Skinnee Labs - GTX480 Block Round-Up (working thread)

[skinnee]

well a 240 rad can handle a GTX 480 with ease so even a 360 should do really well.

define "with ease".

Temp wise, sure... but I'm seeing 10C Air to Water deltas across the radiator (Triebwerk Low's @ Full RPM, Push) in testing the blocks. 10C is my typical target... but the card is still able to plow through the heavy loads of each run.

[mk-ultra]

480 GTX and i7 in a single loop? ouch!

i have a 480 + i7 in a single loop and no ouch

[blazarcher]

i have a 480 + i7 in a single loop and no ouch

Yeah but wouldn't a dual loop be better for your CPU as the CPU's temps matter more. I mean, you could easily be running your GPU's @ 80C with no problems though obviously you wouldn't want to run it THAT high.

The CPU is VERY sensitive to heat so it has to be cooled without including the GPU as the GPU's produce A LOT more heat than the CPU.

Originally I thought a Single Loop would be best for my build. But if you want to really push your CPU to it's limits (Extreme O/C for benching, etc) than you should really go with a Dual Loop setup.

[Vapor]

Except in a few scenarios, I think single loop is the better option.

In addition to getting better CPU temps when CPU is loaded the most (i.e., when the GPU isn't loaded) and better GPU temps when the GPU is loaded (i.e., when the CPU isn't fully loaded), you also get higher flowrates and pump redundancy (if you're going to do dual loops, you need two pumps...might as well put those pumps in serial in a single loop).

Of course there are exceptions to the above depending on radiator and heatload balance, but people often forget that you also get the cooling power of both radiators when you go to a single loop, not just the additional heat of the other processor(s).

[blazarcher]

Except in a few scenarios, I think single loop is the better option.

In addition to getting better CPU temps when CPU is loaded the most (i.e., when the GPU isn't loaded) and better GPU temps when the GPU is loaded (i.e., when the CPU isn't fully loaded), you also get higher flowrates and pump redundancy (if you're going to do dual loops, you need two pumps...might as well put those pumps in serial in a single loop).

Of course there are exceptions to the above depending on radiator and heatload balance, but people often forget that you also get the cooling power of both radiators when you go to a single loop, not just the additional heat of the other processor(s).

lol please don't convince me to going Single loop AGAIN! What if your going with Dual DDC's for both loops? That would be better than a single loop with Dual DDC's (In serial or w/e). Though you can't really ignore the simplicity of a single loop.

[mk-ultra]

temps for gpu(stock) hits like 53, cpu no more than 75 on hottest core(4.5ghz) i have no problem with a single loop, but i have 3 rads tho.

80oc for a gpu is nothing, i don't know why people goes nuts on gpu temp like that, they can run 80+ all day long.

Most likely a dual loop would be better, but double pumps, more tubing going everywhere while single loop does the job perfectly, and i'm not the one to watch temps constantly, CPU/GPU can handle lots more heat than what a proper water cooling loop will let it see.

[ell]

Except in a few scenarios, I think single loop is the better option.

Interesting theory. My theory is by seperating the heat loads to two independent radiators you achieve better cooling and lower load temps

[JokerCPoC]

temps for gpu(stock) hits like 53, cpu no more than 75 on hottest core(4.5ghz) i have no problem with a single loop, but i have 3 rads tho.

80oc for a gpu is nothing, i don't know why people goes nuts on gpu temp like that, they can run 80+ all day long.

Most likely a dual loop would be better, but double pumps, more tubing going everywhere while single loop does the job perfectly, and i'm not the one to watch temps constantly, CPU/GPU can handle lots more heat than what a proper water cooling loop will let it see.

Since I crunch at Seti@Home, It's been said that 80c is the upper limit for crunching on a video card, sorry It's a bit general, But I can't remember more.

@ Skinnee, Nice thread, I'll be awaiting Your results, I'm currently in process of building a fully water cooled PC w/3 GTX470 cards and an i5 750 cpu in a HAF-932 case and in two loops. But Its going to be a while before I can do much as I have the A/C in the Car to fix first, Buy some ram, etc, etc, etc... and I can't do all of what I'd like to do all at once, As I'm a disabled person living on a fixed income from the SSA.

[blazarcher]

Since I crunch at Seti@Home, It's been said that 80c is the upper limit for crunching on a video card, sorry It's a bit general, But I can't remember more.

@ Skinnee, Nice thread, I'll be awaiting Your results, I'm currently in process of building a fully water cooled PC w/3 GTX470 cards and an i5 750 cpu in a HAF-932 case and in two loops. But Its going to be a while before I can do much as I have the A/C in the Car to fix first, Buy some ram, etc, etc, etc... and I can't do all of what I'd like to do all at once, As I'm a disabled person living on a fixed income from the SSA.

That's gonna be real interesting. But then there comes the whole 2x GTX 480 vs 3x GTX 470's. I believe the GTX 480's comes out on top.

[ScottALot]

After seeing the AquaGrafix build... does anyone want to make a thread on watercooling component creation?

