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Need some help with budget liquid cooling.

So I've got this GTX 295 and it gets up to 100C, even with the fans at 100% speed, and there's not much more I can do to maximize airflow. So, I need liquid cooling. The highest I saw my CPU go was 64C while playing Bad Company 2, which is CPU demanding, so im not that worried about my CPU right now, only my GPU, and I need to get this for as little as possible; while still being good quality.

The 295 water block is already 200 bucks, and I really cannot go over 400, and I would love not to go over 300. Water Block >>> http://www.dangerden.com/store/dd-gtx295-block.html

Now, I've read a lot about water cooling but im still not 100% on how all this pump and radiator and reservoir stuff works. I have a full tower, AZZA Solano 1000 case, and I don't have much room, so I'm going to need a external pump/radiator/reservoir.

I found this on FrozenCPU >>> http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10090/ex-rad-174/Swiftech_MCR320_Drive_Triple_120mm_Radiator_Reservoir_w_MCP350_Pump_Combo_MCR320-Drive.html?tl=g30c107s1076#blank

From what I understand it's everything all in one, which to me would make everything way easier. Having something like that for a lower price would be amazing.

I'm just looking for someone to point me in the right direction, because frankly, im totally lost.


Thanks in advance for the help.
7 answers Last reply
More about need budget liquid cooling
  1. i dont see why you want to cool your card for... this card was made to run hot like that and if you want a card that will run cooler then you should spend it towards a cooler vid card instead of watercooling it.

    i just dont see $400 cooling a card that is ment to run hot.

    my recommendation to you is just wait till a company comes out with a GTX
    295 air cooled heat sink. they make backplates that are vented to allow for more heat transfer so that might help?
  2. sell the 295, use the money you would have spent on watercooling on a cooler card?

    like a 5870?
  3. Thats pretty hot for 100 percent fan, how long you had it? Always run that hot?

    Gunked up with s@#t maybe?

    Got 2 spare drive bays in the top of that case, look at this:
    http://www.thermaltake.com.au/Products/LiquidCoolingSystem/CL-W0121/Bigwater760i.aspx

    Doesnt get any easier, around the $150 mark, will handle your cpu as well as the card.

    (To the above posters)
    Sometimes the challenge itself is more rewarding than the end result.
    I get as much enjoyment out of pulling my computer to bits as using it.
    Im guessing this bloke fits that bill also.
  4. ^Bump Tonka, I dont much care that it 'works well', I prefer it to work as I wanted it to :) that kit does look ok though, /temptation rising to dabble in the W/c realms :P
  5. tonkatuffmofo said:
    Thats pretty hot for 100 percent fan, how long you had it? Always run that hot?

    Got 2 spare drive bays in the top of that case, look at this:
    http://www.thermaltake.com.au/Products/LiquidCoolingSystem/CL-W0121/Bigwater760i.aspx

    Doesnt get any easier, around the $150 mark, will handle your cpu as well as the card.

    (To the above posters)
    Sometimes the challenge itself is more rewarding than the end result.
    I get as much enjoyment out of pulling my computer to bits as using it.
    Im guessing this bloke fits that bill also.


    first off TT bigwater is a really crappy WC kit. you claim that it can cool a cpu AND a card thats already hitting 100c?? are you crazy or something? a small 120mm single rad is going to pull the heat from a cpu and a really hot card...plus why would you put a cpu and a gpu in the same loop? are you wanting to dump the heat from you gpu into your cpu?

    further more the gtx 295 waterblock is at least $150 by itself dude.

    if you want lower temps on your vid card try lapping it or applying better TIM on it instead of the stock stuff. if you really want to lower temps then its better to put the $400 u would use on watercooling on a way better vid card that doesnt run as hot. or another card that has better aftermarket stuff. the 295 has almost zero air cooled or passive upgrades.
  6. the two things that the OP suggested would work great compared to teh bigwater. if you want to go into watercooling just type in bigwater into the tomshardware search and you'll find out that alot of people that've bought it before are always disappointed.
  7. That's weird .... my son has a factory OC'd "ftw" card (was $5 more than stock card) and he doesn't see anything near that ..... for the most part fan speed hovers around 45% but we've tried setting it to stay at 80% above which point it becomes audible.

    He's using an Antec 1200 case w/ the optional case window and "back of HD cage" fans blowing across card .... what's your setup like ?

    This is a cooler I often recommend but as of yet there's no solution from Prolimatech for twin GPU cards.

    There are / were vendor specific "back plates" that were available to help cool the cards

    http://forums.ncix.com/forums/index.php?mode=showthread&forum=101&threadid=1950505&pagenumber=1&msgcount=8&subpage=1&product_id=36042
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