Are GPU TECs worth the cash?

[Nomad]

Getting ready to setup my water rig and curious what results I would expect from regular water block vs a tec block. I know that the temps would be lower, but I read in another thread that the lower temps will not truly result in a higher core clock versus reg water block.

As I am buying every single part needed, saving some deniro would be nice, but I am going to spend it if it truly makes the difference.

Buying:

MCW50-T OR MCW50
MCW462-UT
300+GPH Pump (eheim or hydor)
DD Z Block for NB
Black Ice Xtreme rev2 Rad
Meanwell

The MCW50-T would run off the systems psu fine correct?

[IamAnoobieCheez]

yes.... peltier is far, far more powerful than just water. But it's not as easy as it sounds. It will take you a lot of work and care.

Two most important things:

Heat coming from your heat source, GPU core, must be cooled very effecitively otherwise your peltier cooling performance will go down drastically. At least keep the water/liquid as cool as possible. Warm water will benefit a little. Cooling the pelt will be the challenging work. Super cool your pelt, and your pelt will do you good.


Able to effectively remove heat from your peltier and giving sufficient power to your peltier. The performance of peltier is temperature and wattage dependent. Many tecs, 80watt for example, may be rated at 16V@ 8~ 8.5amps. Your PSU doesn't carry 16V line, but 12V. That will lower your peltier performance proportionately.

If you do both above, you will get maximum overclock out of your GPU till it reaches GPU chipset's ceiling. Volt modding would be unnecessary if you manage the temperture well below 0C.

If you don't, it may not be as good, but still going to be better than just a GPU water block cooling.


I had done some supercooling on the video card a while back, using 80watt pelt with GPU block on my GF3 ti200 with waterchilling method to cool off my pelt. Took some big work, but it paid off. Temps of -20~ -30C. 300mhz core out of a 255mhz that used be done on a regular HSF.

[mdzcpa]

Pelt cooling the vid card is well worth it. This is especially true if your already pelting the CPU as you do not want to be cooling your vid card with straight water on the same loop...the water is too warm and it is not effective. Pelting all blocks, or no blocks at all, on the same loop is a rule of thumb that should be followed.

That said, going from straight water to pelts netted some big gains for me on my Ti 4600 and R9700 pro....even without volt modding the vid cards.

The MCW50-T runs just fine off your standard ATX PSU...provided you have a good unit. Something above 350, and closer to 450 would be best.

For an interesting read , look HERE (http://www.liquidninjas.com/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=20). This is an article I did when I converted my Quiet Power case to pelt operation. I used many of the same parts as you have listed.

[Nomad]

Thanks fo ryou r replies guys...looks like pelt colling all the way. =)

Guess I better setup a resevoir as well...was just going to go with a good rad, but if super cooling is the mission,,then I need the res.

[Svenn]

I haven't tested my 9700 Pro on anything but the MCW50-T, but seeing as non-volt modded I can run at about 430/360 with no artifacts or lockups... I think it helps. I can't wait to get my soldering iron and mod this thing!