Help-use a NVIDIA 3080 w/water coolers

[Laura Healy]

Hey guys,

I'm building my first computer. Want to use a NVIDIA 3080 (actually I'd like to use two and link them together). I've been building things literally since I was 8-9 years old  (on through my architecture days in college). Here's the problem: I am planning on water-cooling my computer. Now, here's the problem; I can't seem to figure out what kind of GPU water cooling system matches what kind of GPU [MSI, etc., etc.]. I'm so spatial (visual+++) these details often elude me. It's either really funny or really sad. 

 

Could you help me?

 

Laura

[Fasauceome]

10 minutes ago, Laura Healy said:

actually I'd like to use two and link them together

Unfortunately the 3080 does not support nvlink

[Somerandomtechyboi]

22 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

Unfortunately the 3080 does not support nvlink

Even if it did multi gpu support is mostly dead so doesnt matter anyways

 

And are you sure you wanna custom loop on the first build? Imo pretty bad idea esp for hardline. You wont get much out of custom looping other than aesthetics and/or silence (cpu/gpu core oc is dead on higher end stuff so dont bother with that)

[Mick Naughty]

Get fe cards or the larger reference board like evga would use. Plenty of blocks around for them.

[Laura Healy]

4 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Even if it did multi gpu support is mostly dead so doesnt matter anyways

 

And are you sure you wanna custom loop on the first build? Imo pretty bad idea esp for hardline. You wont get much out of custom looping other than aesthetics and/or silence (cpu/gpu core oc is dead on higher end stuff so dont bother with that)

Yes. I grad

[Laura Healy]

5 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

Unfortunately the 3080 does not support nvlink

 

4 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Even if it did multi gpu support is mostly dead so doesnt matter anyways

 

And are you sure you wanna custom loop on the first build? Imo pretty bad idea esp for hardline. You wont get much out of custom looping other than aesthetics and/or silence (cpu/gpu core oc is dead on higher end stuff so dont bother with that)

Yes, I want to custom loop on the first build. I'll mention it now- I have a B.S. from Georgia Tech major: Architecture, Grad. Certificate: Urban Planning. Architecture was awesome, but I loved City Planning even more. But I was in the certain time Georgia Tech didn't believe in CAD use. All of the studio work was done on hand done modeling and then drawings. Georgia Tech is located in Midtown Atlanta and we had multiple projects where they would give us a site in Atlanta and take us as a group to the site. Sometimes it was empty, sometimes it wasn't- but there were always very specific sites, and measurements. 

 

I know the custom build + water cooling =/ but I did get trained as an Architect. Come on-- it's gotta look cool! As well as work! I got a Thermaltake Core P5- which is cool enough to hang on the wall - but it's not so out there as some of the ones Thermaltake has on their website! Aesthetics is just as important as what goes into the computer. Or in the Architecture world: form does not follow function! Frank Lloyd Wright over LeCorbu any day of the week and twice on Sunday. 

 

I'm really looking for a system not for gaming but to use for Maya 3D (which surprisingly is what the Hollywood industry uses) but the learning style I was born with is spatial (visual+++). I used "SketchUp", based on a friend's recommendation, but then I came to a point where I went, "Huh?" I did some research and found out Maya 3D just "clicked". It was very intuitive. I went on Maya's forum and they basically told me what I needed was the same thing as a gaming system, only with higher level parts. Right before COVID hit I purchased - Thermaltake Core P5, Thermaltake Radiator, Thermaltake Fan set, (all from Taiwan).  Primochill Steel liquid, Radiator cleaner (etc.) - all in my possession. 

 

What I need now: CPU = Intel 12th GEN {Thermaltake Grizzly to replace the socket on the motherboard}, SATA card, RAM cards, Hard Drive (5-10 GB). I'm sure I forgot some things. Motherboard. 

 

But this GPU card: that's what I need to understand. What about this "Barrow" here? (Amazon)  It says "RTX 3090" (please excuse me, that's what I meant to say), but then it says "Gigabyte" later on. What does that mean? 

