Two dumb (but probably easy to answer) questions on AIO cooling of GFX cards

[Radium_Angel]

I'm kicking around the idea of getting an old(er) GTX 660, or possibly a GTX 550/560 Ti for one of my boxes, and putting a water cooler unit on it. I was thinking All In One simply for ease of installation/space.

Question number 1: Can you get AIO for older cards like the ones I listed above?

Question number 2: How are they typically powered? Molex? Single? Dual? 3-pin mobo connector? The AIO units I've looked at on GIS, never show that part.

 

Thank you for any help you can render.

[O9B0666]

I have a corsair h100i which is powered by a USB header on the mobo and a 4 pin cpu fan header. Although prolly not powered by both but those wlare what's on the other end 

 

Not sure about question one but check nzxt for plates that's what I use for a rx card not sure on nvidia but also google your card and aio plate cooler you might find something. Also since it's in a box not seen you can always mod something. Lastly my cards don't need a aio... You may not really need to do this if you just get a decent fan or two. It's more a looks thing in my case. Looks cooler but not needed. 

[Radium_Angel]

5 minutes ago, O9B0666 said:

corsair h100i

Is that a GPU cooler or CPU one? Or is it universal?

[DildorTheDecent]

31 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

 

http://www.overclock.net/forum/73-nvidia-cooling/1203528-official-nvidia-gpu-mod-club-aka-mod.html

 

Just find any old AIO and zip tie it.

[Radium_Angel]

8 minutes ago, DildorTheDecent said:

Just find any old AIO and zip tie it.

How delightfully ghetto. But as long as it works.....

[DildorTheDecent]

3 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

How delightfully ghetto. But as long as it works.....

Well you're going to be hard pressed to find dedicated GPU mounting hardware for AIOs.

 

Only alternative is a NZXT bracket.

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, DildorTheDecent said:

NZXT bracket

Tell me more?

[DildorTheDecent]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

Tell me more?

https://www.nzxt.com/products/kraken-g12-white

 

+ any of the compatible coolers listed in the spec area

 

= a much easier, elegant and potentially better performing option than using zip ties (since I assume the mount is better).

 

Some GPUs come with the AIOs pre installed. They are often called "hybrid" cards since they use a fan for VRM. The G10 (older model) and G12 are the same idea.

 

I'd recommend the G12 route + compatible AIO for best performance.

[Radium_Angel]

@DildorTheDecent

 

Thank you kindly

[O9B0666]

The price of that card and price of aio stuff... Why not just upgrade to a card that's going to cost what the aio route will plus sell it for a upgrade... At the end of the day that card doesn't need a aio. 

[Froody129]

Or just get a card that is useful for modern programs and will still stay under 60C?

[Radium_Angel]

6 hours ago, O9B0666 said:

The price of that card and price of aio stuff... Why not just upgrade to a card that's going to cost what the aio route will plus sell it for a upgrade... At the end of the day that card doesn't need a aio. 

It's an older system (dual Xeon 5430) and it's a testbench for many things. A modern card would be wasted in it, not to mention the current prices of GFX cards are stupid.

3 minutes ago, Froody129 said:

Or just get a card that is useful for modern programs and will still stay under 60C?

Now where's the fun in that? 

[O9B0666]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

It's an older system (dual Xeon 5430) and it's a testbench for many things. A modern card would be wasted in it, not to mention the current prices of GFX cards are stupid.

Now where's the fun in that? 

where's this thing going? you said 'one of my boxes' i assumed not a pc...i mean if its in a pc with tempered glass yeah do it for looks, but youll spend more then what that card cost atm. Im not one of these guys on here bashing someone for doing something for no reason, cuz i did it too with my gpu, but i was thinking you had one of those nvidia shield thingies, which to me would be pointless then, but if in a desktop thats different.

[Peskanova]

I got a rx480 blower style and was thinking on this. 
I hope you  could use for your project  (although is a newer card it doesnt matter its same process)

[DildorTheDecent]

3 hours ago, O9B0666 said:

where's this thing going? you said 'one of my boxes' i assumed not a pc...i mean if its in a pc with tempered glass yeah do it for looks, but youll spend more then what that card cost atm. Im not one of these guys on here bashing someone for doing something for no reason, cuz i did it too with my gpu, but i was thinking you had one of those nvidia shield thingies, which to me would be pointless then, but if in a desktop thats different.

It should be obvious that OP isn't making a show rig. It could very well be a work rig that OP would prefer to keep cool or used for OC competitions which restrict hardware to legacy components and non-extreme cooling solutions. That's probably why OP is after a test bench of sorts. To easily swap hardware when needed.

 

There's more to PCs than work and play. Some are made to go really, really fast and some just to look nice. It's the really, really fast ones that are always the most interesting imo.

[O9B0666]

Personally op I'd get a nzxt plate and a nice 240mm rad setup... I'd get something other then what I have if I were doing it again. If you have the room I'd get a h150 or kraken x72... If rooms concern corsair h110. It shaved about 5-8 off for me using a 120 mm rad. 

