Thoughts and help water cooling GTX 480 SLI

[ratatatatat]

Hey friends,

 

It's winter in Australia and owning 2 GTX 480's in SLI is quite rewarding, the temps are reasonable and the fans aren't blazingly distracting. I am a pretty happy buyer. When my heater goes on and the room temp gets about 25 degrees c, thats a different story. Watching a blu-ray 70 degrees c, playing Bad Company 2 85 degrees c, playing The Witcher 75 degtrees c, playing Aion 70 degrees c...... Thats with room temps at 25! Imagine the 40+ degree days we are gauranteed to get this year? I HAVE to water cool. I have a Corsair Obsidian 800D case, which is a relief. I know nothing about setting up a water cooling rig. I have decided to go with EK stuff all the way pureley because it looks good and its reasonably priced. Here is what I have decided on so far.

 

EK-FC480 GTX - Acetal+Nickel

EK-DCP 4.0 (12V DC Pump)

EK-CoolStream RAD XT 240

EK-Reservoir for DCP 4.0

 

What I would really appreciate, is some assistance with fittings, tubing, coolant and the loop setup. What fittings go where and which fitting are best? Also, what size tubing will I need?A And what size fittings etc etc.

 

Oh and the thermal grease for a GPU? Any thoughts?

 

 

I know you guys will smash this and I am looking forward to your educated opinions.

 

Thanks

[Drdeath]

EK makes top notch hardware. Use non conductive TIM on GPU namely Artic Ceramic. I would think about a 120.3 rad(trip 120mm). Distilled water with PT Nuke for coolant. 1/2 tubing would be OK. I use Python tubing but there is a lot to choose from. Bitspower makes good compression fittings.

 

Here is a rad size guide for heat dissapation:

 

120.1 = 150W

120.2 = 300W

120.3 = 450W

120.4 = 600W

Edited August 24, 2010 by Drdeath

[ratatatatat]

EK makes top notch hardware. Use non conductive TIM on GPU namely Artic Ceramic. I would think about a 120.3 rad(trip 120mm). Distilled water with PT Nuke for coolant. 1/2 tubing would be OK. I use Python tubing but there is a lot to choose from. Bitspower makes good compression fittings.

 

Here is a rad size guide for heat dissapation:

 

120.1 = 150W

120.2 = 300W

120.3 = 450W

120.4 = 600W

Sweet, cheers. So have you got any idea what barbs I will need? And how many? What about the loop structure? Any help would be awesome. Thanks mate. I am a total novice to watercooling.

[ccokeman]

You definitely want to use more than a 240 rad. That would be hard pressed to cool just the cards.

 

EK makes some really nice blocks

[ratatatatat]

You definitely want to use more than a 240 rad. That would be hard pressed to cool just the cards.

 

EK makes some really nice blocks

 

 

Ok sweet. I'll go with the EK-CoolStream RAD XT 360

 

What about fittings though? Any suggestions?

[ratatatatat]

Oh and what are the 'top pumps' for? Will it be necessary to have one of these? Thanks again.

[Drdeath]

Ok sweet. I'll go with the EK-CoolStream RAD XT 360

 

What about fittings though? Any suggestions?

 

 

Bitspower makes barbs and compression fittings. 1/2 inch will be fine.

 

If you plan to cool CPU amd 2 x GPU's you need 2 loops and 2 rads. If just the GPU x 2 , 1 loop.

 

 

 

Pump>>>GPU>>>>GPU>>>>>RES>>>>>RAD

Edited August 24, 2010 by Drdeath

[ratatatatat]

Bitspower makes barbs and compression fittings. 1/2 inch will be fine.

 

If you plan to cool CPU amd 2 x GPU's you need 2 loops and 2 rads. If just the GPU x 2 , 1 loop.

 

 

 

Pump>>>GPU>>>>GPU>>>>>RES>>>>>RAD

 

 

How about this?

cooling.bmp

[Drdeath]

How about this?

 

 

That will be good actually better than my layout. The pump does dump a little head back in the loop. it is minimal but Rad...GPU is a bit better.

[ratatatatat]

That will be good actually better than my layout. The pump does dump a little head back in the loop. it is minimal but Rad...GPU is a bit better.

 

 

sweet. thanks again buddy. Will have pics up within the next 2 months. Gonna set me back $800 for the setup:( but summer will be loud and hot otherwise.