 

Look, there's not really a max. budget- like $10,000 is fine.  This does not include the monitor, which I already have purchased, along with a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse. 

 

I give my apologies to you two that gave me a list of GPU's. I'm only interested in the one's that are NVIDIA 3090 (or the equivalent under some other name, which I don't know).  I'm going by what the people on the Maya forum told me- it was better to look for Intel and NVIDIA. NVIDIA 4090 looks like it's not coming out until 1st quarter of next year. 

 

Laura

 

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

19 minutes ago, Laura Healy said:

I know the custom build + water cooling =/ but I did get trained as an Architect. Come on-- it's gotta look cool! As well as work! I got a Thermaltake Core P5- which is cool enough to hang on the wall - but it's not so out there as some of the ones Thermaltake has on their website! Aesthetics is just as important as what goes into the computer. Or in the Architecture world: form does not follow function! Frank Lloyd Wright over LeCorbu any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

19 minutes ago, Laura Healy said:

What I need now: CPU = Intel 12th GEN {Thermaltake Grizzly to replace the socket on the motherboard}, SATA card, RAM cards, Hard Drive (5-10 GB). I'm sure I forgot some things. Motherboard. 

 

19 minutes ago, Laura Healy said:

Look, there's not really a max. budget- like $10,000 is fine.  This does not include the monitor, which I already have purchased, along with a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse. 

In that case spend all your money on the specs (particularly gpus)

 

Aesthetics = afterthought, and also dont waste >1k on crap that wont contribute to performance (incl ddr5, gen4 ssd, overpriced >300$ mobo, overpriced aesthetics like case, rgb ram, etc. Exception would be if you can get em for cheap aka good deal)

 

 

If you can utilize multi gpu then buy 2-3 3090 (ti is overpriced garbage), or if you can only utilise 1 gpu atleast get an a100/a40 accelerator and if you wanna use for gaming then a secondary card like a 3090

 

Priority wise gpu = cpu = ram > storage > aesthetics/parts that dont contribute to performance, maximise cpu and gpu first, ram just 128gb

[jaslion]

Honestly for your usecase a 3090 would do better due to having a ton of vram. Id also start with one here.

 

Cool thing is getting a founders 3090 used for less than 700$ is super easy so ya know if you want like 4 for some reason you totally can in your budget if ya get em used.

 

Evga ones are also super easy to get used

 

Now for the build it all really depends but Id just recommend soft tubing here and a simple loop. Res with a d5 pump in it, cpu block and then after you decide on the gpu a compatible block times how many cards you have.

 

Then for the board basically anything xonsumer with enough x16 ports will do. Rendering doesnt require much bandwith so even at x1 a 3090 will be fine.

 

Psu is well depends on how much hardware you get.

 

 

[Fasauceome]

6 hours ago, Laura Healy said:

It says "RTX 3090" (please excuse me, that's what I meant to say), but then it says "Gigabyte" later on. What does that mean? 

Gigabyte is a manufacturer of PC components. Among other board partners like Asus and MSI, these manufacturers will create the basic stuff you'll need like motherboard and graphics card. Intel, AMD, and Nvidia make their own products, but then it comes to graphics cards it's easiest to offer more models by sourcing manufacturing and design to other companies.

 

Hence, Nvidia sells a certain amount of RTX 3090 chips to the company Gigabyte, gigabyte builds a board, and sells it with their own design.

6 hours ago, Laura Healy said:

I'm going by what the people on the Maya forum told me- it was better to look for Intel and NVIDIA.

