7800GTX heat output, is 172w enough?

[Johnny Bravo]

I'm planning on using a MCW50-T with a 172w TEC to cool a 7800GTX 512MB graphics card, prob gonna voltmod the thing too. I'm I wasting my time or will the TEC be able to cope with the thermal load from the GPU?

[kiwi]

If I remember right power consumption of the 7800GTX was around 100-110W idle. Clocked and loaded much more. So it might not be enough

http://images.tomshardware.com/2005/12/09/seven_of_nvidia/power_3d.png

[Mr. Tinker]

That's not enough info. Not all of that energy input to the card turns into heat output on the GPU. You need to find out about how much heat is output from the GPU, and multiply that by 2 to find the properly rated TEC. I'd go with a 226W at least.

[Johnny Bravo]

hmmmm that would require another waterblock then :( I take it no one has tried this yet?

[marvt74]

Think is i'm pretty sure there are no commercialy available blocks which will let you use a 226w tec as all gpu blocks are only 40mmx40mm and i think thats the largest wattage available in that size

[Johnny Bravo]

so technically watercooling would be the way ahead here, as a TEC will just dump more heat into the loop with next to no cooling gain. Bugger.

[Mr. Tinker]

I think you can find 40x40mm 226w, but I could be mistaken.

[Johnny Bravo]

I'm almost certain you can't but I'd love it if I were wrong on the matter. Anyone care to comment?

[freecableguy]

Comment: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=83317

[Johnny Bravo]

274watts of power at full load - fair enough. It would seem then that 266watts to cover thermal power it generated would be in the right ball park. I will experiement when the hardware comes. Cheers guys.

[Mr. Tinker]

That's total system power draw. Less of that goes to the graphics card, and less of that goes to the GPU, and less than that is converted to heat from the GPU.

Also, again, you want a TEC rated for twice the heat output of the source. Once it gets near capacity, a TEC may as well be a piece of regular ceramic.

[Johnny Bravo]

D'oh yeah sorry. So I'm good for around 80-90Watts then. Well Like I said we'll see.

[G H Z]

I ran a 172W MCW50-T combo on X1800 XT, not quite sure how this compares to the GTX but idle with 1.4V read -10° via ATI Tool. Loaded benching with max clocks temps rose to around 15°. This is running with 1° C water in the loop.

The 176W can handle it but not by much. I'd really like to find a 226W 40 X 40 myself.

[texuspete00]

An XT is hotter than a GTX. Same ballpark, so good advice, just saying.

edit: My bad. You got the 512. It consumes a bit more than an XT. Who knows how much of it is succinctly the core.

And GHz... how many volts are you running into the TEC?

[Revivalist]

I have a 85-110W TEC on my 7800GT and it always stays under 31C even after hours of gaming with it overclocked. I'm pretty sure it's even colder than that because for some reason the card doesn't report anything below 31C. . . . I also have a CPU with a 245-320W TEC and a northbridge block all on the same loop. . . But I'm also using a BIX III with 6 Panaflos (114CFM each). So it may depend ultimately on your water-cooling setup. . .

But I really don't think you would have problems with a 172W TEC on your card unless your watercooling is really weak.