H2O 620 and 560Ti

[diellur]

Hi all. OK, so here’s the issue…right now, I have a single MSI GTX 560Ti GPU on my system, and I recently bought an Antec Kuhler H2O 620 to mod it for some simple water-cooling using the zip-tie method (have a Google). And it worked pretty well! However, when I ramped the card up on Furmark, I got a burning smell off of the GPU.

I shut down Furmark and the GPU seems fine so far (thankfully), and I went and put the stock TwinFrozr II cooler back on it while I investigated. Basically, I reckon it was either the VRMs or RAM which were responsible for the smell…and most likely the VRMs. Even on the stock cooling, the VRMs and RAM doesn’t have any cooling with the exception of the airflow from 2 TwinFrozr II fans. So what I think I need is a way of inducing an airflow over the GPU from a standard 120mm case fun. However, I have a 700D case and no easy place to mount one from…does anyone know of a rubber / plastic clamp that can be used to gently clamp onto the GPU PCB, which the 120mm can in turn be connected to?

 

[rubix_1011]

Moving this to the watercooling forum...we have a couple guys there that have done exactly the same setup. Also, read through the watercooling sticky in my signature below...there are some considerations when using a universal water block.

 

[diellur]

Thanks rubix_1011.

 

[boiler1990]

Wait, so are you running the Kuhler on your GPU? How exactly did you get that to work?

Also, you should probably have some heatsinks on there. Even that metal piece that sits on the VRAM/VRMs with the stock mount is significantly better (due to conduction) at cooling than no heatsink at all (I have a TFIII/Hawk 560Ti). You definitely need some sort of heatsink on those parts, or else you're going to keep burning them.

 

[rubix_1011]

You can mount any block to any surface provided you have a way to securely mount it and it covers the surface of the chip you want to cool. Hell, even using an entire roll of electrical tape and zip ties would work in a pinch.

@diellur- can you post pics of your setup of this?

 

[chesteracorgi]

When I modded my first GTX 470 I chose the Zalman aftermarket VF3000 F, and it has a configuration that had heatsinks on the VRM and RAM. By failing to cool the VRM and RAM during stress testing you risk your GFX card. The H20 620 may do well to cool the GPU, but the VRM and RAM needs cooling as well.

 

[rubix_1011]

Agreed- when using any universal cooler on a GPU, you'll want to ensure VRMs and vRAM are cooled via heatsinks and good airflow over them.

 

[diellur]

Wait, so are you running the Kuhler on your GPU? How exactly did you get that to work?

Zip-ties...I've taken the setup apart given the issues I was having with Furmark, but am planning on replicating it to test some cooling with 120mm fans I have in mind. I'll post pics when I get it redone (this weekend, hopefully). That aside, the mounting onto the GPU was very secure...idled at about 28 deg C.

Also, you should probably have some heatsinks on there. Even that metal piece that sits on the VRAM/VRMs with the stock mount is significantly better (due to conduction) at cooling than no heatsink at all (I have a TFIII/Hawk 560Ti). You definitely need some sort of heatsink on those parts, or else you're going to keep burning them.

I'd ordinarily agree, but the MSI 560Ti doesn't have direct contact...the main cooling comes from air convection from the fans. My plan is to get copper heatsink for the VRAM and VRMs, 1 or 2 120mm fans and a fan controller, then balance the settings.

When I modded my first GTX 470 I chose the Zalman aftermarket VF3000 F, and it has a configuration that had heatsinks on the VRM and RAM. By failing to cool the VRM and RAM during stress testing you risk your GFX card. The H20 620 may do well to cool the GPU, but the VRM and RAM needs cooling as well.

Couldn't agree more, with 20-20 hindsight! In truth, I forgot to order the VRAM heatsinks, but figured as they were uncovered it should be OK for a test. Completely overlooked the airflow from the stock fans, school-boy error! As it happened, I ran Furmark twice with the 620 mod on the GPU...the second time I got a much reduced burning smell and have had no smell since I put the stock cooler back on (Furmark has run fine since). Hopefully the damage is minimal...!

 

[boiler1990]

I'd ordinarily agree, but the MSI 560Ti doesn't have direct contact...the main cooling comes from air convection from the fans. My plan is to get copper heatsink for the VRAM and VRMs, 1 or 2 120mm fans and a fan controller, then balance the settings.

Do you have this metal piece on the VRAM/VRMs? I was saying that conduction into that bar is significantly better than convection/radiation directly from the VRAM/VRM chip surfaces. If you had any decent airflow, I'd figure the metal bracket could sustain normal cooling.

