Considering new GPU, want input

Ser James Acinonyx of Compactis · April 21, 2016

So, I have for some time been thinking about changing my graphics card to something more up to date. I currently have a Gainward GTX 960 2GB, factory overclocked.

At the same time, I have been thinking about water cooling, because in my sessions, the GPU gets rather hot, although the on-board cooler manages to keep it around 80 degrees. The decision for water is on two reasons; effective cooling and silence, as I want to reduce sound overall.

For the water cooling, I have been thinking about either a custom loop, which can include the CPU into the mix, or an AIO cooler in one of two configurations; Luke's ghetto solution with zipties, or a bracket from Corsair's Hydro or NZXT's Kraken series. However, the bracket solution is not compatible with my current card, from my understanding. I have found a waterblock from AlphaCool that is supposedly compatible with my card, but that would lock me to a custom loop or (stupidly) modifying an AIO, which would be rather costly. This is where I find a bit of support toward my idea of upgrading to a newer card, like GTX 970 or 980.

So, I would like some input from you people, on a few questions.
1) Is it more cost/performance efficient to go for the bracket-solution or the custom loop? I do not intend to go for super high-quality parts for the loop, just what'd be "good enough".

2) Can you recommend any good value GPUs with 4 or 6 GB? I would prefer if it'd be easily compatible with water cooling, and I do not want AMD cards. Extra bonus if you can suggest a card with dual DVI (because otherwise I would need to change my monitors).

I thank you for any helpful advice. Feel free to ask questions in return if you want more information.

Moonzy · April 21, 2016

5 minutes ago, Ser James Acinonyx of Compactis said:

1) Is it more cost/performance efficient to go for the bracket-solution or the custom loop? I do not intend to go for super high-quality parts for the loop, just what'd be "good enough".

probably the bracket solution, custom loop cost more than your gpu easily

6 minutes ago, Ser James Acinonyx of Compactis said:

2) Can you recommend any good value GPUs with 4 or 6 GB? I would prefer if it'd be easily compatible with water cooling, and I do not want AMD cards. Extra bonus if you can suggest a card with dual DVI (because otherwise I would need to change my monitors).

i recommend using the 960 and wait for pascal, its not a bad card anyway

and pascal is supposed to be more efficient, so it'll help you if you want lower temps

awesomeness10120 · April 21, 2016

I'd recommend waiting for Pascal/Polaris/Vega

MrIceCremeLollipop · April 21, 2016

12 minutes ago, awesomeness10120 said:

I'd recommend waiting for Pascal/Polaris/Vega

Whos making vega? Because isn't pascal NVidia, Polaris amd?

Ser James Acinonyx of Compactis · April 21, 2016

1 hour ago, Moonzy said:

i recommend using the 960 and wait for pascal, its not a bad card anyway

and pascal is supposed to be more efficient, so it'll help you if you want lower temps

Well, after doing some digging into info about Pascal, I must say it does sound worth the wait. And as you said, which I agree to, the 960 isn't a bad card. I'm just a bit of a whore for silence and good temp management. Hopefully the Pascal cards will fulfill my wishes.