Using AIOs with Kraken G12

[Troika]

So, I'm planning on getting a H50 or H55 to put on my GTX 780s but I'm planning on upgrading my gpus down the road, either to a pair of 980 TIs or a single Vega 64 but that's not the main point of the thread. What I'm interested in knowing is what's the best price to performance AIO that's compatible with the G12 bracket and cools the cards the best. I was thinking of either using H110s or X62s but I don't know if those would be the best options, maybe they're complete overkill. I couldn't find TDP ceilings for either 280mm coolers but that might not be a fixed number since fan speed and better quality fans could change how much or little they can cool.

Currently, my GTX 780s are overclocked with 106% power limit, +180mhz on the core and +400mhz on the ram. They're EVGA Superclocked reference models. I tend to round up with power draw so they have a max TDP of about 270w. 980 TIs have a similar stock TDP to that of 780s and Vega 64s have TDPs that range from 295w upwards of 375w on the watercooled frontier editions. Barring case restrictions, since I am already going to get a larger case that has support for multiple large rads, such as the Corsair Air 740, which can have a single 360mm rad, two 240/280mm rads and a 120/140mm rad.

My other concerns is if the G12 bracket is at all capable of being mounted on a Vega 64. Its not listed as compatible but has anyone tried or is there a compatibility kit for it somewhere?

[Cereal5]

Supported GPUs are on NZXT's website, and Vega is not on there. You have to have an Asetek style pump in order to use the G12 (those are the ones with the round mounting brackets with the multiple tabs that twist into the mounting bracket, not all AIOs are like that). Most people can get away with a 120mm rad and still have enough of a temperature headroom. The H100i v2 is around $90, so that is probably the best bang for your buck in terms of 240mm rads, and anything over 240 is likely overkill.

 

edit: running two of them in SLI, you will have to do some homework on clearances for pumps. The H100i does not have swivel mountes tubes, they just rotate in the pump block, so you might need to find something with tubes that actually turn sideways (X62 style)

[Shimejii]

Vega is not going to be compatible, nor would i ever recommenced anyone get vega. I wouldnt honestly recommend getting two 980ti's, i would just get a single 1080ti, and slap on a h100i or h110, or a EVGA CLC 240/280 whichever you prefer. 

 

 

[Troika]

2 hours ago, Shimejii said:

Vega is not going to be compatible, nor would i ever recommenced anyone get vega. I wouldnt honestly recommend getting two 980ti's, i would just get a single 1080ti, and slap on a h100i or h110, or a EVGA CLC 240/280 whichever you prefer. 

 

 

I've heard the EVGA CLCs have clearance issues between the gpu die and coldplate that a copper shim can't fix so I'm hesitant to use one. As for the choice of gpus, I want two 980 TIs because they'll display well but that doesn't mean I won't be getting a 1080 ti down the road. The same is true with a Vega 64. I collect gpus so I want to have the best examples that I can find so the 980 TIs I want to get are the K|ngp|n edition cards because they're both the best of the breed as well as looking gorgeous with that all copper heatsink. As for the Vega 64, naturally that's the Red Devil from PowerColor but the issue with that one is that it isn't compatible with any EK blocks because it not using a reference PCB. A Frontier Edition would be great too since it features double the vram buffer than the standard card.

That said, my upcoming build is going to be 100% team red and the most powerful AMD card at the moment and in Q2~Q3 of 2019 as well, unless the next gen flagship for AMD proves to be a more powerful card, be it Vega 7nm or Polaris 7nm. A Vega 64 would be a nice addition to that system. Otherwise, I don't deny that a single 1080 ti would be the better option, that's what I tell others since good used examples can be had for around $400~450 if you're good at bargaining. That said, I've seen Red Devil Vega 64s in the $300~350 price range with founder edition cards matching the price of 1080 TIs.

[Troika]

3 hours ago, Cereal5 said:

Supported GPUs are on NZXT's website, and Vega is not on there. You have to have an Asetek style pump in order to use the G12 (those are the ones with the round mounting brackets with the multiple tabs that twist into the mounting bracket, not all AIOs are like that). Most people can get away with a 120mm rad and still have enough of a temperature headroom. The H100i v2 is around $90, so that is probably the best bang for your buck in terms of 240mm rads, and anything over 240 is likely overkill.

 

edit: running two of them in SLI, you will have to do some homework on clearances for pumps. The H100i does not have swivel mountes tubes, they just rotate in the pump block, so you might need to find something with tubes that actually turn sideways (X62 style)

Clearance is a concern that I have so I might test with my H110i GTX but I don't think it'll fit on the bracket. It has fixed tubing on the top of the waterblock so it should be able to give me a good idea of how it'll fit on there. I may have to look for a different cooler, maybe a X52/X62 will be what I'll have to go with. Hopefully, it'll work out since I have access to refurb H110i v2s for $60.

