Watercooling a GTX 780

[Ghost]

I guess this will be a popular question soon so I might as well make a topic about it to direct people to. It is worth mentioning at the start that anything in this thread applies to the GTX Titan as well as the GTX 780. They require the same amount of cooling.

 

How many rads do you need for a GTX 780?

Quite surprisingly in my opinion and contrary to my expectation the GTX 780 draws more power than the GTX 680 and is in line with the GTX Titan in terms of power draw.


All credits for the table go toHERE.Watercool (Heatkiller) have confirmed their titan waterblocks will fit 780 HERE.

Here is a round up of the titan blocks (so by extension a round up of 780 waterblocks): http://www.xtremerigs.net/reviews/water-cooling/nvidia-titan-water-block-roundup-coming-soon/

 

 

____________________________________________

Thanks for reading. Please comment about anything or ask any questions about water-cooling the GTX 780 here. Anything in the post above is subject to change.

[MainStageNews]

Im thinking that the titan waterblock will work on the 780, if you look at the card they are literally exactly the same even the PCB on the 780 has the place where you would see ram on the back of the titan (if that made sense)

[Ghost]

Im thinking that the titan waterblock will work on the 780, if you look at the card they are literally exactly the same even the PCB on the 780 has the place where you would see ram on the back of the titan (if that made sense)

It very likely will, however, this is not yet confirmed so I can't put it in. For all we know they put an extra capacitor in there which would make it not work.

[JesseL]

Signed up for the forums (Lurked here for a while), just for this thread!

 

Just ordered my 780 and I'd like to Water Cool this one~

[Ghost]

Signed up for the forums (Lurked here for a while), just for this thread!

 

Just ordered my 780 and I'd like to Water Cool this one~

Good to hear. :)

 

Hold of ordering the titan water-block until it is confirmed. ;)

[rarifiedbovine]

So, pardon my ignorance, but what do the second two numbers in your radiator assessment mean?  I'm talking about the 120*(X)*(Y).  Thanks!

[JesseL]

A hardware rep for aquacomputer said over on overclock.net that they have test fit the Titan blocks with no issues, 100% the same.

(Hope it's ok to post links here, I'll admit I haven't read the rules)

http://www.overclock.net/t/1393815/waterblock-for-gtx-780

[Ghost]

A hardware rep for aquacomputer said over on overclock.net that they have test fit the Titan blocks with no issues, 100% the same.

(Hope it's ok to post links here, I'll admit I haven't read the rules)

http://www.overclock.net/t/1393815/waterblock-for-gtx-780

 

Links are fine as long as they are relevant. But the aqua computer rep is right. They will need to get rid of titan branding on the block first which means the GTX 780 will get its own waterblock. Unless you are very rushed its worth waiting.

 

So, pardon my ignorance, but what do the second two numbers in your radiator assessment mean?  I'm talking about the 120*(X)*(Y).  Thanks!

It is the volume of the radiator.

 

a*b*c

 

length*width*height/thickness

 

So a 60mm thick dual 140 rad would be 280*140*60

[Ghost]

An update:

 

Overclockers.co.uk are selling a 780 with a Titian water block. Rumor partially confirmed. Just waiting for a word from the water block manufacturers. Buy your blocks now before they go out of stock. ;)

[JesseL]

Looks like the EK and Koolance Titan blocks aren't etched with the word Titan!

Plus I have a Koolance 380i CPU cooler, I'm kind of a sucker for matching things.

I may need to add some rad though, I only have a 120*240*80 (the Alphacool Monsta) but it does have a push/pull mid CFM (88) fans.

It already has a 4.8ghz oced i7 2600k on the loop at 50*c under prime95 12hour load.

How much more rad would I need to add in this 780?

What's your opinion on that all on 1 loop?

[Ghost]

What's your opinion on that all on 1 loop?

All I can say is add radiators depending on how loud you want your fans. Adding another 45-80mm 240 rad would be great if you can fit it. Some may say that would be too much radiator space. but it would ensure slower fan speeds and therefore a more silent system.

 

You have to remember that thin rads have high FPI (fins per inch) so they require higher RPM fans from the start.

 

However, you should be fine with a thicker 140*140 at higher fan speeds.

[Deus Ragno]

I checked with the supplier when I looked up theirs on amazon and they confirmed that the coolers for titans does fit the 780.

[Ghost]

I checked with EK when I looked up theirs on amazon and they confirmed that their coolers for titans does fit the 780.

I need something official before I can make it official.

 

Did EK send you this in a support ticket form? Could you take a screenshot of the actual message (blanking out any names if there are any). I'm monitoring EK's facebook page and they have said nothing yet.

[Akula]

I've always use the rule of thumb for radiator sizes.

For every waterblock you have, you'll need a 120mm radiator to cool it.

 

Exceptions are RAM,HDD and other blocks.

In general a Single 120mm radiator is perfect for each block.