 

[rubix_1011]

...Or you could directly affix heatsinks to that bracket to further improve cooling.

 

[boiler1990]

I seriously thought about that when I was putting my heatsinks on. I was concerned that I would damage the chips if I tried to remove the heatsinks at some point.

 

[diellur]

I'd ordinarily agree, but the MSI 560Ti doesn't have direct contact...the main cooling comes from air convection from the fans. My plan is to get copper heatsink for the VRAM and VRMs, 1 or 2 120mm fans and a fan controller, then balance the settings.

Do you have this metal piece on the VRAM/VRMs? I was saying that conduction into that bar is significantly better than convection/radiation directly from the VRAM/VRM chip surfaces. If you had any decent airflow, I'd figure the metal bracket could sustain normal cooling.

Nope, nothing like that. Just the stock heatsink/fan combo which only makes contact over the GPU. So I'm guessing with aftermarket heatsinks and a 120mm fan, plus the water-cooler, I should be golden.

 

[rubix_1011]

So I'm guessing with aftermarket heatsinks and a 120mm fan, plus the water-cooler, I should be golden.

Yep, you'd be all set.

For reference: Tom's HW WC Sticky Universal water block additional info/FYI

 

[boiler1990]

Nope, nothing like that. Just the stock heatsink/fan combo which only makes contact over the GPU. So I'm guessing with aftermarket heatsinks and a 120mm fan, plus the water-cooler, I should be golden.

Interesting - that's definitely a difference between the TFII and TFIII coolers.

 

[diellur]

So I'm guessing with aftermarket heatsinks and a 120mm fan, plus the water-cooler, I should be golden.

Yep, you'd be all set.

For reference: Tom's HW WC Sticky Universal water block additional info/FYI

Sounds good...I've had a look at the link, so it's enough for me to commit to it. I'm going to remount the 620 either tonight or tomorrow (hopefully, work permitting) to see how a fan affects the temps so I'll send some pics in of the setup for those that are interested.

 

[rubix_1011]

Please do. This essentially would be similar to some of those LCS GPU coolers you can find for video cards, but potentially a bit cheaper if you DIY.

 

[diellur]

I mounted the 620 to the 560Ti last night, but was too tired afterwards to post. It went well, the zip-ties are holding the coldplate securely against the GPU as far as I can tell, and it's idling at 25 deg C right now so I'm guessing that's a good sign. I've not got the copper heatsinks for the VRAM or VRMs yet, but I'll be ordering that tomorrow...that Noctua fan is going full-tilt at the moment to counter the heat build-up (unfortunately countering the benefits of water-cooling in terms of system sound, but better safe than sorry). My plan is to also get a fan controller so I can find the balance between heat and noise. So far on Furmark, the 560Ti hasn't gone above 52 deg C (used to hit about 75 deg C if I ran it for a similar time).

Here are the pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64047525@N08/sets/72157628978202319/

Once I have the fan controller and heatsinks installed, I'll update the thread regarding my thoughts on balancing the fan speed for noise against temperatures.

My next challenge will be deciding upon a cooling layout for when I go SLI...

As I've said on Flickr, thanks to angel88888 of the Overclockers.net forums, who's own log of this mod gave me the idea to do this initially, and you fine folks for the questions answered on the heating issues I was having.

 

[Ryan Pants]

I mounted the 620 to the 560Ti last night, but was too tired afterwards to post. It went well, the zip-ties are holding the coldplate securely against the GPU as far as I can tell, and it's idling at 25 deg C right now so I'm guessing that's a good sign. I've not got the copper heatsinks for the VRAM or VRMs yet, but I'll be ordering that tomorrow...that Noctua fan is going full-tilt at the moment to counter the heat build-up (unfortunately countering the benefits of water-cooling in terms of system sound, but better safe than sorry). My plan is to also get a fan controller so I can find the balance between heat and noise. So far on Furmark, the 560Ti hasn't gone above 52 deg C (used to hit about 75 deg C if I ran it for a similar time).

i too have a 560ti, evga 2gb. i just bought the artic silver and was able to mount it with the provided equipment, installation took me about 6 hours cause some screws were difficult to screw in to say the least

my gpu doesn't get above 65c overclocked lightly to 931mhz 1075mv with k-boost for stability. playing guild wars 2 everything on max with med sub sampling at 1920x1080 res. 61 +fps. idles at 37c running 2 monitors