How to really keep your PC cold this summer. (not for feint hearted)

[Recon-UK]

My own venture into some DIY was the first generation of Nvidia Dx11 GPU's known as Fermi 400 series, i had 2 480's.

 

Heat is a known issue with stock Fermi GPU's, however Nvidia did not do a good job of researching a decent cooler for their 400 series GPU's up until the GTX 460 arrived on the scene.

 

My 480's in SLi reached 102c, i later gave my 2nd 480 to a good friend who made good use of it for 1050p shenanigans, 102c is crazy, but it was my fault, spacing for the cards was literally not there.

 

So, me being the overclocker and tinkerer i am, i wanted MOAR from my single card to make up the difference as much as i can..

 

Here is images of what i did...

 

Cooler off the GPU.

 

 

 

 

Image of the single card with a replaced cooler: GELID Icy Vision REV 2.0

 

 

This was good for stock voltage bios and 850mhz on the core, but i still wanted more.

 

I wanted thermal performance that would come close to a basic water loop.

 

I did a lot of experimenting with different fans of all sizes and types...

 

Xigmatek fans 120mm:

 

 

 

Phobya G silent 120mm:

 

 

 

None of the above was going to cut it, i needed some quality fans which are capable of forcing air in a small space, not overlapping the entire heatsink.

 

 

So i went for Noctua 92mm fans, these were amazing, inaudible and deadly at cooling!

 

 

I have no images for this, but i noticed i was not gaining any OC headroom, this is where i decided to order a Thermalright VRM-G2, which would replace the entire array of tiny heatsinks that covered the VRM's.

 

 

I then proceeded to modify the cards bios with a ridiculous amount of voltage overhead, a serious bios not really meant for air, but gave me the raw card to play with.

 

Tweaked phases and more voltage on tap than the local power grid would earn me the fastest air cooled GTX 480 on overclock.net (OCN)

 

The cooling capacity was pretty insane and impressive in one go... see for yourself:

 

 

 

 

Performance numbers:

 

 

3D Mark 11:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5654604

 

vs stock 7950:

http://www.pcchip.hr/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sapphire-Radeon-HD-7950-3DMark11.jpg

 

 

Unigine Valley run:

 

 

 

Video at a lower clock:

 

 

These next shots are downsampled images at 1440p and higher:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Recon-UK]

So yeah, be as nut's as me, and you get colder temps

[Jogostar]

I cried and laughed at the same time.

[Hidden Orange]

[CowsGoRoar]

So ghetto.

[Hidden Orange]

So ghetto.

Hey, @Recon-UK, I found something that cools a PC even better!  :lol:

[JoshM]

Thats sick man, what racing game is that btw? 

[Recon-UK]

Hey, @Recon-UK, I found something that cools a PC even better!  :lol:

LOL!

[Recon-UK]

Thats sick man, what racing game is that btw? 

NFS Shift.

[purplepenguin202]

Hey, @Recon-UK, I found something that cools a PC even better!  :lol:

That's what my computer looked like but with a rectangular dual-fan window setup.  

[Mooshi]

 

I have a pair of 92mm Noctuas myself laying about. Perhaps I can do something with those in the future.

[geforceftw]

I have a fan that sits beside my pc and it dropped my gpu temps by around 5-7c (465) I use the fan because my cpu fan broke.I used to place an a/c unit blowing into my pc at a constant 61F temp... sadly i dont remember the temps i got from it.

[Syntaxvgm]

Obligatory