Need vga watercooling advice please

belveder

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Oct 4, 2007
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I have a xFx 8800 GTX XXX video card and in about 2 weeks I want to put watercooling on it as my air cooling doesn't seems to be doing the job.

Already have Thermaltake Bigwater 745 water cooling on the CPU so I guess it would have to be compatible with this. Price is not really an object as I value my video card.

So could someone please advise on what is the best to get?

Any help would be greatfully appreciated
 

WoodButcher

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Mar 10, 2001
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You need to build a new loop or get an accelero, That TT water you have won't do it.
 

belveder

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Oct 4, 2007
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I can't afford to replace the whole setup, or can't I use a different brand VGA cooler to the rest?
 

JPB

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Jul 4, 2005
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Originally posted by: belveder
I can't afford to replace the whole setup, or can't I use a different brand VGA cooler to the rest?

Cannot afford to replace it ? But the price is not an object ? :confused:
 

WoodButcher

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Mar 10, 2001
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TT 735 barely cools a CPU. It won't manage a vid card and cpu at the same time. A good aftermarket air cooler will outperform anything you can do with that TT water, If adding a vid block to your loop does not overload the rad it will certainly raise your cpu to unacceptable temps, It is a no win solution.
What are your pc specs, cpu, mobo, vid card and psu.? what is your overclock? the vcore and temperatures, idle and load w/ prime?
 

belveder

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Oct 4, 2007
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Thanks for your replies, my watercooling system is a TT 745, has 1 radiator with 120mm fan and another radiator that uses 2 120mm fans, wouldn't that be enough?

air cooling will only lower the temp to roughly what the temp is in the room, this is a very hot room. So are you saying I am better of replacing the whole water cooling system? If so what should I get?

No overclocking on my system, don't see the point when I can play everything at highest settings still lol.


my specs are

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 CPU
2 x Kingston Hyper 2 GB Kits memory 1066MHz
MSI P35 Platinum Combo
Creative X-Fi Titanium Pro Soundcard
XFX PCIe 8800GTX xXx Video card
Thermaltake 1000W Toughpower PSU
WD 250GB SataII HD
4 x WD 500GB SATAII HD
Compro T750 HDTV Dual Tuner PCI Card
Thermaltake Bigwater 745 water cooling
Thermaltake Armor+ tower
 

ThaJollyMan

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Jun 10, 2008
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I have a friend running his system on a similar setup and has 2 gpu blocks and the cpu block and the exact same pump as you. he is running 2x 8800gts(g92) overclock and his temps never go above 52*c. Though he is running on a 120.3 rad. your setup could be similar. I havent got the water cooling in my system yet but i iwll have a similar setup to yours. I plan on doing it like this:

pump->cpu->120.1 rad->gpu1->gpu2->120.2 rad->resorvoir->pump

Hope this helps!
 

WoodButcher

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Mar 10, 2001
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Originally posted by: belveder


air cooling will only lower the temp to roughly what the temp is in the room, this is a very hot room. So are you saying I am better of replacing the whole water cooling system? If so what should I get?

Room temp is the best water will do as well, you cannot get sub ambient unless you go phase, tec or some other exotic cooling.
What are your load temps running prime on all cores?
 

belveder

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Oct 4, 2007
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My room temp at the moment 32C

according to Everest Ultimate Edition here are my temps with only Firefox running

Core 1 - 38C
Core 2 - 38C
GPU - 63C
GPU Diode - 68C
GPU Ambient - 56C

Playing Sacred & Call Of Duty World At War just before this made my temps go up to

GPU - 69C
GPU Diode - 73C

My Armor+ tower has the 230mm (or 250mm) standard fan on the side and I am using a Noctua 120mm fan in the extra fan mount slot that blows air onto the video card that the tower provides.

My concern is that this room easily gets to 36 / 38 C in summer so my card will heat up considerably more
 

WoodButcher

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Mar 10, 2001
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Download and run prime, Your cpu load temps are the important question, idle seems high but idle temps are almost irrelevant. The difference between idle and load temps will tell you how your cooling performs.
Your gpu on the other hand is fine, when gaming if it is below 90c with stock cooling your doing just dandy. IIRC the "slow down threshold" for my old 7950 was 130c stock. I haven't looked at my 8800 because even severe gaming I won't break 50c but I have 2 top dog loops in my PC.
 

belveder

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Oct 4, 2007
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I'll try that Prime, to give an indication of my temperatures, (I never noticed hot my cpu got) my cpu while using Nero Vision encoding an avi to dvd jumped to 54C, that's a fair jump isn't it?
 

WoodButcher

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Mar 10, 2001
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54 c isn't very good on water, high end air is better. All processors are different but a good rule of thumb for most that overclock / overvolt is to keep below 60, your at stock speeds and volts and your close. If prime takes it over 70c you have some work to do on your cpu cooling. Are your rads clean and dust free? water topped off? no kinks in the tubing? air in the lines? TT has a poor reputation among builders but I will admitto having some success with a bigwater single 120 rad system. I had a P4 3.4 on a bigwater loop clocked to 4.0 for almost a year. It was noisy and warm, load temps were like yours, 55 or so.
Adding a hot graphics card to that loop would be too much, a good after market air cooler would be the most efficient way to go.
 

belveder

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Oct 4, 2007
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I checked everything mentioned in the last post, got Prime running and went out of town for the day (had it planned already lol - good timing), my CPU temp high was 68C, GPU 75C. I am running all 3 radiators on the Bigwater so I guess the Bigwater isn't doing the job and I should be concentrating on the cpu as much as the video card.

I'll get the Thermalright HR-03 for the video card, I have 2 free pci-e slots under the video card so it should fit. I'll take the Bigwater out but what would be best to replace it with?
 

WoodButcher

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Mar 10, 2001
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68c on prime is not fatal. Prime stresses your CPU far more than normal usage, even if your a "hardcore gamer". If prime causes shutdowns then I would replace or repair the loop. Unless there is a major failure I would keep it. Make sure you're waterblock mounting is good and the fluid is filled. Replace it once a year or so and flush the loop Clean the rads with compressed air and a small paintbrush, I use a 1" chip brush, the cheap throw away kind.
The HR-03 is a good choice but I would research the accelero as well, I have used neither but have heard good things about both.