GPU cooling solutions

[suedseefrucht]

Hi,

I am continuously thinking about how I can improve my system and what things would be great to consider in future builds.
I built my system aiming for quiet operation and of course I don't want to restrict my hardware's performance by having bad thermals.

I did some research and I found out that CPU temps are not affecting performance as long they dont touch 100 °C, so <90 °C is totally fine.

In my fractal design define r6: Intel Core i7 9700 with be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim and 3x 140 mm silent wings 3 PWM case fans:
FurMark CPU Burner 100% load and the hottest core's max. temp after 15 min. was 73 °C. Nice.

I also did some research about GPUs and I found out, that GPU temps are affecting performance much more because modern GPUs overclock theirself if they didn't reach their thermal limit yet. In addition to that, my GPU fans are the loudest parts in my PC under full load.

In my fractal design define r6: Gigabyte GeForce RTX2070 WindForce 2X 8GB FurMark GPU stress test max temp after 15 min.: 80 °C.

Since there are nice big coolers with big quiet fans for CPUs, I was wondering if there is something similar for GPUs and I found this:
Raijintek Morpheus II compatible with 120 mm fans.

 

Do you guys think, custom air cooling for GPUs is worth it in therms of temps, perfomance and noise?

Do you have experience with this?
Do you have other ideas to improve GPU noise and thermals?

 

P.S. I know there is custom watercooling but there is pump noise, cleaning it is hard, it can leak, hard tubing makes it hard to swap components, soft tubing doesn't look as good.

[Stahlmann]

I ran the Morpheus II on my 1080Ti and it was really good. I ran some noctua fans and the temps and noise came way down. But idk how good it is for RTX 2000 series compatibility. If looks are not a concern, then have a look at the "Arctic Accelero" coolers. They are also really good and quiet.

 

About the water cooling:

Pump noise is not a concern. You can lower the RPM to a level where you can't hear it anymore. I run my pump at 1600RPM and it's completely inaudible. You also have the advantage of controlling fans according to your water temp, which slowly rises and falls. So no more fan RPM spikes, but slowly increasing and decreasing speeds. Cleaning is okay if you put some thought into your layout and add a drain. Also if you use clear coolant, there should not be any clogging up etc.

 

I always wanted a quieter system and was never quite where i wanted to be with air cooling. But now with water cooling i cannot hear my system at all, even when it is a few minutes under load. The fans only spin up to where i can hear them when it is under longer load. Plus the temps are also great.

[Exidor]

Just ziptying better fans to the cooler will improve results VS the included fans....

2x120mm noctuas or something will be pretty good already.

[suedseefrucht]

On 1/12/2021 at 1:50 PM, Stahlmann said:

But idk how good it is for RTX 2000 series compatibility

Unfortunately, the Morpheus II cools the GPU chip only, while the Gigabyte GeForce RTX2070 WindForce 2X 8GB cooler also cools other components around the GPU chip.

[Stahlmann]

13 minutes ago, suedseefrucht said:

Unfortunately, the Morpheus II cools the GPU chip only, while the Gigabyte GeForce RTX2070 WindForce 2X 8GB cooler also cools other components around the GPU chip.

Mine came with plenty small heatsinks to place on the VRAM and VRMs. While i never measured what my VRAM and VRM temps were, i didn't have any issues after installing my Morpheus II and i had the same OC headroom.

 

EDIT: Just saw they don't state compatibility with RTX 2070 GPUs, so i won't recommend to try it.

[Mark Kaine]

 

On 1/12/2021 at 1:37 PM, suedseefrucht said:

also did some research about GPUs and I found out, that GPU temps are affecting performance much more because modern GPUs overclock theirself if they didn't reach their thermal limit yet. In addition to that, my GPU fans are the loudest parts in my PC under full load.

This is correct, it's ironically called "GPU boost"... 

The best (only) way to avoid this problem is indeed to have good cooling - *all* Nvidia GPUs I've tested start downclocking at around 60 degrees Celsius... so this is the threshold you don't want to exceed (might be 63C, depends on the specific gpu model) 

 

How you get there is up to you... personally I just have good case cooling, 2 noctua, 2 Bequiet fans... stock cpu cooler (seems fine...) 

and I make sure to buy good cooled gpus simply as that's another big factor obviously and many (...!) gpu models have unfortunately atrocious cooling solutions... 

 

I usually try to keep it under 60C.

 

 

Examples (during games, benchmarks etc) 

Spoiler

Note these kinda imply temps rise with usage - which is *true* I still never exceed ~63C while playing games with close to 100% usage with the 3070 for example, and fans also don't ramp up, never above 70% max... they're also surprisingly silent to the EVGA 1070 I had before, which sounded like a jet engine (at similar temps though) 

On 1/12/2021 at 1:37 PM, suedseefrucht said:

Gigabyte GeForce RTX2070 WindForce 2X 8GB FurMark GPU stress test max temp after 15 min.: 80 °C.

Yeah, but that's a very unrealistic test with loads you'll never reach in most applications, it's really better to use Superposition or Heaven (with unlocked framerate) for example, or actual games to test this kind of thing (ie how bad or good is your cooling really) 

On 1/12/2021 at 1:37 PM, suedseefrucht said:

Do you guys think, custom air cooling for GPUs is worth it in therms of temps, perfomance and noise?

it might be worth it depending on your gpu (I already know the Windforce aren't great, so...) but I do believe with a proper case and fans for cooling this should only be necessary in extreme cases (now idk it, but I don't think the Windforce is *extremely* bad, it's just not great / pretty poor) 

 

PS: what I also want to add, expensive water cooling etc isn't guaranteed to improve a cooling situation at all, often people actually get higher temps even, user error maybe, a not insignificant fact worth mentioning however... 

 

*Note: I only put the heaven screenshot there because I think it's funny it's running into utilization limit *during* a benchmark (and therefore doesn't clock high at all) lol 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[suedseefrucht]

17 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

I make sure to buy good cooled gpus

 

18 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Just saw they don't state compatibility with RTX 2070 GPUs, so i won't recommend to try it.

Linus' video supports your decision to get a graphics card with a better stock cooling.
For the RTX 2070 there is the new RaijinTek Morpheus 8057, which improves cooling of the GPU chip a lot, but the small coolers which are glued to the other components tend to fall off, which is pretty sad. And since graphics cards are usually mounted upside down, the small heatsinks are pulled off by gravity over time.

So the best option to improve noise and thermals seems to be buying a better GPU model with 3 fans maybe.

I got my Gigabyte GeForce RTX2070 WindForce 2X 8GB for 432 € (525,45 USD) early last year.

RTX 2070 cards are not officially sold anymore. Maybe I could get a used one.

So for <600USD or <500 Euros which graphics card would you recommend for me?

 

Monitor is ASUS TUF Gaming VG27WQ, so 1440p, 165 Hz, supports AMD's Freesync, so AMD is possible too.

 

[Stahlmann]

If you can find one, a 3070 or 3060Ti would be a meaningful upgrade. But with todays market even a 1660 could be out of your budget

[suedseefrucht]

1 hour ago, Stahlmann said:

But with todays market even a 1660 could be out of your budget

If it's not a good time to buy graphics cards, I can wait.
My PC works great and the RTX 2070 is awesome for 1440p gaming.

I could just be a little more quiet under heavy load. That's it.