For your general purposes it is good to look at Nvidia because of a general advantage in CAD and 3D renders, but the CPU might be a different story. Intel's current i9 may be fast but AMD's Ryzen 9 5950X has quite a few cores which might be helpful.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Fasauceome

[Laura Healy]

18 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

 

 

In that case spend all your money on the specs (particularly gpus)

 

Aesthetics = afterthought, and also dont waste >1k on crap that wont contribute to performance (incl ddr5, gen4 ssd, overpriced >300$ mobo, overpriced aesthetics like case, rgb ram, etc. Exception would be if you can get em for cheap aka good deal)

 

 

If you can utilize multi gpu then buy 2-3 3090 (ti is overpriced garbage), or if you can only utilise 1 gpu atleast get an a100/a40 accelerator and if you wanna use for gaming then a secondary card like a 3090

 

Priority wise gpu = cpu = ram > storage > aesthetics/parts that dont contribute to performance, maximise cpu and gpu first, ram just 128gb

 

16 hours ago, jaslion said:

Honestly for your usecase a 3090 would do better due to having a ton of vram. Id also start with one here.

 

Cool thing is getting a founders 3090 used for less than 700$ is super easy so ya know if you want like 4 for some reason you totally can in your budget if ya get em used.

 

Evga ones are also super easy to get used

 

Now for the build it all really depends but Id just recommend soft tubing here and a simple loop. Res with a d5 pump in it, cpu block and then after you decide on the gpu a compatible block times how many cards you have.

 

Then for the board basically anything xonsumer with enough x16 ports will do. Rendering doesnt require much bandwith so even at x1 a 3090 will be fine.

 

Psu is well depends on how much hardware you get.

 

 

Two things: these're are so funny to me, in a cool way! We recently split the costs with my son on a gaming laptop Razer Blade 15 w/ a graphics board NVIDIA 3080. He didn't notice anything: because the gaming computer. The one thing he did say, "Mom, doesn't this {computer} look cool?" "Yes!" He was talking about the way the laptop fit together, how the Razor's logo was centered in the middle.

 

I taught him somethings as he grew. Not outright, "You're going to learn design!" For ex: In the way I taught him to dress. We he was young, I picked out his clothes. When he got older, he started picking out his clothes w/ my help. I would start to see what he gravitated too, (the pants), and he would branch out from there, but with me always giving him suggestions (okay, you've got these  pants, now, you've got all of this to select from). Early on, he wore dockers. Then he got into middle school and he wanted to change to sneakers. We went shopping and found him a completely black pair of Underarmor shoes (that fit his feet well); but also got him a pair of (some shoes likes) Dockers, b/c there were times when he would need them. Fast forward to High School and he needed a suit. We took him to a local department store. He picked out the suit- black. He told us- "I need a white undershirt in Size L". He began to rummage through all the shirts, found one he liked- it had a gray pattern of lines on it (pretty cool). Then we went to look for a tie to complete the outfit. My son did find a tie- black with a subtle pattern on it. I rejoiced, "You found it, son!"  My husband looked at me like I was nuts- until he tried it all on together. The suit was perfect. 

 

Now you say what does this clothes story have to do with the computer? Everything. My son got assigned a project in middle school- The Gladiators. (I should also mention he has the same type of learning level as I do-spatial). My answer was to put on the movie "Gladiator" by Ridley Scott. The next day we watched one of the extra features that was a historical account of the gladiators. He understood, and got to work on a model he had to build about Gladiators. He couldn't build one of the Coliseum, so he built a smaller gladiator arena on the outer parts. Yes, it was a little bit messy- but everyone loved it. Now, the History Channel is presenting "Coliseum", an actual history, and my son refuses to watch it, because it'll "mess up what I did with 'Gladiator'." He's a History major in college! 

 

So, yes, I AM going to water cool my PC! Look, I want to be clear, in my arch. studio days in college, we were required to do research. In fact, the only single apartment building we did was based off a 4 or 5 page article by LeCorbusier on how a photographer should do something. In another class, I was told based on my design I should go read the book "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. The first one I got it dead on, the second one I was so confused, I had to drop out of the class b/c I was going to fail. It put me back a whole year! he-he-he. (It didn't change the timeline of when I graduated, because by this time I had discovered my absolute love of City Planning. 

 

So, I basically watched 2+ years of Linus Tech Tips, JaysTwoCents, and a few others, until I was absolutely sure that I knew what I was doing. 