[Cereal5]

9 minutes ago, Troika said:

Clearance is a concern that I have so I might test with my H110i GTX but I don't think it'll fit on the bracket. It has fixed tubing on the top of the waterblock so it should be able to give me a good idea of how it'll fit on there. I may have to look for a different cooler, maybe a X52/X62 will be what I'll have to go with. Hopefully, it'll work out since I have access to refurb H110i v2s for $60.

I'd still recommend the above mentioned, getting a single 1080 Ti or so

[Shimejii]

13 minutes ago, Troika said:

I've heard the EVGA CLCs have clearance issues between the gpu die and coldplate that a copper shim can't fix so I'm hesitant to use one. As for the choice of gpus, I want two 980 TIs because they'll display well but that doesn't mean I won't be getting a 1080 ti down the road. The same is true with a Vega 64. I collect gpus so I want to have the best examples that I can find so the 980 TIs I want to get are the K|ngp|n edition cards because they're both the best of the breed as well as looking gorgeous with that all copper heatsink. As for the Vega 64, naturally that's the Red Devil from PowerColor but the issue with that one is that it isn't compatible with any EK blocks because it not using a reference PCB. A Frontier Edition would be great too since it features double the vram buffer than the standard card.

That said, my upcoming build is going to be 100% team red and the most powerful AMD card at the moment and in Q2~Q3 of 2019 as well, unless the next gen flagship for AMD proves to be a more powerful card, be it Vega 7nm or Polaris 7nm. A Vega 64 would be a nice addition to that system. Otherwise, I don't deny that a single 1080 ti would be the better option, that's what I tell others since good used examples can be had for around $400~450 if you're good at bargaining. That said, I've seen Red Devil Vega 64s in the $300~350 price range with founder edition cards matching the price of 1080 TIs.

Eh i never understood why do a 100% red team build with a GPU like that when there are just better options at similar if not better pricing. And we still have 0 idea what that 7 NM Card will bring. As it stands now AMD is behind Nvidia by a fair bit in performance, 7nm Isnt really going to change that. I feel as if people are hyping up 7nm to be the savior for AMD, when in reality its more then just the process that AMD has to work on to even come close to getting near the top end of the performance bracket. Quite frankly AMD's GPU division has been amazing on the mid tier cards, but always leaves something to be desired on the high end.

 

Cooler clearance yeah im not sure, they are using ASTEK Pumps and such. And they use them on their GPU's with their FTW Hybrid kits.

[Troika]

12 hours ago, Shimejii said:

Eh i never understood why do a 100% red team build with a GPU like that when there are just better options at similar if not better pricing. And we still have 0 idea what that 7 NM Card will bring. As it stands now AMD is behind Nvidia by a fair bit in performance, 7nm Isnt really going to change that. I feel as if people are hyping up 7nm to be the savior for AMD, when in reality its more then just the process that AMD has to work on to even come close to getting near the top end of the performance bracket. Quite frankly AMD's GPU division has been amazing on the mid tier cards, but always leaves something to be desired on the high end.

 

Cooler clearance yeah im not sure, they are using ASTEK Pumps and such. And they use them on their GPU's with their FTW Hybrid kits.

What's the point in doing a custom loop with hard tubing when soft tubing works just as well? What's the point of using a open air display case when a large tower is fuctionally better? Not everything needs to have a good reason to do it. I know that going with a 1080 TI is better and that, while the next gen Ryzen 7nm would be a great chip, it may not be the best gaming chip in the same way that Vega 64 isn't a great gaming card. Its very powerful, there's no doubt there. It's an excellent compute card with loads of bandwidth, it actually beats out a 1080 ti in compute performance by a fairly clear margin. That said, a 1080 ti is still a better pixel pusher and it does it while consuming less power and producing less heat. The point of doing an all team red build is because its the only company that makes both its own cpus and gpus. Intel hasn't gotten into the gpu market outside of their iGPUs, which aren't great, and Nvidia is keeping their gpus in tablets and consoles at the moment. Its a bit of a complicated point but its a personal choice, like anything else. I like the Vega 64, its a cool card. It could have been a great card were it not for the added cost of HBM 2. Maybe if they went with GDDR5/5X and a massive 512 bus like they did on the R9 390 it could have been priced much more competitively but that'll be just something that people can think about rather than compare with. What's done is done. Just like we're glad that the bulldozer processors are gone, we can thank them for bringing about the zen processors that replaced them.

 

As to answer your second question, keep in mind that it is complete speculation but I'll direct your attention to this.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-instinct-vega.c3233

 

That'll likely be the next Vega card that we get as a consumer. Well, not that particular one since its not a consumer care but we will get that Vega 20 chip on a consumer card. In the same way that the instinct variation of the Vega 10 chip was released first as this.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-instinct-mi25.c2983

 

Then we got the consumer version of it as the Frontier Edition at the same time as the instinct card then the Vega 64 two months later, I think we can safely assume that when this Vega 7nm instinct card is released, we'll see a "Frontier" version of it then the regular consumer version with less vram about two months later in 2019.

[Troika]

12 hours ago, Cereal5 said:

I'd still recommend the above mentioned, getting a single 1080 Ti or so

So do I.