From Dual AIO GPU to custom watercooling

[oliver_ba]

Hi, I built my workstation last year with the following cooling-relevant components:

• Fractal Design Define R6 with 3 120mm Noctua fans in the front and 1 140mm Noctua fan in the back
• Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme AMD X399
• 2 x MSI 2080ti Sea Hawk (AIO Cooler)
• AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X with Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3
• 1200 Watt Corsair Professional Series HX1200i

I work as a 3D artist, rendering with c4d Octane, using full GPU power – sometimes for several days. The CPU does not get too much load.

Currently I'm not very happy with the system I built. As you see with the Noctua fans, I tried all I can to make the system as quiet as possible, but the noise under load still bothers me. I played around with the fan curves etc. but it's still loud. (I'm using an iMac Pro as my second machine and I love it's silence while working.)

 

I attached two photos of my current setup – maybe you have any tips how to improve it without going the custom watercooling way. Both AIO coolers push/suck air out of the case. I once had them mounted parallely behind the three front fans – but that way the CPU cooler received all the warm air and ramped up its rpm. Both GPUs run between 65 and 72 °C right now with the AIOs at 70% and the front fans at 90%.

________________

 

Later this year I want to add a third GPU (3080ti). Because of that and the noise problem I want to invest in a custom watercooling. I came across the Corsair configurator, which made the process very easy... Can you recommend the Hydro X system (confguration attached)? What alternatives would you recommend? No need for RGB or fancy looks.

 

At the moment I'm trying to understand how multiple GPUs get cooled... Won't the second GPU get the hot water from the first GPU? Can you hook up each GPU to a separate radiator to give it fresh, cool water?

 

Can I use the 120mm Noctua NF-S12A PWM fans on the radiators? Corsair recommends two 360mm radiators (30mm thick) – can I use the thicker ones? Are they quieter and will they fit in my case?

 

Thanks for your help! :-)

 

[NorKris]

360 rad up to 50mm thick will fit here it looks like. Not only will the noctua work, its recommended. 

 

the only thing i can think about to fix ur problem without spending money is to attached the GPU rads to the front fans 

 

i have 2x AIO cooled GPUs aswell 

[oliver_ba]

Unfortunately the AIO tubing is to short to mount it directly to the front fans. I had it in a similar way for a few months. The GPUs were a bit cooler, but that way the CPU cooler ramped up its rpms because of the radiators hot air, which made the system louder...

In the meantime I informed myself more about the custom watercooling stuff and I came across EKWB, which seems to be a good manufacturer as well. Costwise it's similar. What do you recommend?

Thanks

[HM-2]

They're much of a muchness really in terms of performance and quality. The EK stuff is a bit flashier aesthetically and the Corsair stuff a bit easier to use thanks to preapplied thermal pads.