11 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

Gigabyte is a manufacturer of PC components. Among other board partners like Asus and MSI, these manufacturers will create the basic stuff you'll need like motherboard and graphics card. Intel, AMD, and Nvidia make their own products, but then it comes to graphics cards it's easiest to offer more models by sourcing manufacturing and design to other companies

Okay, so I just need to find the right RTX 3090 card that's paired up with it's water-cooled. So, if I wanted to use this Barrow Gigabyte here, then I would have to find the Gigabyte RTX 3090 GPU. Is that right?

 

Yes, someone mentioned softlining vs. Acrylic hardwring vs. PETG. I'm going to go with PETG. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Well if you got the money to watercool then sure, but do not comprimise on specs, bare minimum 12900k + 3090, you can beef up the gpu as much as you want (multi gpu, accelerator gpus, etc.) Though the cpu is basically maxed unless you wanna wait for ryzen 7000 or 13th gen

 

Soft tubing >>> hardline just for ease of accessing and upgrading the hardware since you dont have to re bend the tubes every single time you upgrade your hardware, though you can get a shop to do this for you

 

Its generally not preffered to go custom water on your first build but its not impossible as long as you got the knowledge and will to go custom water. i mean as soon as i got x58 i just did abit of oc testing and then within 2 hours got the cpu to boot 5g, not generally reccomended to immedeatly oc your 3ghz cpu to 5g on your first experience with a platform but i did it anyway

 

 

I assume youd prob be going for much beefier setup than the bare minimum 12900k + 3090 (maybe dual 3090, a40/100 accelerator, etc.) In that case pc rads can be thrown out the window as other than the thiccest 60mm 480mm+ rads theyre pretty garbage vs car radiators which are far superior cooling wise, even beefy car/truck rads new can range from 100-300$ while youd need closer to 1k in pc rads to get equivalent performance, mix metals can be pretty much ignored when you mix your coolant with ~20% antifreeze (anti galvanic corrosion, after all cars have run mix metal cooling for a long time, also helps abit with killing growth in the loop cause glycol)

 

Im building a ghetto setup like this only much cheaper version and far more ghetto, unfortunately canceled for now cause i need to delid my cpu before being able to take advantage of it though it should be equivalent to a 360mm aio when complete (~20$ spent on it) just to give an idea of the price/performance. Mine is very painful to build but if you invest more money into it that shouldnt be much of a problem (like actually bothering to properly fabricate adaptors rather than using god damn bottlecaps melted together)

 

[Laura Healy]

I'm building this for business, but for my home office. That's why I need the GPU: NVIDIA and CPU: Intel -( right now 12th Gen.) because this is what was recommended to me on the Maya 3D forum. 

 

The Thermaltake (made in Taiwan) Core P5: is made to be hung up on the wall. It's kind of cool, because the back plating is there, and then there's 4 1/2" to 5" of opening, followed by a single plate of glass. 

 

I've gotten two kinds of things: the radiator, the cooling fans, the power supply (max), etc. were all Thermaltake. 

The water cooling system I want will (hopefully) have a copper back; b/c the radiator is copper. The power supply.

 

The cooling, the PETG tubing, Rad. cleaner, Prechill solution, etc., etc., will be Primochill.

 

Sorry, there's was another reason I was asking about the GPU, because I haven't found a NVIDIA 3900 water-cooled system.  I was looking at the Gigabyte b/c it's does have copper backplate, but I also saw the two distinct packages: one is $75 - $100 more than the other one.  So, I don't know if that means the more expensive one will handle a linkup with another one. 

 

Of course, I'm still not sure on the motherboard yet. 

 

Look, I really have to stress the point that I know how to build things! 

 

I'm very sorry. I ended up in the hospital this weekend because of a mix up of medications!

 

Laura

[Mick Naughty]

There are countless blocks for a 3090, you just need to pick a card that fits one. Looking at the blocks will tell you what they fit. Then you will know what to buy. 
And there are cards with blocks already on them. All of the offerings are copper, or nickel plated copper so it wont matter overall running it with normal copper rads.

