New system for Octane Renderer , Cooling Issues with 470s under constant load?

[slatr]

I want to build a new system to run Octane Renderer that has room for at least two 470s.

Has anyone had any experience cooling a system with 2 470 boards that stay at about 97% load? I have never tried water cooling...

I am considering power supplies, motherboards and cooling as my hurdles.

My current case is a P190, which I would like to reuse. I am looking at Corsair power supplies, hoping I could get by with a 750watt but not so sure after some reading.

Motherboards - I would like to have enough slots to run 3 470s.. but that might cause me even more cooling headaches.

I would appreciate any advice or links to sites that deal with this. I am out of the loop, so trying to get up to speed.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Puffnstuff]

WC is the only way to really cool your fermi's especially if they're going to be under constant load like that. Also don't skimp on your ps as it will come back to bite you when it fails. Although I'm using a corsair unit right now I normally use enermax. As for a mb I can only recommend evga as they've been the absolute best I've run in recent years. I would look at the e758 or the 760 classified for running 3 gpu's. If you want them all in 16x then you'll have to look at the 4 way classified with the extra nf200 chipset for a full 64 pci-e lanes. Anyway here are a few pics of my rig for you to consider.

 

[thilanliyan]

If you want them to be cool AND quiet then watercooling might be the best option. If you don't care about the noise then you can probably just turn up the fans. The cards do run hot though. Also, running those cards full tilt will consume a lot of electricity. Will your program only run with GTX470/480 cards or can it run on ATI 5XXX cards?

 

[slatr]

Thanks for the info guys. I have been hesitant to try watercooling for fear of damaging my equipment but I will research this.

Puffinstuff, do you have a preffered vendor who you can all parts at once from?

Thilanlyian, the software is CUDA only for now. http://www.refractivesoftware.com/

As a matter of fact, I got rid of my old 3870 and got a 260 core 216 to try the demo before I bought a license.

The next step is FERMI, when I can figure out how to cool the host machine

Thanks again, Brian

 

[Puffnstuff]

Slatr there are 3 vendors that I deal with for my wc parts.
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/
http://www.frozencpu.com/
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ain_page=index
I've gotten my pumps at newegg because they have the lowest prices on the swiftech mcp655's.

Most of the time I have to order parts from each of them because they usually don't have everything I need or I'd just do it in one shot. All 3 are very good and I've been buying from them for years except for performancepcs.

The thing with water cooling is that you need to take your time, plan your setup in advance, order a few extra parts like a few feet of extra hose, clamps and fittings because you never know when you'll need something and won't have it. You also have to be gentle with your parts especially when mounting the water blocks. Some folks torque things down like their bolting down steel girders and they ruin their stuff. Water offers the best heat dispersal and you control the noise by the fans you use on your radiators. I will say that the bp top on my gpu loop makes more noise than the stock top on my other pump.

 

[sgrinavi]

I just upgraded to a pair of GTX 480's for Octane and am running them with the stock fans without issue.... am I missing something here?

BTW, going from my fx4800 to the 480's was night and day, you'll be a happy camper.

 

[thilanliyan]

Watercooling is great if you take the time to build it properly and use all safeguards possible (ie. hose clamps, leak tests, etc.). Make sure to get full cover blocks for your cards and you might as well cool the CPU while you're at it.

Make sure you check out the watercooling thread as well:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=4596

I've had stuff leak but if you use a non-conductive liquid it shouldn't kill anything (if the liquid is changed once in a while).