290 on Aquacomputer block.Is 120mm big enough?

[Smiffy]

Hi All
Fed up with the noise of this reference Sapphire 290.Intend to use the Aquacomputer full cover and backplate.
Given a suitable pump would a 120mm rad be enough or am I looking at 240mm or 280mm?
Ta for any inf.Great card but to loud when it ramps up.
Smiffy

[Circaflex]

Hi All
Fed up with the noise of this reference Sapphire 290.Intend to use the Aquacomputer full cover and backplate.
Given a suitable pump would a 120mm rad be enough or am I looking at 240mm or 280mm?
Ta for any inf.Great card but to loud when it ramps up.
Smiffy

Will this purely be a loop for the GPU only? You will be fine, dont expect huge overclocks though. I found this on a forum, http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh....php?t=1108488 and if you look at page #2, post #24 he had great success with this setup. Obviously a larger radiator will give you better results, but it will work

[Smiffy]

Thanks Circaflex.Yes purely GPU.Only space for 280mm rad and 1 120mm rad and not sure a Corei7 sandy at 5Ghz will
be ok on a single 120mm although wonder if a 280 would suffice for CPU and gpu?
Bonus.Just found out case will take a 140mm

Smiffy

[st0ned]

Just to add something in to the mix. A 290 will dump considerably more heat then your 5Ghz Sandy.

Your best option would be to use the two pumps, both rads (280 + 140) , CPU and GPU on the same loop.

[Smiffy]

Ta Stoned
So pump-280-GPU-pump-140-sandybridge?
Smiffy

[Smiffy]

Ta for help.
Ps not a watercooling expert.
Why two pumps?to overcome restrictive gpu block?
Smiffy

[Church]

Placement of pump should be thought of only along the lines 'behind reservoir'. No extra need to evenly distribute them in loop. Depending on pump type used (eg. from Laing or in general something with pressure >3m) and it's head pressure imho no need for two of them in most of average LC loops. It may give you extra peace of mind due extra redundancy though and maybe some coolness factor, but if extra cost of second pump and top is justified by that it's upto user. Performance wise rarely extra power of 2nd pump is needed. Sometimes importance of high flow gets overstated.
Back to rads, 1x120 is enough for gpu for gpu-only-loop, as even just that is way more then most stock gpu air cooling solutions that are highly limited with need to fit in 2-3 expansion slots dimensions and take in air from cramped space (even more so in SLI/CF configurations). If it's single loop, then it's worth to add up rad area, as while stable overclocks of gpu are less requiring temp wise, stable high overclock of cpu might benefit from lower temperature range, despite modern gpus often using more power & dumping more heat then cpus. Remember also that rad area should depend on your requirements of silence. The quiter you need, the bigger rads needed for same heat dissipation at lesser fan speeds/quieter cooling.

[Smiffy]

Silence please :-)
That's why I want to water cool the 290.The standard cooler is so loud.
Almost reminds me of the old Nvidia grass blower on the I think it was 580?
The Sandybridge sits at 60-65 deg c on a corsair H100.The 290 hits its 95 Deg
So if I stick with 280 or 240 for the GPU on top of the case and 240 thin in the front of the case for the cpu
Should I put the cpu first in the loop as it will raise the temps lower than the GPU.Soz I don't know much lads.
The last watercooling I did was a D Tek Fuzion on a Dual core opty at 3.1Ghz with an Iwaki MD15 with a 360mm Thermochill
I still have the iwakis in the loft but I remember they ran hot
Smiffy

[WiSK]

If the goal is to reduce noise, 120mm rad is plenty. Circaflex has the best example, linking where a 120mm rad is reducing temps of a 290X by 30C. If you consider that AMD designed their recent GPUs to run at 95C with stock air cooling, then under water you can even lower fan speeds until temps reach that point.

I think a lot of water coolers get hung up on trying to have all their components running under 60C or less, but is it really always necessary? Sure if you are overclocking/benching, lower temps bring stability. At stock speeds however, chips can run fine when hot even for years on end.

[Smiffy]

Thanks for all the info all.
So going by all the info supplied it should be reservoir-pump-140mm rad-gpu-280mm rad-cpu-reservoir
Dropping the temp of the 290 a little under load (and much quitter than the oem fan)
then cooling the water again for the cpu.
Will make a list of components and if its ok run it by everyone for approval
Ps would adding a mosfet block upset the plan much?
Ta all
Smiffy