The Best Way To Cool Video Cards.

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Keiki646

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Hello everyone , I am here to give some heads up on some best ways to cool any video card GPU.

Well the other day I was thinking about buying a water cooling system and I have came across a idea that
I should have done since the first time I started to build this machine system.

Adding some Arctic Sliver 5 compound Thermal to the GPU helps alot. Most of the time the compound that is already
on the GPU is stock thermal and always not the best thing when playing games at extreme levels.

Removing the stock thermal of the GPU will most likely be the best solution and adding some of the best compound thermal grease
out there. Also note that to order to get the best results buying a water cooling can me better but in this state for some that is just using Cooling Fans from 80MM to 240MM

It's best that you have a good amount of fans that are more than 2500RPM and a cooling Video card fan like the VGA cooling fans

1) Vantec Spectrum Fan Card 70mm PCI Slot Case Cooler from 2000RPM to 4000RPM
This PCI fan is great and I can get 4000RPPM with this fan but note that it maybe a little loud. (I have this item)

But what ever you choose in VGA cooling it's best to get more than 2700RPM to 6900RPM

So as the few days have gone by I notice a big change in the GPU temp, now
ATi 3650XT HD 1GB 512Bit GDDR3 Video card ICEQ Turbox3

The Max temp was before adding the Artic Silver 5
Value 55C Min 58C Max 63C

Now with the Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Value 45C to 48C Min 42C Max 55C

Now you see the differnce in the compound?

Also to make this happen I am running Four 120MM fans at 2500RPMs , Two 80mm fans at 2700 RPMs also the Vantec fan pci at 4000RPMs (Note) make sure you have more than 550Watts or higher for muilt-Fans)

Now my CPU temp is at 28C to 31C, System Temp is 27C to 29C, hard drive temp is 30C to 33C
This is without any water cooling system install. Also you have to take in count that you must have good air flow in your room or
where you have your PC tower in. Windows make up the air flow around your house.

Also I did a trick with the AC and wow, with the AC on for 3 hours playing Crysis

CPU temp was 21C, System temp was 19C and HD Temp was 21C

Video Card temp was Value 28C Min 25C and Max was 31C.

Yes I have a AC in my computer office room where me and my Fiance work in.

very hot temps in the summer time here in Midwest.


This solution work for me and I don't have to spend money on a watercooling fan.
Just look for the right fans with very good RPM speeds but if you are looking for water cooling systems
and you have that money to spend I say go for it. it's the best way to do everything right. This post if for the
gamer that can't or don't have money to buy a water cooling system.

Thank you for reading

Name is Keiki
 
blacksci

blacksci

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If your pumping air, or funnelling it from a regular house ac, beware, there is a lot of moisture in that air, and it will start to corrode any exposed metal that it can get to....
 
ovaltineplease

ovaltineplease

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I just wanted to pull this out because there can be some issues with this.

VGA cooling fans can be pretty nice for single slot cards, but for dual slot coolers that exhaust air out of the case it is kinda superfluous if you already have intake fans on the front of your case.

Its really a judgment call a lot of the time and it will depend on your case layout / gpu as to whether you should use vga coolers or not.

All in all, I do think that you provide some good information; although nothing most other enthusiasts don't already know :p

In regards to watercooling:

I never really have gotten the point of watercooling on video cards, it always seemed more likely that you would hit a chip/architecture limitation long before you would hit a thermal limitation; I think watercooling is alright on CPUs because they are so heat sensitive - but on gpus, if the gpu has a good quality dual slot cooler than I don't think water is going to make a monumental difference.

Thats just opinion though, I don't own WC system nor do I plan to~
 
G

Guest

Guest
the reason for having water cooling on GPU's is to make it more stable when its at Load and to just reduce the amount of heat that the card is holding onto
 
TheGreatGrapeApe

TheGreatGrapeApe

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Personally I would recommend most people use Arctic Ceramique or AC MX2 when working around the GPU.
AC5 is great, but the saety of no conductivity is a nice benefit.

As for the AirCon trick, that's all well and good, but nothing beats putting your PC beside the opend vented window on a -55C dry Calgary winter day. [:thegreatgrapeape]

Best OC I ever got on the old 9600 was during a Thunder Blizzard (very rare) my home office was at about 4C (on purpose) to help the OC effort. [:thegreatgrapeape:6]
 
ovaltineplease

ovaltineplease

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Yea, I gotta say thats pretty hardcore, lol

I bet that beat any damn watercooling you could throw at it huh.
 
K

Keiki646

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I understand that but everyone has an AC in thier house and there is nothing wrong with having it in the office room

Yes there is alot of moisture in the air but that moisture isn't bad for the pc, the AC is about 8 feet away from the computer and it's only pulling the cool air. In this case it will not corrode any hardware in the PC. I can say if the AC was in front and 1 feet for the pc but it's not. Not going to do any harm to the rig.

Note that I am not dumping air into the pc fans or funnelling the air into the pc, the AC is just in the windows in the office.
I always run my AC on hot days because the temp in the house here in Wisconsin I have heard get very hot. The weather here get very hot and I am from NYC so I was told beware of alot of hot moisture air in apts in house. so Pretty much my home is very clean and have vent fiters in. Hot air is the worst than cool air
 
K

Keiki646

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Yes I have notice that as well in the winter, CPu and GPU temps go down alot in the winter time.
 
K

Keiki646

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Pretty good idea
 
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