Liquid cooling on a GTX 580

[PCJake]

Hey everyone, I just got a GTX 580 today and I'm definitely loving it. I'm quite impressed with the overclocking potential; I was running it stable at 940mhz core clock (1150mV). However, the fan had to stay at around 75% to keep the card under 90c with those settings. Just a wee bit too noisy for my liking.

On that note, I am wondering if this would be a good time to get into liquid cooling. I have no hands-on experience (I have only done research) with liquid cooling, but I am most definitely interested in it and I think it would be a lot of fun. Is it a good idea to have my first water-cooling experience on a GPU?

I have a Cosmos 1000 case which seems to be fairly accommodating for that sort of cooling. What kind of setup would I need and about how much would it cost me? Please lend me your advice.

 

[mhouck]

replacing my noisy gpu fan was what initially got me in water cooling but I don't know that its the best place to start. It's much easier to start at the cpu because you don't have to disassemble and void the warranty while you get your loop up and running. Also you don't have to worry about cooling the vram.

I think the gpu blocks alone cost $100 or more. www.frozencpu.com has all the parts you are going to need for a build and you can get an idea for the total price of the loop. Realistically I would add another $150 to $200 dollars if you are going to get good individual components rather than a kit. Make sure you have at least a 2x120 radiator if you go for a cpu/gpu loop. (recommend 3x120).

If you do decide to WC, make sure you plan out the whole loop before you start and have enough room for everything. It's a good bit of work but I've enjoyed it. WC = lower temps and a quiet overall system if you do it right.

 

[Castiel]

Best 580 block

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/aqforgtx580a.html
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/big1trsi1fi.html

Also going with a loop is the best way to quietly cool that 580. A Raza kit should treat you very well.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12..._Hot_Item.html

 

[aigomorla]

Best 580 block

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/aqforgtx580a.html
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/big1trsi1fi.html

Also going with a loop is the best way to quietly cool that 580. A Raza kit should treat you very well.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12..._Hot_Item.html

mmmm u sure...

This is what i use:
http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=2005

And the temps speak for itself 😉

im all honesty, go with whatever gpu block you think is the sexiest.
performance difference between the blocks are very small, and wont help you improve ocing at all, without hard mods on the card.

I prefer nickle plating because tarnished copper is FUGLY, and it will happen over time.
Lastly look at the water pathways internally. If you dont see any pathways to the VRM's, its a failed block.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Hows your case pressure?

 

[aigomorla]

Hows your case pressure?

case pressure?

I have a dual chambered case... so i dont know how to answer this question.

Not to mention the top chamber is set in serial, so in a sense im recycling the air from the cpu radiator which feeds to the board radiator, and then feeds to the gpu rads.

 

[Castiel]

mmmm u sure...

This is what i use:
http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=2005

And the temps speak for itself 😉

im all honesty, go with whatever gpu block you think is the sexiest.
performance difference between the blocks are very small, and wont help you improve ocing at all, without hard mods on the card.

I prefer nickle plating because tarnished copper is FUGLY, and it will happen over time.
Lastly look at the water pathways internally. If you dont see any pathways to the VRM's, its a failed block.

Koolance was number 4 in all around performance

 

[aigomorla]

buddy thts the 480..

Incase u didnt know, they work with my friend skinnee.

So the 580 is all the fixes skinnee told them to do.

Skinnee notified us that our initial GTX 480 block wasn't making great VRM contact because of some tall components on the retail card. We made a change to fix that on the next version (VID-NX480 Rev 1.1) and kept the same feature with our GTX 580 block.



Just let me know. 😉

Tim

Sorry i'll stick with koolance. 🙂

AS i said tho, it wont help you any in oc.
Get what u think is the sexiest.