Lets Get Extreme! PhysX watercooling with Pics !

[jayhall0315]

Well, I suck at posting photos evidently and I've got a lot to do this weekend but in preparation for some more Showdown at High Noon articles coming out next week, I thought you guys might like a few shots of my attempts to watercool and even overclock a PhysX card (just dont let Ageia know that I reverse engineered their drivers).

The top photo shows the BFG PhysX card with a custom drilled 8800 mounting bracket for use with the MCW60 block, and the bottom pic is obviously, this suckka getting put to the test. We'll see what she is capable of Captain, when I get around to punching out the Showdown Part III or IV article next week.

Have a good weekend,
Jay

If you are really extreme, you never let informed facts or the scientific method hold you back from your journey to the wrong answer

[sick_g4m3r]

lol thats cool!

[IanY]

That's great! Unfortunately, the silly card that I bought is good only for GRAW and even then it causes stutter. Pity the card was never really useful.

[jayhall0315]

That's great! Unfortunately, the silly card that I bought is good only for GRAW and even then it causes stutter. Pity the card was never really useful.

Yeah, it can cause stutter. Some of that has been corrected with the newer drivers and some of that is the way in which the API offloads information. Just like there are individuals out there who reverse engineer the ATI or Nvidia packages for more speed/overclocking, I would do the same but unfortunately, I would be scared to release my driver package for legal reasons.
This card really has alot of potential, but it is hard to persuade developers to learn a new API (especially with all the attention that it takes to write DirectX 10) and when everyone can slough off this to,"well, we wont need that since we will just write code that better optimizes dual and quad core; those will be our savior".

Time will tell, but for now, we are at Xtreme Systems, so might as well go extreme and put this fart simulator/cloth renderer/fluid juicer to the test. Oh, and watercool it, while we are at it !!!!!!!!! Yeah.

Jay

[IanY]

Is it hard to get the holes aligned for the G80 bracket? I would like to try to water cool that as well

[jayhall0315]

Is it hard to get the holes aligned for the G80 bracket? I would like to try to water cool that as well

Hey Ian,
Just use the old painter's/carpenter's trick: masking tape.

1 Remove the crappy and loud 40 mm fan and airsink (CPOS).
2 Clean the PPU with acetone (gently) and then alcohol
3 Buy the MCW 60 with the 8800 mounting plate. Take the plate out and align it so that the PPU is exactly in the center of the big square hole interior of the 8800 mounting plate.
4 Now gently, without bumping the mounting plate, apply masking tape to the top and bottom of it and then roll down onto the card (so the mounting plate cannot move and is now taped to the card).
5 Turn over the card, take out a Sharpie marker, look to where the two mounting holes are and place your sharpie there (your Sharpie will now be touching the back side of the mounting plate thru the card) and mark them.
6 Turn the card back over, remove the masking tape and pick up the 8800 mounting plate and turn it over. You will now see the two black marks you made with your sharpie.
7 Get a powerful drill with a sharp carbide bit and get to work.
8 Apply AS5 to the PPU and mount like a normal waterblock (dont need much tightening here, the PPU only puts out maybe 40 watts and has no IHS, so be careful).

Turns out great,
Jay

[mjassbong]

Now that's cool and Xtreme. Now am inspired to watercool my SCSI controller It does run really really hot.

[jayhall0315]

Now that's cool and Xtreme. Now am inspired to watercool my SCSI controller It does run really really hot.

Mjassbong,
You already have the damned coolest rig on the planet. No need to show up us mere mortals any more !!!!!!!!!!

Jay

[IanY]

Thanks Jay.. I've got nothing to lose here.. the PPU is unused anyway lol

[IanY]

mjassbong,

Ahh.. but you need to step up to serial attached scsi first lol

[mjassbong]

Mjassbong,
You already have the damned coolest rig on the planet. No need to show up us mere mortals any more !!!!!!!!!!

Jay

Well you said it yourself, "...we are at Xtreme Systems, so might as well go extreme"

mjassbong,

Ahh.. but you need to step up to serial attached scsi first lol

IanY, that would be a giant leap I can't make. My wallet wouldn't allow it.

While on the subject of PhysX, any one of you trying out GRAW2?

[jayhall0315]

Well you said it yourself, "...we are at Xtreme Systems, so might as well go extreme"



IanY, that would be a giant leap I can't make. My wallet wouldn't allow it.

While on the subject of PhysX, any one of you trying out GRAW2?

Yeah, Mjass,
I guess you could upgrade to SA SCSI or you could be the only person on the Earth to run PhysX SLI (joking). It is the only thing that could better your rig from the point it is at now (lol).

Jay

[IanY]

Well you said it yourself, "...we are at Xtreme Systems, so might as well go extreme"



IanY, that would be a giant leap I can't make. My wallet wouldn't allow it.