[jaslion]

8 hours ago, Laura Healy said:

I'm building this for business, but for my home office. That's why I need the GPU: NVIDIA and CPU: Intel -( right now 12th Gen.) because this is what was recommended to me on the Maya 3D forum. 

 

The Thermaltake (made in Taiwan) Core P5: is made to be hung up on the wall. It's kind of cool, because the back plating is there, and then there's 4 1/2" to 5" of opening, followed by a single plate of glass. 

 

I've gotten two kinds of things: the radiator, the cooling fans, the power supply (max), etc. were all Thermaltake. 

The water cooling system I want will (hopefully) have a copper back; b/c the radiator is copper. The power supply.

 

The cooling, the PETG tubing, Rad. cleaner, Prechill solution, etc., etc., will be Primochill.

 

Sorry, there's was another reason I was asking about the GPU, because I haven't found a NVIDIA 3900 water-cooled system.  I was looking at the Gigabyte b/c it's does have copper backplate, but I also saw the two distinct packages: one is $75 - $100 more than the other one.  So, I don't know if that means the more expensive one will handle a linkup with another one. 

 

Of course, I'm still not sure on the motherboard yet. 

 

Look, I really have to stress the point that I know how to build things! 

 

I'm very sorry. I ended up in the hospital this weekend because of a mix up of medications!

 

Laura

Almost every 3090 can fit a waterblock. Basically just look up a block you like and get one of the compatible 3090's

 

But basically get as many rads as possible for a 12900k + 3090. Then for ease of upgrade use soft tubing. The p5 with brackets can do 2x360mm

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

20 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Almost every 3090 can fit a waterblock. Basically just look up a block you like and get one of the compatible 3090's

I mean who wouldnt wanna watercool a 3090? Pretty obvious choice given the flaming hot vram and pretty hot gpu core, pretty much why lower end gpus tend to not have blocks made specifically for em since they run cooler and custom loop is usually pricey af

 

22 minutes ago, jaslion said:

But basically get as many rads as possible for a 12900k + 3090. Then for ease of upgrade use soft tubing

^^^

Though id reccomend car rads or literal beefcake rads from aliexpress, though if you are going for a more minimal amount of rads like 2x 480mm then you should look at better rads cause while the chinese stuff is absolutely insane price/performance theyre not exactly top performers (but pretty darn close to it), ive heard heatkiller rads are pretty good but i only focus on price/performance so i have no idea how much better some rads can be vs others cause its much cheaper to just add more than optimize which usually means better performance for your $ (especially in the case of reusing auto rads) but obvious compromises like space and convenience are made (which i personally throw out the window cause cpu must go vroom vroom)

[jaslion]

5 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

I mean who wouldnt wanna watercool a 3090? Pretty obvious choice given the flaming hot vram and pretty hot gpu core, pretty much why lower end gpus tend to not have blocks made specifically for em since they run cooler and custom loop is usually pricey af

 

^^^

Though id reccomend car rads or literal beefcake rads from aliexpress, though if you are going for a more minimal amount of rads like 2x 480mm then you should look at better rads cause while the chinese stuff is absolutely insane price/performance theyre not exactly top performers (but pretty darn close to it), ive heard heatkiller rads are pretty good but i only focus on price/performance so i have no idea how much better some rads can be vs others cause its much cheaper to just add more than optimize which usually means better performance for your $ (especially in the case of reusing auto rads) but obvious compromises like space and convenience are made (which i personally throw out the window cause cpu must go vroom vroom)

That or alphacool. They are pretty darn cheap depening on your region.

 

I keep forgetting the p5 does 420 and 480 rads.  A single thick one should do the job but you can actually lay/attach a second one on top.

 

Do keep in mind that this case with a loop in it needs STRONG wall ankers that go into STUDS NOT JUST DRYWALL

[Somerandomtechyboi]

4 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Do keep in mind that this case with a loop in it needs STRONG wall ankers that go into STUDS NOT JUST DRYWALL

so the thing doesnt just randomly fall off the wall?