[Radium_Angel]

On 6/8/2018 at 5:14 AM, O9B0666 said:

where's this thing going? you said 'one of my boxes' i assumed not a pc...i mean if its in a pc with tempered glass yeah do it for looks, but youll spend more then what that card cost atm. Im not one of these guys on here bashing someone for doing something for no reason, cuz i did it too with my gpu, but i was thinking you had one of those nvidia shield thingies, which to me would be pointless then, but if in a desktop thats different.

Sorry gang, I was away for the weekend (beach vacation)

This is a x86 system (well, technically dual Xeons, A PowerEdge 2900, so x64) that I play around with alternative OSes, VMs, etc.

The onboard GFX card is an ATI Rage IIc or close, and the x8 slot sports the GT710.

I'm going to upgrade this, but there are limitations, partly physical (x8 slot is shorter than the x16 slot, and while I have successfully cut down a video card to fit, I have no desire to cut into the motherboard itself), and partly financial.

 

Given the Xeon 5430 pair, a "modern" card will be wasted in it, so an older card, is fine.

Plus there is the fun of pushing an older card past what it was designed for. Hence this box in general. Pushing the PE 2900 well past what it was built for.

 

I can't use an ATI card, the built-in one won't hand over GFX duties to another ATI card, so it needs to be nVidia.

[Radium_Angel]

On 6/8/2018 at 9:18 AM, DildorTheDecent said:

It should be obvious that OP isn't making a show rig. It could very well be a work rig that OP would prefer to keep cool or used for OC competitions which restrict hardware to legacy components and non-extreme cooling solutions. That's probably why OP is after a test bench of sorts. To easily swap hardware when needed.

 

There's more to PCs than work and play. Some are made to go really, really fast and some just to look nice. It's the really, really fast ones that are always the most interesting imo.

Sadly,

 

It's sort of neither. I'm simply interested in how far I can push a system past the original designer's ideas. 

I've got the system (once past the BIOS/CMOS startup) booting Ubuntu 14.04LTS in under 6 seconds (that's from the decrypt screen to the desktop) using RAIDed SAS drives, but I'm going to put in an Optane and or a pair of "RAID" 0 2.5" SSD in the floppy slot, just to see if I can make it go faster.

 

It's easy to push new hardware, the fun lies with the old stuff.

[Radium_Angel]

On 6/8/2018 at 2:38 PM, O9B0666 said:

Personally op I'd get a nzxt plate and a nice 240mm rad setup... I'd get something other then what I have if I were doing it again. If you have the room I'd get a h150 or kraken x72... If rooms concern corsair h110. It shaved about 5-8 off for me using a 120 mm rad. 

I'm going to post some pics shortly, of the room I have to work with, and then perhaps you can tell me what I might be able to fit inside...

[DildorTheDecent]

4 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

 

Sounds rather enthusiast tier to me. Good job.

[Radium_Angel]

Ok, here are some pics of the PC.

With these two pics, you can see the back of the system, and inside, with some of the idea of the space I have to work with.

There are two cards I can remove, the long quad-NIC one, and the 4-port USB card, as both were just tests. The USB card to see if it worked (I had it laying around for years) and the NIC was for chaining, and I don't need it any more since I have the wireless (those are the two cards below the video card)

The video card has to stay where it is, as it's the x8 PCIe slot, with the others being x4 (and obviously the PCI-X slots occupied by the NIC and USB)

[Radium_Angel]

These next shots, the 1st and 3rd (assuming it uploads and displays right) shows the space behind the PCIe slots that *could* be used for the radiator, as the fan would blow across it (from the front of the PC to the rear) and the middle pic shows the space where I could fit 2 CD-ROM drives, which could also be a space for the radiator? This is a guess, here's where I need your expertise to suggest the optimum placement for it.

 

[Radium_Angel]

The alternative is in the 2nd shot in the 1st set, down towards the lower left of the PC, is a fair amount of room for the radiator, assuming I could get hosing long enough, and some way of actively cooling it. The two fans to the right blow across the twin Xeons. Perhaps they could do double duty, hard to say.

 

I await your advice.

 

[JohnDongus]

On 6/11/2018 at 6:36 PM, Radium_Angel said:

The alternative is in the 2nd shot in the 1st set, down towards the lower left of the PC, is a fair amount of room for the radiator, assuming I could get hosing long enough, and some way of actively cooling it. The two fans to the right blow across the twin Xeons. Perhaps they could do double duty, hard to say.

 

I await your advice.

 

Outside mounted radiator like a car

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, JohnDongus said:

Outside mounted radiator like a car

Hmmm....

I shall say again.

Hmmm....

 

I was kicking around the idea of drilling (or having drilled) out some of the metal and put a window in the side of the server, but I wondered if the system would go stupid because airflow integrity would be compromised.

 

I'll have to look into this.

The fan to cool the radiator would be mounted inside and blow across it, like in a car?