Is liquid-cooling worth for my gtx 580

[hellfire24]

Hello everyone!!!
i want to ask you that is it a good decision to add LC to my gtx 580.i am having a MSI lightning xtreme gtx 580 3 gb GFX.
i am running it with stock(twinfrozer something)cooler.my temps get high after playing crysis warhead for 4~5 hours,dirt 3,hot pursuit 2010 and converting large videos.
i am having a thermaltake armour+ full tower.every fan is aftermarket high quality fan.PSU is coolermaster silent pro 1000w.cpu cooler is prolimatech megahalems rev.b with coolermaster sickflow fans.buying a gpu block for liquid cooling is a a good option?i dont want to overclock it very high.its almost enough for me.but i got no problem squeezing some extra power from it.something like this would be nice-
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2011/09/cooled-gtx-580-1-5gb-review/pny-xlr8-gtx-580-1-1280x1024.jpg

one more stupid question-can i use a pny gtx 580 liquid cooler on my card???if yes then from where i can get one??
thnx in advance

 

[nna2]

honestly, you may just wanna stick with the twin froster
liquid cooling as a bit of a hassle if youve never done it before(im guessing you havent?)
twin frosters arent too bad, just keep watch over your temps at first

 

[rubix_1011]

What temps are you seeing that are 'high'? 60-70C are very normal and fine. Anything above 80C, you should consider better airflow, 90C+, you have issues.

To be honest, those LCS coolers you see for CPUs and GPUs aren't all that great. They typically work better for CPUs as their TDP at load is usually about 1/2 that of GPUs.

 

[hellfire24]

thnx for your help.today i monitored my temps and i noticed 75~80 with fans at 80%.i pulled the fans at max and temps went down to about 72~77 avg.is there anything to worry about???.and yeah!! i never tried getting into liquid cooling but i will if it worth the time and money.is my case(thermaltake armour+ full tower) good enough???

 

[rubix_1011]

That is fairly average...does it have the side panel fan? Thinking that if you had some better airflow in your case, your temps would drop a bit.

Easy way to test: Pull your side panel and run a house fan on high blowing into the side of your case...re-run the same tests (game, benchmark, fold, etc)

If your temps drop this way, you have an airflow problem in your case and should consider better fans. If the temps remain the same/very similar, you can possibly look into alternative cooling options. This test also applies to CPU coolers as well.

 

[hellfire24]

wait a few minutes.

 

[hellfire24]

hardly 1~2c temp drop.my case has all aftermarket fans.for 120mm i am using coolermaster sickflows.noctua 140mm fans.230 mm fan is stock.by the way now my average temps are 70~75C.are they good???no worries???i have been playing crysis warhead since last two hours.everything maxed out.

 

[rubix_1011]

So, I am guessing you tried the test above and the 1-2C difference is what you are seeing? Most of us here run a full water loop that typically includes the GPUs, including me. I run SLI GTX 260's and at 100% load, they typically run 45C or so, depending on ambient. I think for these cards, 65C+ is common for load temps...maybe 70C+ at times. However, my temps are with a full water loop...not LCS coolers like you have linked above. I don't feel confident that a single 120mm rad can dissipate 244 watts at 100% load:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=gtx+580+TDP

I've done the math on a Swiftech MCR320 rad (one of the thinner 3x120mm rads) and is has a dimension of 410x128x34mm (1,784,320^3 mm total volume) 500 watts disspated with 2000rpm fans. The 120mm rad on that Asetek looks to be based on their 510LC CPU cooler, which is 120x120x?mm? (let's say 35mm just to make thickness the same as the MCR320). That means 120x120x35mm = 504,000^3 mm of volume on the radiator, which works out to be ~28.5% of the total surface area of the MCR320 radiator.

28.5% of ~500 watts = 142.4 watts able to be dissipated. TDP of the GTX 580 is ~244w @100% load.

 

[hellfire24]

solid knowledge man.very helpful.so what do you recommend???stciking wih twinfrozer or anything else?

 

[rubix_1011]

It really depends on your budget and what you want to do. I'm not as familiar with air coolers for GPUs, but that cooler is mentioned a lot...heard some decent things about it. Again, it all depends on your expectations, abilities and budget. The best thing for you might be to do nothing at all, if that is what you find out as your conclusion. I'd suggest Googling reviews on coolers as part of your research...might give you ideas on coolers you weren't already aware of.

 

[hellfire24]

thnk you.i have decided to stick with twinfrozer ATM.i will buy another 580 3 gb and sli them.at that time i will be watercooling them with EK gpu blocks and all.thnx for your input and time.