Will a universal waterblock cool better than my 450w air-cooling monster on Windforce GTX 770?

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DTH

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Sep 15, 2013
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I have the GTX 770 WindForce 3X OC 4GB GDDR5 (GV-N770OC-4GD).

I'm wondering if a universal waterblock will offer better cooling than the 450W three-fan setup on it currently:



Any ideas?

Also I currently just have a single 360mm rad cooling my CPU, if a waterblock is recommended, should I add a second 360mm or a 240mm rad?

Thanks in advance!
 
Solution
manofchalk
If it can truly handle 450W, probably not or at least not significantly.
But, can it cool it in a sufficient manner while still staying quiet?

If you do decide to include it in the loop, get the biggest rad your case supports. No reason to stick a 240mm where a 360mm could go, you wont save that much cash and more rad space is always good as you can turn down fan speeds.
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manofchalk

manofchalk

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May 11, 2012
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If it can truly handle 450W, probably not or at least not significantly.
But, can it cool it in a sufficient manner while still staying quiet?

If you do decide to include it in the loop, get the biggest rad your case supports. No reason to stick a 240mm where a 360mm could go, you wont save that much cash and more rad space is always good as you can turn down fan speeds.
 
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DTH

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Sep 15, 2013
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Thanks for your reply. It seems to handle itself quite well, I have the GPU clocked at 1281Mhz currently and the memory clocked at 8000Mhz and it will not go over 65 degrees. In general it is quiet, until I turn the fans up to 90% for gaming... Then it sounds as though a jet is tied to a string inside my case, trying in vain to escape.

I can do a bit of hack 'n slash to fit a 360mm inside, the other will need to be mounted outside. However after you said I won't get any lower temps and it might even run hotter, I don't know if it's a good idea...
 
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4Ryan6

4Ryan6

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Apr 14, 2002
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A universal water block cooling solution for the pictured card is a cheap cooling solution that is going to be a problem child to setup.

That 3 fan cooler is not only cooling the GPU die or heat spreader but the memory chips and voltage regulators of the card, some have mounted the water block and still used the memory/voltage regulator heat sink plate from a traditional stock cooling setup, and supplied air flow over it to cool the memory and VRs.

The way that Gigabyte heat sink is designed you cannot do that so easily, but it more than likely already has ram sinks on the memory and VRs, so that's at least a benefit, you'll have to still find some way to use that 3 fan cooler but that massive heat pipe heat sink will be gone that it clips to.

Have you really thought this through?

A full coverage water block would be best, BUT, did Gigabyte use thermal adhesive to mount the ram sinks?

I don't Know?

Do you?

If they used Thermal Adhesive to make sure the Ram and VR Sinks stayed in place, they're permanently bonded.

No Offense DTH, Since you bought that Gigabyte 3 fan Heat Pipe cooled card, I suggest living with it, unless you think you have the skills to overcome all the problems, and if you had those skills you wouldn't be asking this question, you would just do it.

 
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DTH

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Sep 15, 2013
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Which is exactly why I came to you guys :)

I never even knew that there was such a thing as thermal adhesive...

Considering that there is no full coverage block made for this (and from what I read there will not be one made - possibly due to thermal adhesive being used??), and your guys sound advice, I will just keep it as is unless at some stage I can find out a plausible solution (that I would be able to do).

Thanks!
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

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May 11, 2012
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I definitely think you would get lower temps with a Water-block on it, just probably not a lot considering how beefy that air-cooling is.

I would think that there is no Universal Block because the card is using a non-reference PCB :p. Most of the time VRAM uses thermal pads.
If you still decide to go for the Univeral option, just try disassembling the card before you buy any blocks. That will find out if any VRAM sinks have been superglued on.
 
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4Ryan6

4Ryan6

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Excellent Advice! :)

 
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