GPU coolers

[jarreddean]

Aftermarket air coolers, water cooling and closed loop water coolers what are your thoughts, and is it worth the $$$

[Guest]

Most of the non-reference cards already come with pretty good cooling setups added to them. That in combination with side panel fans usually suffice thus not warranting the money for extra cooling. However it also depends on your climate - here in Australia it can get pretty damn hot but in dire straits I can always resort to my old cooling system durring hot weather - 40cm steel blade heavy duty floor bracket fan.

[ACK]

My opinion is that aftermarket GPU air coolers are a waste of money. I would argue the same for water cooling but I can see some small advantages especially if you are a fan of water cooling.

My opinion is based on the fact that there are card solutions with very good cooling performance and even with the quite limited overclocking that we can apply to GPUs today they still perform quite well. Also I think that you already buy a cooling solution when you buy your card (and reference ones are not that cheaper) so it is definitely not worth the money.

Of course I have to admit that even though I consider it a waste of money I would still love to one day build a PC with a custom loop cooling the GPU(s) as well, but this is will only be for my personal pleasure and not because I can reasonably justify it.

[jarreddean]

Most of the non-reference cards already come with pretty good cooling setups added to them. That in combination with side panel fans usually suffice thus not warranting the money for extra cooling. However it also depends on your climate - here in Australia it can get pretty damn hot but in dire straits I can always resort to my old cooling system durring hot weather - 40cm steel blade heavy duty floor bracket fan.

I like in AU to in FNQ I have a 6970 reference which gets to around 76c with load and stays around the 60 mark on idle, I was thinking about getting an aftermarket cooler mainly so its quieter and I'm worried my ambient temps will go up during the hotter months

[jarreddean]

My opinion is that aftermarket GPU air coolers are a waste of money. I would argue the same for water cooling but I can see some small advantages especially if you are a fan of water cooling.

My opinion is based on the fact that there are card solutions with very good cooling performance and even with the quite limited overclocking that we can apply to GPUs today they still perform quite well. Also I think that you already buy a cooling solution when you buy your card (and reference ones are not that cheaper) so it is definitely not worth the money.

Of course I have to admit that even though I consider it a waste of money I would still love to one day build a PC with a custom loop cooling the GPU(s) as well, but this is will only be for my personal pleasure and not because I can reasonably justify it.

I agree if I had a non reference card I wouldn't bother with changing the cooling options, I will be a very happy man when I build my own custom loop, when I can afford it. I unfortunately have a reference card, which I'll never buy again, to noisy and gets to hot.

[killerx525]

Another point is finding a GPU waterblock for the non-reference GPU is a pain a lot of the time. I was considering going for a custom loop but Asus used a non-reference pcb for my 6950s.

[MiracleMan]

There are really good aftermarket coolers.

How much place do you have?

Prolimatech MK-26: About 5 slots and ~165mm deep (doesn't even fit in my TJ07 which is a huge ass case)

EKL Alpenföhn Peter : also 5 slots but only ~100mm deep

Accelero Extreme 3: 3 Slots, 100mm deep, should fit in almost every case where the 5970 fits.

The Peter is on its way to me for my GTX580. MK26 and Peter are both beasts in size and cooling

[jarreddean]

There are really good aftermarket coolers.

How much place do you have?

Prolimatech MK-26: About 5 slots and ~165mm deep (doesn't even fit in my TJ07 which is a huge ass case)

EKL Alpenföhn Peter : also 5 slots but only ~100mm deep

Accelero Extreme 3: 3 Slots, 100mm deep, should fit in almost every case where the 5970 fits.

The Peter is on its way to me for my GTX580. MK26 and Peter are both beasts in size and cooling

I was looking at Arctic Cooling Accelero Hybrid LCS Cooler which Is a closed looped water cooled VGA cooler. I have about three slots available, can you upload a photo if you get a change of your gtx 580 after the Peter is installed

[Dim]

I live in Australia also.

My card is OC'd to 1050MHz core clock (it's a 7950 3GB). But it has three fans that do a very effective job at cooling, and rarely goes above 60C under load!

Gigabyte "Windforce" for reference

[MiracleMan]

I dont know the Hybrid LCS but I wouldn't recommend closed loops for graphics cards. A single radiator for a highend graphics card... don't know if it is enough.

It would work, of course, but with which temperatures and noise level?

And the tubing is probably too short if you have no 120mm fan mounting next to your graphics card.

I can upload photos in about ~1-2 Weeks

[jarreddean]

I dont know the Hybrid LCS but I wouldn't recommend closed loops for graphics cards. A single radiator for a highend graphics card... don't know if it is enough.

It would work, of course, but with which temperatures and noise level?

And the tubing is probably too short if you have no 120mm fan mounting next to your graphics card.

I can upload photos in about ~1-2 Weeks

I saw a review on anantech which basically said yes its cooler, yes its quieter but really hard to install. The tubing is about 40cm long. So it would fit. However spend $125 or buy a better gpu.

[jarreddean]

I live in Australia also.

My card is OC'd to 1050MHz core clock (it's a 7950 3GB). But it has three fans that do a very effective job at cooling, and rarely goes above 60C under load!

Gigabyte "Windforce" for reference

Such a nice card.. If you had a blue case layout would definaly look the part

[Dim]

I live in Australia also.

My card is OC'd to 1050MHz core clock (it's a 7950 3GB). But it has three fans that do a very effective job at cooling, and rarely goes above 60C under load!

Gigabyte "Windforce" for reference

Alas, mostly black.

I used to have a blue wireless PCI card though, which suited it very nicely.

In the darkness of my case, the PCB is very dark regardless :)