Well with all that weight esp the watercooling loop it makes sense, though incase i ever wanna try something dumb like this in the future how much do i have to drill into the wall to make it not prone to falling off? For all i know most places here in indo dont seem to have drywall incl the house im in, just solid cement or whatever that if you punch or body slam it wont break but it breaks you instead

[jaslion]

3 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

so the thing doesnt just randomly fall off the wall?

Well with all that weight esp the watercooling loop it makes sense, though incase i ever wanna try something dumb like this in the future how much do i have to drill into the wall to make it not prone to falling off? For all i know most places here in indo dont seem to have drywall incl the house im in, just solid cement or whatever that if you punch or body slam it wont break but it breaks you instead

Basically read the screwpackage for your wallankers. And add 5kg of wiggleroom to it.

 

If its brick, cemenr,... whatever then you can just direct drill no problem. Course you first have to predrill a hole, insert the plastic anker and then do the screws. But all that info is normally on the package including the min depth and max width your predrilled hole should be

 

Small tip use a vacuum to make sure all dirt is out of the hole. Can also use itbunder your drill whilst drilling to prevent too much dust and debry going into the room

[Sir Beregond]

If you go for a 3090, look for a waterblock that also offers an active backplate. You'll spend a few more $$$, but it will help keep the G6X memory on the back of the card cool. It is known to overheat otherwise. The 3090 Ti on the other hand does not have any back mounted G6X chips, but its waterblock offerings are probably far more limited.

 

Agree with soft tubing recommendation. If you want maintenance free, opt for something like Tygon A-60-G. No plasticizer to leach into the coolant/loop, and is properly to ID/OD specs for fittings unlike EK ZMT, and often recommended tubing which is far inferior.

 

 

[Laura Healy]

Awesome! Thanks, guys. I was able to look up the Gigabyte RTX Gaming Eagle Vision. The reason for the higher price; it comes with a copper backplate included. 

 

Now, I'm just wondering if I can get two of them and get them to work in sync??? 

 

[Mick Naughty]

8 minutes ago, Laura Healy said:

Awesome! Thanks, guys. I was able to look up the Gigabyte RTX Gaming Eagle Vision. The reason for the higher price; it comes with a copper backplate included. 

 

Now, I'm just wondering if I can get two of them and get them to work in sync??? 

 

Why does the backplate matter? You said you wanted to water cool it. So A backplate of copper wont matter and I dont see it mention the material used for the backplate, just the cooler itself.
And you could run two assuming the programs you use can utilize multiple cards.

[Laura Healy]

On 8/9/2022 at 4:17 PM, Mick Naughty said:

Why does the backplate matter? You said you wanted to water cool it. So A backplate of copper wont matter and I dont see it mention the material used for the backplate, just the cooler itself.
And you could run two assuming the programs you use can utilize multiple cards.

Really, I thought the backplate mattered b/c in one video I watched of someone putting together a water-cooled machine, he said it did matter- if you got the radiator in aluminum you should work with aluminum in your water-cooling back-plate, etc..  Copper = copper. Had to do with the long-term viability. 

 

As far as the second part- that is so funny to me- this is where my knowledge has a gap in it! I learned by watching {spatial (visual++)}. I have been good at that all my life, particularly after architectural school (college) where we built our own models. Sometimes, the models themselves were creative. We had to build a hydroelectric dam: and part of the main point of the assignment was how we integrated the model of the hydroelectric dam that we were given (i.e. a certain size and shape); but the organization of the components of the model was up to us. Plus, we had to match the "finishing" part - the "dam" - to the part that we were given. I built the given part out of acrylic pieces glued together around real rocks (b/c it was situated over a river). Then because I really didn't have much money, I "improvised" using thick spaghetti pieces (as in a bridge-type contraption, obviously it did far more than a bridge). Some of my classmates were really ragging on me for the spaghetti use. I told them, "I don't have anymore money!" But the Professor liked my idea and said, "Yes, there could be improvements on the use of spaghetti, but I can really see the heart of the architect here." 