[JokerCPoC]

That's gonna be real interesting. But then there comes the whole 2x GTX 480 vs 3x GTX 470's. I believe the GTX 480's comes out on top.

For games Yes, But since I don't play too many games, The cards are mainly for crunching Seti WU's(CUDA), they'll be in Parallel of course with Koolance blocks on the P7P55D Pro that's in My sig, I have to buy a bigger psu than the Enermax 1050w Revolution 85+ psu that I have in the case now, But that will until about August, On top of that I want to save up for a larger house in a cooler climate near where I used to live in 2004, As It's 107F(42C) outside and 80F(21.5C) inside, It would be nice If someone would buy the Mobilehome I live in and own, As the market looks pretty flat out here(dismal in fact for the moment), So once I have enough saved up and I can get an offer in writing from the park(I rent the land under My mobilehome), I can then apply for a mortgage with the down payment assistance program from the city I want to move back to and then I can move out of here at long last.

[blazarcher]

For games Yes, But since I don't play too many games, The cards are mainly for crunching Seti WU's(CUDA), they'll be in Parallel of course with Koolance blocks on the P7P55D Pro that's in My sig, I have to buy a bigger psu than the Enermax 1050w Revolution 85+ psu that I have in the case now, But that will until about August, On top of that I want to save up for a larger house in a cooler climate near where I used to live in 2004, As It's 107F(42C) outside and 80F(21.5C) inside, It would be nice If someone would buy the Mobilehome I live in and own, As the market looks pretty flat out here(dismal in fact for the moment), So once I have enough saved up and I can get an offer in writing from the park(I rent the land under My mobilehome), I can then apply for a mortgage with the down payment assistance program from the city I want to move back to and then I can move out of here at long last.

I see, well that makes a lot of sense now. In all the reviews I've seen, the 3 GTX 470's came out in terms of synethic GPU tests. The Enermax 1050W will definitely be good enough. However, I think you should try out Corsair's recently announced, AX Series? Gold Series PSU's. You should aim for the 1200W version for future upgrades. The AX1200 is actually GOLD certified with over 90% efficiency. Either way, you'll be getting a great PSU.

[gabe]

Except in a few scenarios, I think single loop is the better option.

In addition to getting better CPU temps when CPU is loaded the most (i.e., when the GPU isn't loaded) and better GPU temps when the GPU is loaded (i.e., when the CPU isn't fully loaded), you also get higher flowrates and pump redundancy (if you're going to do dual loops, you need two pumps...might as well put those pumps in serial in a single loop).

Of course there are exceptions to the above depending on radiator and heatload balance, but people often forget that you also get the cooling power of both radiators when you go to a single loop, not just the additional heat of the other processor(s).

I fully and absolutely concur. I just verified it myself as I was testing for the Influence of flow rate on system temps article. In fact I do intend on publishing another data set soon on the subject matter. Excellent call vapor!

[JokerCPoC]

I see, well that makes a lot of sense now. In all the reviews I've seen, the 3 GTX 470's came out in terms of synthetic GPU tests. The Enermax 1050W will definitely be good enough. However, I think you should try out Corsair's recently announced, AX Series? Gold Series PSU's. You should aim for the 1200W version for future upgrades. The AX1200 is actually GOLD certified with over 90% efficiency. Either way, you'll be getting a great PSU.

Of course It does 100.4 Amps on the single 12v rail and that may be Max power(peak?), Besides My electric bill isn't huge($45-$55 a month), Even in the summer, I'm looking at a JonnyGURU reviewed psu, The Ultra X3 1600w psu, It has 117A, So It's closer to future proof and I do like to overclock(a lot), So I'll need the power and I know where I can lay My hands on one in August for what I can afford.

[zeroibis]

Interesting theory. My theory is by seperating the heat loads to two independent radiators you achieve better cooling and lower load temps

I use independent loops and have been very happy with the results.

[Guapa5000]

Hello everybody!

Great thread, Skinnee!

Could anyone who owns a Koolance VID-NX480 cooler tell me, which screws are used for mounting? M3 x 12 or something else?

Many thanks in advance.

[blazarcher]

Of course It does 100.4 Amps on the single 12v rail and that may be Max power(peak?), Besides My electric bill isn't huge($45-$55 a month), Even in the summer, I'm looking at a JonnyGURU reviewed psu, The Ultra X3 1600w psu, It has 117A, So It's closer to future proof and I do like to overclock(a lot), So I'll need the power and I know where I can lay My hands on one in August for what I can afford.

Don't even think about getting an Ultra/thermaltake PSU. They are both notorious for breaking down. Honestly, stick with Enermax or Silverstone when it comes to PSU's.

Ultra's 1600W PSU can't really output 1600W BTW and the Thermaltake PSU breaks down all the time.

[JokerCPoC]

Don't even think about getting an Ultra/thermaltake PSU. They are both notorious for breaking down. Honestly, stick with Enermax or Silverstone when it comes to PSU's.

Ultra's 1600W PSU can't really output 1600W BTW and the Thermaltake PSU breaks down all the time.

The HardOCP reviewed It and so did Driver Heaven and Hi-Tech Reviews, I've read the review of It at the HardOCP and Driver Heaven says It passed the FCC and is UL rated, So I'm satisfied.

