To Kraken G10, or not to Kraken G10...?

[tailslide5_0]

I currently have a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo on my i5 4670K.  It seems to be doing a wonderful job.  I probably should put the x60 on the CPU once I get it.  Also, I see that you have a G10 on the exact same card that I own.  What are your thoughts on it?

 

I posted earlier with some VRM info, but overall I'm really happy with it. My temps have never gone over 60 deg C no matter what I do with it, although I haven't pushed it as hard as I could, but still. Most games it stays in the mid 40's range- Titanfall, BF4, Wolfenstein, but Watchdogs pushes it more and that still rarely goes over 55. It's a lot quieter than the stock ACX cooler it came with, although I always ran a sharp fan curve (100% at 70 deg usually). It's a little frustrating to assemble but worth it. My kit didn't come with the rubber spacers for the backplate (must have been one of the first versions), so I will find some at Ace hardware or something and make due. Like I said before, I have VRM heatsinks on the way that I will install at the same time as the rubber spacers, but I don't look forward to removing and reinstalling the block again TBH, that's a little tricky.

[JDS]

I posted earlier with some VRM info, but overall I'm really happy with it. My temps have never gone over 60 deg C no matter what I do with it, although I haven't pushed it as hard as I could, but still. Most games it stays in the mid 40's range- Titanfall, BF4, Wolfenstein, but Watchdogs pushes it more and that still rarely goes over 55. It's a lot quieter than the stock ACX cooler it came with, although I always ran a sharp fan curve (100% at 70 deg usually). It's a little frustrating to assemble but worth it. My kit didn't come with the rubber spacers for the backplate (must have been one of the first versions), so I will find some at Ace hardware or something and make due. Like I said before, I have VRM heatsinks on the way that I will install at the same time as the rubber spacers, but I don't look forward to removing and reinstalling the block again TBH, that's a little tricky.

 

Where did you get those heat sinks?  I may be interested in them.  Also, I have the reference design, no ACX cooling.  I am curious to see how the noise level is compared to that.  I read in the link that you gave earlier that the Titan actually was louder after installing the G10.

[tailslide5_0]

Here's a couple pics of my rig

 

free photo upload

 

image hosting sites

 

[tailslide5_0]

Where did you get those heat sinks?  I may be interested in them.  Also, I have the reference design, no ACX cooling.  I am curious to see how the noise level is compared to that.  I read in the link that you gave earlier that the Titan actually was louder after installing the G10.

 

Yeah I don't know where they got that sound from, they must have been running the cooler push/pull fans at 100% or something, I usually keep mine at 70% and it only purrs. The white fan on the card makes little or no sound at 100%.

 

I got the heatsinks here http://www.ebay.com/itm/151312850611?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 same thing as these http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-VGA-Ram-Heatsinks-ZM-RHS1/dp/B0009YIJ2I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1401655785&sr=8-2&keywords=ZM-RHS1

[JDS]

Yeah I don't know where they got that sound from, they must have been running the cooler push/pull fans at 100% or something, I usually keep mine at 70% and it only purrs. The white fan on the card makes little or no sound at 100%.

 

I got the heatsinks here http://www.ebay.com/itm/151312850611?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 same thing as these http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-VGA-Ram-Heatsinks-ZM-RHS1/dp/B0009YIJ2I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1401655785&sr=8-2&keywords=ZM-RHS1

 

Hmmmm...these look like a pretty good buy. Do you know if they're gonna fit well?

 

UPDATE: I purchased them, hopefully it goes well.  Let me know how your installation of these goes, and what your temps are.

[tailslide5_0]

Hmmmm...these look like a pretty good buy. Do you know if they're gonna fit well?

 

UPDATE: I purchased them, hopefully it goes well.  Let me know how your installation of these goes, and what your temps are.

 

They should be the same size as the VRM, or maybe a hair larger. I measured my VRM as 10x10mm, with a 12mm gap inbetween them and the bracket, so these should fit in there just fine. Also, the bracket seems to be a bit non-parallel with the card so I think I'll shave a couple mm off the foam blocks.

[JDS]

They should be the same size as the VRM, or maybe a hair larger. I measured my VRM as 10x10mm, with a 12mm gap inbetween them and the bracket, so these should fit in there just fine. Also, the bracket seems to be a bit non-parallel with the card so I think I'll shave a couple mm off the foam blocks.

 

Ahhh.  Please keep me updated on how this all goes for you.

[tailslide5_0]

I got the heatsinks in today, they make a decent difference. I put them on the VRM and also on the VRAM. The base of them is a bit larger than the VRM, so I centered the one in the middle of each three, then fit the outside ones hanging over a bit so they were both equal on each end. A quick alcohol cleaning of the VRM got the heatsinks to stick well, but for the VRAM it took a good amount of scrubbing with alcohol for them to stick well, maybe a degreaser would have worked better? Also, I shaved off about 2-3 mm from the foam blocks with an Xacto, they were too tall and bending the card slightly.

 

Here are some temps I took, the numbers in parenthesis were the previous temps w/o heatsinks.

 

3DMark 11 Performance (Demo) - GPU 42(44) VRM 55(64)

Furmark 720p- GPU 48(50) VRM 69(80)

Watch Dogs- GPU 50(52) VRM 65(73)

 

Seems good to me =)

 

Some pics-

 

Notice how the bracket wasn't parallel before.

free photo upload

 

Bare card

print screen windows 7

 

Heatsinks on

upload a gif

 

Bracket straight now

picture sharing

 

screenshot windows 7

 

20mb image hosting

[tailslide5_0]

Ahhh.  Please keep me updated on how this all goes for you.