While on the subject of PhysX, any one of you trying out GRAW2?

Sorry I'm so out of it... there's a GRAW 2 out ? Probably with an even steeper playing curve lol Its so darn difficult !

[jayhall0315]

Sorry I'm so out of it... there's a GRAW 2 out ? Probably with an even steeper playing curve lol Its so darn difficult !

Ian,
Yeah, GRAW 2 is out and it does make better use of the PhysX API than the original and is about the same difficulty. I do not have that much time in on the game yet due to lab responsibilities, but I am working my way to this island in the game that supposedly in entirely for players with a PhysX card. So, we shall see.
It does use the PhysX better than the original, but not by leaps and bounds (although, the explosions are the best of ANY game I have played and that is due to the PhysX card).

Jay

[Agent11]

..Is it possible to overclock a ppu?

[`danny]

That would be ideal but the GTXs would be probably atleast $800

[elfy]

haha i love this, and the idea of w/cing a scsi card. "hmmm i was bored so i put a waterblock on my 18w DDC"

[jayhall0315]

Hey Elfy,
Yeah, when I started out watercooling, all I did was the CPU and GPU. But then, I got tired of hearing the small crappy 40 mm fans which spin at 5000+ rpms on the Northbridge or Southbridge and decided those had to go as well. When I got this PhysX card as a gift at Christmas it came with a cheap POS 40 mm fan as well, and well, you know, I am a watercooler, so had to remedy that situation as well.

Guess that makes me a nut,
Jay

BTW Elfy, who is the lady in your Avatar. Is that Sophie Marceau (smoking hot!) ?

[elfy]

lol i know what you mean, i have most of the bits in my case(s) w/c, hence the sig

dunno who the avater is, i knicked it from another forum (shhh)

now i've thought about it would be interesting to w/c the pumps

[jayhall0315]

By the way, if you want massive power at 20 dBa. Here is how to do it:

1 - Buy the Thermaltake 1200 Toughpower (which absolutely no one would ever need but does include only one fairly quiet 140 mm YL fan).
2 - Carefully crack the unit open.
3 - Remove the stock fan and replace it with this: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=20771
4 - Now undervolt the fan to 7 volts before it reaches the PCB
5 - Remove the crap plastic shorting strips, cut them and then glue two patches to the side to prevent shorts (if not removed, your PSU will whine over 700 ~ 800 watts load)
5 - Rescrew the fan to the top and reinstall carefully. While your at it, put some heatshrink on the wires coming out of the Toughpower.
6 - Now listen to that monster go at only 17 ~ 20 dBa! (of course your exhaust temps will now run 49 deg C instead of 44 at 350 watts load, but still not bad)

Caveat: I would only do this mod though if you plan on drawing 700 watts or less from the Toughpower. If your really are in that 0.1% of people that has Quad SLI, 10 RAID 0 arrays and five water loops, just leave in the stock fan. It is not that loud, ~30 dBa.

Jay

Pic #1 - This is the replacement D14 SM-12 YL fan
Pic #2 - The replacement fan beside the TT Toughpower 1200 watt PSU
Pic #3 - The reinstallation is almost finished (You will not hear this baby now unless you put your ears three inches away)

[jayhall0315]

Hey guys,
Not trying to turn this into a PhysX forum but some of you were asking about how it might pan out down the road. Take a read here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3048

Fairly good article with some info on Havok FX and GPGPU.

Enjoy,
Jay

[Jedda]

Death to 40mm fans.
Get them before they get you. They're scheming to fry your gpu.

Jay,
If you're getting an order from PerfPC, get them to throw in some of the black three pin fan plugs they sell from AC Ryan.
Finishes off your black sleeving nicely.

[jayhall0315]

Yeah, when I first started overclocking about six/seven years ago, I always tried for high speed and low temps and damn the noise. And now, well, I have a fiancee, and she would like to have a baby some day. And it's hard to practice for projects like that if you have a damn whining sound in your head during such times.

Okay, seriously, my rig is primarily watercooled for absolute quiet and I never leave a 40 mm fan anywhere if I can help it. Once I got the Q6600, I had it up to 3.380 for about an hour or two and then I dialed it back down to 3.2, where it now comfortably rests. It runs a little bit high at 44 deg C, but then my rig is usually running about 20 ~ 23 dBa when the HDs dont seek too much.

Jay

[Jedda]

40mm packing up and frying gpu cost me three vid cards last year. I had to buy replacements in each case to keep the box running over the weeks involved in warranty claims.
Now they're thousand dollar cards, WC is cheap insurance against 40 mm attack, imho. Add in a 680i and it's a no-brainer.

[Monkeywoman]

(just dont let Ageia know that I reverse engineered their drivers).

what do u mean by "reverse engineering" their drivers?