Kraken G10 on Asus STRIX 980 worth it?

[thirdeye]

As the title says, is it worth the effort to do this? I currently have two 7970s, each with a G10 and Corsair H55 cooling them. This setup works great, but I'll be replacing them with an Asus STRIX GTX 980 at the end of the week. Should I just leave the cooler alone for now since I won't be doing SLI in the near future or put it on since I have it?

 

[SperglordActual]

As the title says, is it worth the effort to do this? I currently have two 7970s, each with a G10 and Corsair H55 cooling them. This setup works great, but I'll be replacing them with an Asus STRIX GTX 980 at the end of the week. Should I just leave the cooler alone for now since I won't be doing SLI in the near future or put it on since I have it?

It certainly can't hurt, though it looks like heat really isn't much of an issue on the 980 series:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...overclocking_video_card_review/1#.VD5zIWddXTo

These guys overclock a referance 980:
"Our final overclock was: 1516MHz/8GHz. This is a 276MHz overclock. Yet, we do feel there is more headroom in this GPU just like the GTX 970. We are only held back by the TDP/Power Limit wall. Imagine no power limits, and being able to raise the voltage, 1.6GHz may not be out of the realm of possibility. Remember, this is just a reference video card, with reference cooler, and we got 1516MHz out of it without changing the voltage. Simply outrageous, in a good way."

"There isn't anything to talk about on temperature yet, as this was just a reference card with reference cooling. We kept the fan at 100% to ensure temperature wasn't an issue, the maximum temperature while overclocked rose to 64c, so we know temperature was not a factor holding back the GPU with this reference cooler."

Since you already have the equipment I would throw it on there, you really have nothing to lose, plus if/when an unlocked bios comes out that lets you play with the TDP limits and voltage you will have a lot of overclocking headroom.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Depends how high you want to go on the OC. The only problem with the Kraken setup is no water VRM coverage. The Asus air cooling seems very robust. I don't think the Kraken setup will offer much advantage. If you plan on 1.6v you will probably need full cover waterblock.

 

[SperglordActual]

Depends how high you want to go on the OC. The only problem with the Kraken setup is no water VRM coverage. The Asus air cooling seems very robust. I don't think the Kraken setup will offer much advantage. If you plan on 1.6v you will probably need full cover waterblock.

A decent point, though I assumed he had put heatsinks on his VRMs... I really just don't think we know how far we can push the card yet until we get an unlocked bios... The article I linked showed that they actually had more overclocking headroom at stock voltage due to the TDP wall. Its very obvious that Nvidia put some serious limits on the card.

 

[thirdeye]

Yeah I'm not sure how much I'm gonna push at this point and honestly I've had minimal issue with VRM cooling on my 7970s with the G10s but I'm not sure if that's a bigger deal on the 980. The Asus cooler does look pretty solid and is supposedly pretty quiet as well (which is what prompted the replacement on my 7970s).

 

[SperglordActual]

Yeah I'm not sure how much I'm gonna push at this point and honestly I've had minimal issue with VRM cooling on my 7970s with the G10s but I'm not sure if that's a bigger deal on the 980. The Asus cooler does look pretty solid and is supposedly pretty quiet as well (which is what prompted the replacement on my 7970s).

Overall, heat SHOULD be less of an issue, an overclocked 980 needs what? 350-375 watts while your 7970 uses about 500? Forgive me if I am wrong, I am just telling you what google tells me. Since you have the equipment already you really have nothing to lose by trying, it certainly wouldn't hurt. I doubt you will be able to get much better than HardOCP did until an unlocked bios comes out (like skyn3t).

 

[thirdeye]

I guess my only hesitation with using it would be minimal gains and potentially voiding the warranty on the new card.

 

[SperglordActual]

I guess my only hesitation with using it would be minimal gains and potentially voiding the warranty on the new card.

I forgot about the warranty. If it would void it I wouldn't do it for the minimal gains, see how far you can take it on air. If you need to go further you can always get a full cover waterblock like monkey suggested.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Overall, heat SHOULD be less of an issue, an overclocked 980 needs what? 350-375 watts while your 7970 uses about 500?

That's exactly why the AIO mods for 79xx series cards made sense. For a GTX 980 maybe not so much. The 79xx cards had the vrm's spec'd to handle the load and heat (usually) so just an AIO on the GPU die was sufficient. Until other guinea pigs do the research for us and blow out their new 980/970 cards we won't know if they need partial or full water coverage.

 

[thirdeye]

That's exactly why the AIO mods for 79xx series cards made sense. For a GTX 980 maybe not so much. The 79xx cards had the vrm's spec'd to handle the load and heat (usually) so just an AIO on the GPU die was sufficient. Until other guinea pigs do the research for us and blow out their new 980/970 cards we won't know if they need partial or full water coverage.

Yeah I ran my 7970s with no VRM cooling at all just the H55 ziptied to GPU and it worked like champ. Ran hot, but no issues. The G10 then brought the VRM temps down to normal with the fan on them alone.

Thinking maybe just pulling the 7970s and throwing them up for sale as they sit with the G10/H55 setup all together. If a better cooling option is needed I'd imagine I won't have a need for it for a while anyways.