Cooling only a GPU

[ripper101]

So the loudest part in my system is a GTX 1070, and I want to put a block on it and make a loop obviously. I am wondering if I can do that and then just use a high-er end CPU cooler for an i7 and keep it cool and quiet without an overclock.

Also how many radiators would I want for minimum noise and decent cooling?

[LabRat]

1 small 240mm.

[DocSwag]

You could do that, though a CPU block doesn't cost that much more. 1 radiator is more than enough even if you have SLI GPUs and a CPU in the loop. If you only use one GPU in the loop, a 120 or 140 is more than enough, though if you wanna be safe or add a CPU you should go for a 240 or 280. Also, have you considered the Kraken G10? It won't look as good as a custom loop but it's a lot cheaper and simpler since you only have to buy it, an AIO, and a fan to water cool your GPU.

[Ryoku]

11 hours ago, ripper101 said:

So the loudest part in my system is a GTX 1070, and I want to put a block on it and make a loop obviously. I am wondering if I can do that and then just use a high-er end CPU cooler for an i7 and keep it cool and quiet without an overclock.

Also how many radiators would I want for minimum noise and decent cooling?

If your looking for silence (or close to) you'll want to go a little bit bigger on the rad so you can turn the fan speed down lower.  General rule for water cooling is 1x120mm or 140mm rad per component you want to cool, and then double it at least if you wanna go quieter.  So you'd want a 240 or 280 minimum for quiet.  If you did want to add your cpu as well I'd say go with a 360mm or 420mm Rad.  Of course this is subjective, what I consider quiet could be completely different from you.

[atomicus]

12 hours ago, DocSwag said:

You could do that, though a CPU block doesn't cost that much more. 1 radiator is more than enough even if you have SLI GPUs and a CPU in the loop. If you only use one GPU in the loop, a 120 or 140 is more than enough, though if you wanna be safe or add a CPU you should go for a 240 or 280. Also, have you considered the Kraken G10? It won't look as good as a custom loop but it's a lot cheaper and simpler since you only have to buy it, an AIO, and a fan to water cool your GPU.

 

Am I misreading you? Are you saying a single rad is enough for a SLI'd full loop including a CPU? Because it certainly isn't if you want good temps and low noise! Technically you can do it, but there's no situation where that would recommended. A single 560 would manage, but if you have a case big enough for one of those, you will definitely have space for more rads.

[DocSwag]

42 minutes ago, atomicus said:

 

Am I misreading you? Are you saying a single rad is enough for a SLI'd full loop including a CPU? Because it certainly isn't if you want good temps and low noise! Technically you can do it, but there's no situation where that would recommended. A single 560 would manage, but if you have a case big enough for one of those, you will definitely have space for more rads.

If all you have is a CPU and 1070, a single thicker 240 or 280 IS enough. There have been many itx water cooled builds done with just one 240 or 280 cooling everything and the temps were totally fine. I was just saying that if you're gonna cool the GPU adding the CPU on probably only costs around $100 so you might as well get the CPU too .

[atomicus]

49 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

If all you have is a CPU and 1070, a single thicker 240 or 280 IS enough. There have been many itx water cooled builds done with just one 240 or 280 cooling everything and the temps were totally fine. I was just saying that if you're gonna cool the GPU adding the CPU on probably only costs around $100 so you might as well get the CPU too .

 

Well you said SLI, not single GPU, but even then, temps may be "fine", but they won't be great, and it certainly won't be quiet. For an ITX build you don't have much choice of course, but that's a whole different scenario really. Yes you could do it, but there isn't much point unless you want the challenge and are happy to make a compromise on noise/performance, just so you can get everything super compact. In a larger case that can take more rads, it's just stupid to limit yourself in this way. There's no way you're getting a QUIET full loop on a single 240 with great temps... never going to happen. Watercooling is a terrible value/performance proposition as it is (no one does it for that reason), so if you aren't getting silence and great temps, you've spent all that money for a net result that isn't that much better than air lol!