 

Posted update, quote didn't work before...

[JDS]

Posted update, quote didn't work before...

 

So the heatsinks sit firmly?  The last thing I/we want is them to be falling out over time.

[tailslide5_0]

So the heatsinks sit firmly?  The last thing I/we want is them to be falling out over time.

 

On the VRM? Yes. On the VRAM? Firm enough. Like I said, you may get better traction with a different cleaner, the stock plate's heat pads had some kind of oily-like substance on them, but IMO they'll stay as is with a good alcohol clean.

[JDS]

On the VRM? Yes. On the VRAM? Firm enough. Like I said, you may get better traction with a different cleaner, the stock plate's heat pads had some kind of oily-like substance on them, but IMO they'll stay as is with a good alcohol clean.

 

Cool beans.  So what was your strategy to get these on?  Just clean them up with some alcohol swabs and toss'em on? 

[tailslide5_0]

Cool beans.  So what was your strategy to get these on?  Just clean them up with some alcohol swabs and toss'em on? 

 

Give them a good scrub with an alcohol-soaked paper towel, let it dry, push the heatsink down and give it a firm wiggle while pushing down. The 6 VRM's seemed to grab onto the adhesive a lot easier than the 12 VRAM's did...

[JDS]

Give them a good scrub with an alcohol-soaked paper towel, let it dry, push the heatsink down and give it a firm wiggle while pushing down. The 6 VRM's seemed to grab onto the adhesive a lot easier than the 12 VRAM's did...

 

Alrighty.  I seemed to have forgotten to ask this big question, how are they working? Temps?

[tailslide5_0]

Alrighty.  I seemed to have forgotten to ask this big question, how are they working? Temps?

 

Read the first part of the post w/ pics ;-)

[JDS]

Read the first part of the post w/ pics ;-)

Woooooops. But that seems like a pretty good payoff for $10. Lol

[tailslide5_0]

I spent 20, got 32 heatsinks. ;-)

[JDS]

I spent 20, got 32 heatsinks. ;-)

Is SLI in your future?

[tailslide5_0]

Is SLI in your future?

 

No, my mobo only has one PCI-E, otherwise I would be tempted to. I needed 18 heatsinks for both VRM and VRAM (1 ebay item comes with 16), and to have some extras for anything else in the future.

[JDS]

No, my mobo only has one PCI-E, otherwise I would be tempted to. I needed 18 heatsinks for both VRM and VRAM (1 ebay item comes with 16), and to have some extras for anything else in the future.

 

Haha lame...anyway, I got my Kraken's today, and set them all up, it was a real pain in the ass.  Anyhow, I feel my temperatures aren't as low as they maybe should be?  I am running Unigine Valley benchmark and am getting roughly 60 degrees Celsius...what do you think?

[tailslide5_0]

Haha lame...anyway, I got my Kraken's today, and set them all up, it was a real pain in the ass.  Anyhow, I feel my temperatures aren't as low as they maybe should be?  I am running Unigine Valley benchmark and am getting roughly 60 degrees Celsius...what do you think?

 

Seems a bit high to me, I've never tried that benchmark but I did just now on the extreme hd presetting, and my max was 51. Somewhat cool where my rig is, but probably not that cool to make a huge difference. I'm guessing around 23C (72-74F) room temp.

[JDS]

Seems a bit high to me, I've never tried that benchmark but I did just now on the extreme hd presetting, and my max was 51. Somewhat cool where my rig is, but probably not that cool to make a huge difference. I'm guessing around 23C (72-74F) room temp.

I thought so too. What do you think it could be? My first thought was that I need to let my thermal paste cure (AS5).

[goldfries]

60c range is fine actually. Reference coolers often go 70s - 80s range for high-end cards. 

 

Do remember to install the Kraken Control software.

[tailslide5_0]

I thought so too. What do you think it could be? My first thought was that I need to let my thermal paste cure (AS5).

 

I wonder if it's the AS5, my laptop had a 5 deg difference switching from that to Tuniq TX-4, so that's all I personally use now. Tried it because it scored the best in this article http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/geek_tested_17_thermal_pastes_face?page=0,1

 

And it does sound fine, but a 9 degree difference between our two cards raises an eyebrow. You have a reference SC, right? Should be the same basic card as my ACX SC version that runs at 1150/7000 mhz. 

 

EDIT: Just ran the benchmark again for 25 minutes straight, without vsync it got up to 54 and shortly after switching to vsync it stabilized at 52.

[JDS]

I wonder if it's the AS5, my laptop had a 5 deg difference switching from that to Tuniq TX-4, so that's all I personally use now. Tried it because it scored the best in this article http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/geek_tested_17_thermal_pastes_face?page=0,1

 

And it does sound fine, but a 9 degree difference between our two cards raises an eyebrow. You have a reference SC, right? Should be the same basic card as my ACX SC version that runs at 1150/7000 mhz. 

 

EDIT: Just ran the benchmark again for 25 minutes straight, without vsync it got up to 54 and shortly after switching to vsync it stabilized at 52.

 

Alright, so what I did was I moved the radiator above the cooling piece because if there is an air-bubble, like there is in most AIO coolers, then it may be causing a slower exchange of water between the piece and the rad, after doing that my temps dropped 10 degrees! I maxed out at 50 degrees on that same test, also, what I did was make the fans on my rad a push-pull system. 

 

EDIT: I take that back, my temps went back up to 60 after testing it a few times. Ughhhh.