 

Now, I'm not going to use spaghetti because I do have money! Maya 3D is a Hollywood industry standard. SketchUp is like nowhere near Hollywood. But I can't figure SketchUp out to save my life! Maya 3D, I tried a 30-day free period; and it's a breeze! I really can build things! I really can use things! It's the parts in between that I have a hard time with. 

 

But as far as saying "you could run two assuming the program you use can utilize multiple cards." I don't have a clue! But I'll bet you Maya 3D can. It's part of the "Autodesk" family of programs, which includes CAD (another program that we were banned from using). It literally came down to the SACS saying, "We're going to take away you're accreditation if you don't start using CAD." They had no choice! If you live in my neck of the woods, and are in a similar profession, you get recognized for the college you went to and the years up to the date you graduated. 

[Mick Naughty]

40 minutes ago, Laura Healy said:

Really, I thought the backplate mattered b/c in one video I watched of someone putting together a water-cooled machine, he said it did matter- if you got the radiator in aluminum you should work with aluminum in your water-cooling back-plate, etc..  Copper = copper. Had to do with the long-term viability. 

 

As far as the second part- that is so funny to me- this is where my knowledge has a gap in it! I learned by watching {spatial (visual++)}. I have been good at that all my life, particularly after architectural school (college) where we built our own models. Sometimes, the models themselves were creative. We had to build a hydroelectric dam: and part of the main point of the assignment was how we integrated the model of the hydroelectric dam that we were given (i.e. a certain size and shape); but the organization of the components of the model was up to us. Plus, we had to match the "finishing" part - the "dam" - to the part that we were given. I built the given part out of acrylic pieces glued together around real rocks (b/c it was situated over a river). Then because I really didn't have much money, I "improvised" using thick spaghetti pieces (as in a bridge-type contraption, obviously it did far more than a bridge). Some of my classmates were really ragging on me for the spaghetti use. I told them, "I don't have anymore money!" But the Professor liked my idea and said, "Yes, there could be improvements on the use of spaghetti, but I can really see the heart of the architect here." 

 

Now, I'm not going to use spaghetti because I do have money! Maya 3D is a Hollywood industry standard. SketchUp is like nowhere near Hollywood. But I can't figure SketchUp out to save my life! Maya 3D, I tried a 30-day free period; and it's a breeze! I really can build things! I really can use things! It's the parts in between that I have a hard time with. 

 

But as far as saying "you could run two assuming the program you use can utilize multiple cards." I don't have a clue! But I'll bet you Maya 3D can. It's part of the "Autodesk" family of programs, which includes CAD (another program that we were banned from using). It literally came down to the SACS saying, "We're going to take away you're accreditation if you don't start using CAD." They had no choice! If you live in my neck of the woods, and are in a similar profession, you get recognized for the college you went to and the years up to the date you graduated. 

Well like I said, only thing in the description that mentions copper is a baseplate and heat pipes. Which you wont be using if you water cool the card. And an actual backplate wont matter, as its on the back of the card and again wont touch the fluid being used. Would be best to get an active backplate anyway if getting a card with memory on the back. 

[Laura Healy]

3 hours ago, Mick Naughty said:

Well like I said, only thing in the description that mentions copper is a baseplate and heat pipes. Which you wont be using if you water cool the card. And an actual backplate wont matter, as its on the back of the card and again wont touch the fluid being used. Would be best to get an active backplate anyway if getting a card with memory on the back. 

Ah, I see. I knew there was something about copper = copper vs. aluminum = aluminum. I also knew there was something important to getting a "backplate" on the water-cooling loops (esp. if I used two of them).  Thermaltake Core P5. Although, I can't remember if I bought it in white (because it doesn't matter, I'll just paint it; JaysTwoCents had an awesome video on how to do that). The hard-drive goes inside-the-back. The front of tempered glass comes off completely, so do the steel rods and the base at the bottom if you want to hang it up. The Radiator goes to the right and the fans mount on top of that. Because there's nothing on the side except for open air. So, heat isn't really a problem. See, I'm just keeping it simple.