Oh and I owned a Thermaltake 750w Toughpower, I never had a problem with It and I ran It 24/7 too, While an OCZ 700w psu had to be replaced, I'm still using that OCZ replacement psu, It's a 900w psu of course.

[Aedubber]

I dunno i had a very bad experience with ULTRA PSU was a 1000 watt with all the passes , stickers, good reviews bla bla.. It didnt handle my setup so i ditched it and picked up a Corsair HX850, have never had any problems since. I tried using the ULTRA PSU on an older comp i have and it ended up just dieing. Go with a product thats reliable , highly used, and known. Reviews are just smoking mirrors

[blazarcher]

I dunno i had a very bad experience with ULTRA PSU was a 1000 watt with all the passes , stickers, good reviews bla bla.. It didnt handle my setup so i ditched it and picked up a Corsair HX850, have never had any problems since. I tried using the ULTRA PSU on an older comp i have and it ended up just dieing. Go with a product thats reliable , highly used, and known. Reviews are just smoking mirrors

See Joker, this is exactly the kind of experience that you'll have if you blindly believe that Thermaltake and Ultra make great PSU's. Honestly the only thing good about Ultra products are there "something-flex" cables. As for Thermaltake, I don't really have much to say except that I know a few people who have had bad experiences with their PSU's. Not to mention many people seem to believe Thermaltake = . I don't know about the last bit but their watercooling solutions are just that, .

[JokerCPoC]

See Joker, this is exactly the kind of experience that you'll have if you blindly believe that Thermaltake and Ultra make great PSU's. Honestly the only thing good about Ultra products are there "something-flex" cables. As for Thermaltake, I don't really have much to say except that I know a few people who have had bad experiences with their PSU's. Not to mention many people seem to believe Thermaltake. I don't know about the last bit but their watercooling solutions are just that.

Look just cause I had a Thermaltake at one time, Doesn't mean I was going to buy one, As I didn't say I was going to, ok? Thank You.

[JokerCPoC]

I dunno i had a very bad experience with ULTRA PSU was a 1000 watt with all the passes , stickers, good reviews bla bla.. It didnt handle my setup so i ditched it and picked up a Corsair HX850, have never had any problems since. I tried using the ULTRA PSU on an older comp i have and it ended up just dieing. Go with a product thats reliable , highly used, and known. Reviews are just smoking mirrors

Ok, But I'm still going to get It, As all psu makers have had bad psus and some people will overload theirs(most of the time You only see those who have a problem, Not those who don't), Heck I overloaded a 300w psu that was in My HP PC by just adding a USB wireless device to the PC(I'd removed a 56K modem which I thought would do, It didn't, There was only one other thing to remove, A TV Tuner card, Which I need in case the lamp for My 57" TV dies as their a $90 part to replace), I had to shoehorn a used/abused Corsair 850w TX psu into the case(after repairing a fan blade abused cable), And HP objected a lot to that when I called them, As if the PC was still under warranty(which had passed away in 2007), I'd thought I could put a better video card in It, But cause HP didn't allow for a different video card, The Bios will not shut down the built in one, So the HP PC remains a Media Center PC w/an ATi chipset, MSI made the motherboard of course and a Bios replacement with an MSI Bios could be done as their both available(a replacement motherboard with a socketed Bios would be easier and more costly), But It needs a socket to be installed and I'm not good enough to install a PLCC socket.

Here's the inside of an X3 1600w psu:


The X3 has two fans an 80mm in the rear and a 135mm on one of the sides. The picture above came from the 2000w thread.

The PSU that was the X3 2000W...(Later became the X3 1600w psu)

The quote below came from this closed thread: X-3 1600W now for sale. Can we get a review?

Let's put it this way... I suggested Andyson as an OEM to them and I helped redesign the modular interface (although I wanted the locking five pin connectors all of the way across.)

Someone in the company wanted a 2000W showpiece for CES and it was done. Same size housing, actually. After seeing the sample and seeing how "non-prototype" it looked, they said to go production. UL wouldn't approve it, but the tooling for the housing was already bought, so they went with a 1600W unit and used the extra space inside the housing as an excuse to improve thermals, efficiency, regulation, etc.

Don't get me wrong.. it's a nice PSU. Andyson did a helluva job on it. I love the big ol' 12g wire going from the main PCB to the modular interface. And the fans are tuned really well. I just don't like the idea of a PSU that large. I mean... nobody needs it. At all. Ever. It's pure excess. I'm not that kind of guy. I drive a Hyundai, not an Escalade.

It's good endorsement, Just cause He had no reason for the psu back then, doesn't mean time hasn't caught up, But technology has. 12G wires are a very good sign and aren't anything to sneeze at.

[Church]

innocently whistling ..

[DarthBeavis]

WTF do PSU manufacturers have to put crap on the end of the cables making sleeving a pain in the arse? Antec put freaking caps on the end of their 1200 watt true power. WTF.

[shazza]

Hey guys - this thread is about GPU block testing - please take the PSU discussion the appropriate place.