far it has reduced my temps to idle <25c, with loads in the upper 40C. It only gave me perhaps 15mhz more on stable core clocks, but I believe I'm hitting a power wall (I too am not interested in using a custom bios to overcome this).

What have you done with the VRMs? Does the fan do a good job on them?

 

[railven]

What have you done with the VRMs? Does the fan do a good job on them?

Oh, thanks for pointing that out.

To OP, the kit I linked requires a stock reference cooler, so I don't know if it will work with your card. See below.

The VRM's are kept cool by the blower fan and the metal plate+pads from the stock cooler. Off the top of my head, I don't know what temps they are hitting, but I'm assuming they aren't getting too high. I'll have to check when I load up a game.

 

[parrot1553]

Which Zotac AMP do you have? If you have the standard model ( ZT-90503-10P ) then it is a reference card.

I think this means it is time for you to watercool your whole PC, with budget of 500$, you can watercool GPU and CPU.

I just checked,yes it has the same number on it ZT-90503-10P on the backplate.So ,will the cooler I linked work with it? is there any better you can recommend?

 

[Grubbernaught]

Just wanted to chime in on the benefits of a custom loop for this.

I lasted all of about 1 week before deciding I couldn't handle the noise of my reference Gigabyte 980ti SLI and was throttling over 80.

Since the loop, I too idle around the 25 mark and haven't cracked 40 under load. Running fans (a thick 360 in push pull and a 480mm- yes I went overboard) at mid speed the pump noise is silenced by the case and it is for all intensive purposes silent.

Also I highly recommend a bios flash, I used the MSI lightning bios with a dab of extra voltage which I approached with apprehension, but had done without issue in about 15mins.

I can achieve 1515 core rock solid at the temps listed above.

The 5930k on the other hand is a little disappointing and really doesn't seem stable beyond 4.2 no matter what voltage/tweaks are applied. I suppose you can't win the silicon lottery all the time.

The biggest recommendation I can give is allow a lot of time to properly design a sensible loop and preferably have someone experienced on hand. I tackled it blind, it took longer than it should have and I literally watched it rain inside my case during leak testing (all good in the end, nothing is powered except pumps and the fluid is non-conductive).

Sorry for the rambling post, I usually lurk more than write, but thought I may have something to contribute.

 

[moonbogg]

Just wanted to chime in on the benefits of a custom loop for this.

I lasted all of about 1 week before deciding I couldn't handle the noise of my reference Gigabyte 980ti SLI and was throttling over 80.

Since the loop, I too idle around the 25 mark and haven't cracked 40 under load. Running fans (a thick 360 in push pull and a 480mm- yes I went overboard) at mid speed the pump noise is silenced by the case and it is for all intensive purposes silent.

Also I highly recommend a bios flash, I used the MSI lightning bios with a dab of extra voltage which I approached with apprehension, but had done without issue in about 15mins.

I can achieve 1515 core rock solid at the temps listed above.

The 5930k on the other hand is a little disappointing and really doesn't seem stable beyond 4.2 no matter what voltage/tweaks are applied. I suppose you can't win the silicon lottery all the time.

The biggest recommendation I can give is allow a lot of time to properly design a sensible loop and preferably have someone experienced on hand. I tackled it blind, it took longer than it should have and I literally watched it rain inside my case during leak testing (all good in the end, nothing is powered except pumps and the fluid is non-conductive).

Sorry for the rambling post, I usually lurk more than write, but thought I may have something to contribute.

LOOL! Make it rain baby! Haha. I did a custom loop for my 980ti reference cards and it was worth it. They don't throttle and its quiet. Being stable at 1515 seems pretty crazy though. I guess that would take some extra voltage. I settled at 1440mhz with default bios and default voltage settings. I can pass a benchmark and play some games at 1500, but some games have an occasional crash and I don't find it worth it to mess with it any more beyond 1440.

 

[Actaeon]

How is your cases airflow? I have the Amp Extreme that has a slightly bigger cooler but they can't be that much different. I don't get over 71-72C and while the fan is audible it isn't very loud.

Since these are open fans and not a blower, the hot air is often recycled in the case. So good case air flow will be pretty important here.

 

[parrot1553]

How is your cases airflow? I have the Amp Extreme that has a slightly bigger cooler but they can't be that much different. I don't get over 71-72C and while the fan is audible it isn't very loud.

Since these are open fans and not a blower, the hot air is often recycled in the case. So good case air flow will be pretty important here.

its pretty good .I have 1 exhaust on top,1 on rear,and 2 intakes on front mounted on the cpu radiator.My cpu is cooled by Raijintek Triton 240mm

My GPU gets to 81C at 100% load with 81% fan.Its not too loud but its annoying when I have spent so much on my audio trying to eliminate every hiss and pop,and then the GPU fan rams up to nearly max like a baws

 

[Grubbernaught]

LOOL! Make it rain baby! Haha. I did a custom loop for my 980ti reference cards and it was worth it. They don't throttle and its quiet. Being stable at 1515 seems pretty crazy though. I guess that would take some extra voltage. I settled at 1440mhz with default bios and default voltage settings. I can pass a benchmark and play some games at 1500, but some games have an occasional crash and I don't find it worth it to mess with it any more beyond 1440.

Yeah in my defence, the rain was due to a DOA top radiator, which internally just let go after about an hour of leak testing.

And also yeah, I flashed my vid bios/s for fun, profits and voltage. Running 1.2740, and I lock my clocks when about to game using kboost because I don't like the idea of them flapping (possibly a placebo/useless). But the end result is 1515 at around 40C.

I'm trying to push 3x1440p so every bump counts, but at 1440p the need to go that high is debatable.

But long and tall is- Custom loop for damn near silent, cool cards!

 

[RaulF]

NVM