[Deus Ragno]

I need something official before I can make it official.

 

Did EK send you this in a support ticket form? Could you take a screenshot of the actual message (blanking out any names if there are any). I'm monitoring EK's facebook page and they have said nothing yet.

[defunkt]

I'd wait until EK make a waterblock that says GTX 780 on it.

[rarifiedbovine]

So let's say I have a 280x140x30 (at 30 fpi) and 200x245x36 (the Phobya).  Will that be sufficient to cool a 3570K and a 780, assuming I'd like to overclock both?  Thanks.

[airdeano]

So let's say I have a 280x140x30 (at 30 fpi) and 200x245x36 (the Phobya).  Will that be sufficient to cool a 3570K and a 780, assuming I'd like to overclock both?  Thanks.

 

not if you plan to overclock the CPU.. and/or have screaming loud fan speeds..

 

you have no capacity. the coolant will not stay in the radiators long enough to

transfer thermals and recirculate.  the thicker radiators can cool more coolant

lifting the on-time a lot further.

 

airdeano

[rarifiedbovine]

not if you plan to overclock the CPU.. and/or have screaming loud fan speeds..

 

you have no capacity. the coolant will not stay in the radiators long enough to

transfer thermals and recirculate.  the thicker radiators can cool more coolant

lifting the on-time a lot further.

 

airdeano

Wow, that's wild.  One needs two 240x120x30 (30 fpi) rads to OC these components?  Would that even do the trick?

[Emkryan]

It very likely will, however, this is not yet confirmed so I can't put it in. For all we know they put an extra capacitor in there which would make it not work.

Just break off that capacitor right? it'll be fine :D

[airdeano]

a 360x 60mm can do it all.. both CPU and GPU overclocked to the hilt.

240x 60 and 240x 60 can just do the job with mid-high overclocks.

240x 30 and 240x 60 can cut it, but attention to the right rads and fans

to not make it a nightmare to listen to for hours..

 

30fpi needs 1600rpm+ to make them thermally efficient. any less and temps

go up. dunna know about you, but 1400-1600rpm is almost tolerable for hours

of use. you might think about 15fpi or less and deeper static pressure with lower

fan speeds.

 

back to the 200, again, fan support is crap for 200. to get 2x 120 performance from

a 200 radiator the fan speed and static pressure isn't there. sure it'll cool but

not like a 2x 120 can.. and the 2x 120 has much broader fan selection.

 

airdeano

[rarifiedbovine]

a 360x 60mm can do it all.. both CPU and GPU overclocked to the hilt.

240x 60 and 240x 60 can just do the job with mid-high overclocks.

240x 30 and 240x 60 can cut it, but attention to the right rads and fans

to not make it a nightmare to listen to for hours..

 

30fpi needs 1600rpm+ to make them thermally efficient. any less and temps

go up. dunna know about you, but 1400-1600rpm is almost tolerable for hours

of use. you might think about 15fpi or less and deeper static pressure with lower

fan speeds.

 

back to the 200, again, fan support is crap for 200. to get 2x 120 performance from

a 200 radiator the fan speed and static pressure isn't there. sure it'll cool but

not like a 2x 120 can.. and the 2x 120 has much broader fan selection.

 

airdeano

Gotcha.  Very helpful, indeed.  Thank you.  Going to my specific case, I'll be building in a Bitfenix Prodigy.  Looks like the most I can fit is a 121 x 35.5 x 275 in the front and a Black Ice Stealth 280 on top.  Would that do the trick?

[xToFxREAPER]

Yes.. titan waterblocks fit the 780.. its the same pcb with a few slight tweak. someone over on overclock took a 780 and a titan apart and did some comparison photos... other then the missing 3gb vram and a few other very tiny tweaks its the same pcb and titan waterblock will fit it :) manufacturers may not have confirmed it but it is pretty obvious

[airdeano]

do not use the BIX stealth radiator. they are not really that good without monster fan speed.

and that usually doesn't work out too well..

i used that exact rad in a Midi build and that was a fail, swapped for a SR1 and temps were

disgustingly lower with 900rpm BGears B-Blaster 140mm fans by 15°. the same fan @ 1800rpm

on that stealth was totally warmer and luckily sold it.. the BIX 280 is ok, but the SR1 is far

better to use.

 

airdeano

[rarifiedbovine]

do not use the BIX stealth radiator. they are not really that good without monster fan speed.

and that usually doesn't work out too well..

i used that exact rad in a Midi build and that was a fail, swapped for a SR1 and temps were

disgustingly lower with 900rpm BGears B-Blaster 140mm fans by 15°. the same fan @ 1800rpm

on that stealth was totally warmer and luckily sold it.. the BIX 280 is ok, but the SR1 is far

better to use.

 

airdeano

Wish I could, but I don't think there's any way I can fit a 60mm rad up top and a 240 in the front.  If I put a 60mm thick one up there, the max size I can have in the front is 200mm I think.