Corsair H100 as GPU Cooler

[jwiechers]

I've just found myself with two Corsair H100s for an, originally, rather annoying reason.
My original supplier postponed shipment and said he wouldn't ship for another two weeks, so I bought it elsewhere, wanted to cancel with him, but it arrived this morning -- and now I thought I might go along with a nice mod and further quieten down my new system. The system will be an ASUS Z68, i7 2600k, 16gb of Corsair RAM, an EVGA GTX 580 SC+ and an OCZ Vertex3 480GB IOPS SSD mounted in a Corsair 800D (which arrived with a nick in the painting of one of the side doors, which I'll have to look into fixing up :[) and powered by a be quiet 850W psu (I wanted to use a corsair psu, but they weren't in stock :-[).

So, the H100, I'll obviously use in a four fan push-pull configuration to cool the CPU, and I'll probably need a couple more case fans in my 800D to ensure that the auxilliary chips on the mainboard stay frosty, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue, especially if I can also isolate the GPU heat by moving it quickly to another radiator.

I had originally been thinking of replacing the cooler of my EVGA SC+ GTX 580 with an Alpenföhn Peter heatsink and four 140mm fans, so it was already disassembled and I was just about to mount it when the postman came knocking.

My new plan -- and I'd really welcome a few comments on its feasibility and usefulness -- now looks like this:

* Adapt the brackets of the Peter for mounting the H100 or create some new brackets from steel (I saw that Jake Crimmins has done that, here, or rather, there)
* Mount the H100 onto the GPU chip, using the original plate of the GTX 580 for cooling the VRAM etc and replacing the rather small swath of cooling grease with new high performance grease.
* In order to provide additional cooling for the VRAM, mount the holding bracket for the Peter's fans and install four slow-turning 140mm fans to add additional cooling capacity, increasing air pressure and loudness slightly. If they can be removed without compromising the cooling, I can do that later.

One major question that remains is, whether this actually cools the GTX580 better than the Peter alone would.
I may be blind, but I haven't found a quantification of the H100s thermal dissipiation levels to compare it with the Peter's; I suspect it may be slightly higher given the respective radiator designs, but would really welcome a qualified comment.

So, what do you think? :-D

Regards,

Jens

[CrazyNutz]

I would expect the h100 would do a very good job at cooling the 580. PNY has this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=REG&A=details
and I seen a review somewhere, the temps were really nice (like around 40-50c load)!

Also It's been my experience that GPU's respond very very well to WC.

[jwiechers]

I've been testing both out and have some interesting results...

I had planned to adapt the Peter's bracket, but opted to ask a friend with access to a professional CNC machine to cut new parts for mounting the H100. This meant it was pretty easy, but it doesn't really look "stock" right now.

Results are mixed, under maximum load, the heat levels for both, even when heavily overclocked (875/1750 & 2050) pan out at around 55°C, but the reduced cooling of the auxilliary components of the GPU (VRAM etc.) seems to negatively affect performance and stability (i. e.: I get a lot of "flashing light" artifacts at those settings and temperatures) when using the H100 much earlier then when using the Peter. This is rather expected, given the fact that the Peter's fans also cool the aluminium bracket that cools those components. I'm looking into using the 140mm fans and the Peter bracket for further testing, because that should alleviate those issues, but haven't had the time yet.
At normal speeds, temperatures aren't really worth talking about; around 40°Cs, even under very heavy load.

Disturbingly, H100 performance for my CPU isn't really all that good, even though it's cooled by four 100m³/h fans. It gets up to 70° in Prime and even crashes at settings just slightly above turbo settings of the 2600k (i. e. 4.0 Ghz). The entire system won't start at 4.2 Ghz, so I may have a faulty CPU unit, though...

[CrazyNutz]

I've been testing both out and have some interesting results...

I had planned to adapt the Peter's bracket, but opted to ask a friend with access to a professional CNC machine to cut new parts for mounting the H100. This meant it was pretty easy, but it doesn't really look "stock" right now.

Results are mixed, under maximum load, the heat levels for both, even when heavily overclocked (875/1750 & 2050) pan out at around 55°C, but the reduced cooling of the auxilliary components of the GPU (VRAM etc.) seems to negatively affect performance and stability (i. e.: I get a lot of "flashing light" artifacts at those settings and temperatures) when using the H100 much earlier then when using the Peter. This is rather expected, given the fact that the Peter's fans also cool the aluminium bracket that cools those components. I'm looking into using the 140mm fans and the Peter bracket for further testing, because that should alleviate those issues, but haven't had the time yet.
At normal speeds, temperatures aren't really worth talking about; around 40°Cs, even under very heavy load.

Oh yes, no doubt you'll need some air moving over the VRM, and Vram for sure. Did you leave the heat spreader/base on to help cool the vram, and VRM?

Disturbingly, H100 performance for my CPU isn't really all that good, even though it's cooled by four 100m³/h fans. It gets up to 70° in Prime and even crashes at settings just slightly above turbo settings of the 2600k (i. e. 4.0 Ghz). The entire system won't start at 4.2 Ghz, so I may have a faulty CPU unit, though...

That is really bad! For awhile I had a h50 w/1 120mm on my 2500k @ 4.5ghz and it did not get that hot.

[Yellowbeard]

If you get this going really well, post some pix.

[buradd]

PICS PICS PICS

do it already! lol

[Telo]

Regarding the CPU temps, try re-seating the block/pump. Also, how is the temp inside your case?

[Telo]

If you get this going really well, post some pix.

I thought someone at the Corsair forum already had done this, but with the single 120mm radiator model.

[andressergio]

If you get this going really well, post some pix.

guys i think you missed this
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...t-!&highlight=