GPU cooling Question

[CrestfallenDesign]

Hey guys,

I've just recently finished my first CPU watercooling build in a NZXT phantom case and I am now looking into adding a GPU cooler to the mix. however, at the moment I am only running a single Radeon 6970 (Sapphirre Flex edition) and it soon will not be meeting my needs as i am planning to run three to four monitors someday.. the monitors will be 3 x 24" monitors at 1080p and a fourth 24" Wacom Cintiq 24HD. seeing as this will be the case i thought it might be better for me to upgrade to possibly 2x GTX 670s and wait untill then to buy some water blocks otherwise i may save up about a grand and see what the GPU companies have in store for me at that point in time.

Long story short, should i even worry about getting a GPU block now or wait until i get some better performing cards?

Crest

 

[amuffin]

The 6970 is a perfectly capable card. There's no need to even consider 2 670's as you really won't need an upgrade until the next few years. By then, Nvidia or AMD will most likely have an ENTIRELY new set of GPU's out and ready to go!

 

[super-smashman]

The missing variable here is which games are you playing and at what settings do you want.

There's not much to be gained by changing the cooler on your 6970 because 5% boost to your maximum overclock (which is being generous) wont take you from not meeting your needs to meeting them.

For multimonitor you definitely want to go SLI/CFX if you're playing anything more intensive than, say, Diablo 3.

I can tell you that two 680s SMASHES BF3 at ultra and holds 60+ fps... If you wanted to drop the cash for 670s they will not let you down.

 

[boiler1990]

A single GTX 670 will easily handle BF3 on full Ultra @ 1920x1080, so 2 670s or 680s should manage 3x1920x1080 nicely; however, the CPU will be the real determining factor in multiplayer and you should have a good quad core or better.

I would wait until you get your new setup before you worry about cooling - the newer Kepler cards use a relatively low amount of power compared to previous generation cards (the 670 runs at 170W TDP), so the number and size of the rads will most likely be smaller than what you would need for 2 6970s or the like.

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

Well i wont be running any games on the Cintiq as i'll really only be using that for graphics design purposes but im questioning whether a single 6970 will run three monitors for say, battlefield 3? im not a huge fan of the game but i would like to be able to run that at a nice res. I played the witcher the other day on maxed settings with a single monitor and i was getting lag. i thought a 6970 would at least be able to run that? i forgot to test what fps i was running at but a rough estimate would be probably high 30's to mid 40's, not the performance i expected from a mid-high end card :/

This is what i'm running:
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Motherboard
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3
Antec High Current Gamer 900W Power Supply HCG-900
Corsair Force Series 3 60GB SSD
Intel Core i7 960
TP-Link TL-WN951N Wireless N PCI Adapter
Sapphire Radeon HD6970 2GB Flex

Monitor:
LG E2341V-BN 23inch LED Widescreen Monitor

At the moment I have just the CPU underwater with a 360mm rad this is sitting at about 40-45c havent OC'd yet, im going to run a few more tests on temps in the next few weeks but back to the topic.

part of the reason I want to get my GPU underwater is to lower the temperature in my case as I have my rad on the roof of my NZXT Phantom with the fans set so they extract the air from the case. I understand that a low profile 360 rad wont cool both CPU and GPU and i'll have to have a crack at modding to accomodate a 240mm but for now im not really impressed with what i'm getting from my card, also im not sure what to call it but everynow and then i get a brief skitz from my card. as in, part of the screen will change colour breifly then go back to normal. any ideas on how to fix this?

[Edit]
Sorry i just had a mental blank, im getting artifacts, not really dramatic ones, but noticeable split second strips across the screen.

 

[rubix_1011]

Tearing or artifacts?

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

And cheers Boiler! ill definitely take that into account.

maybe i'll just sell a kidney and get the XSPC case i've been looking at and a whole new setup haha. I might wait out a bit, save up a good $3000 or so, sell my old one and get a new one. however, i'd like to eliminate my artifact problem before it gets any worse. I have a good feeling that my monitor could be the problem as the artifacts are very minor discolorations, ill try having a look for new drivers after work tonight and see if that helps me out.. after playing a good 4 or so hours of LOL on max its only getting up to around the high 40s to 50s degrees mark so heat shouldnt be a problem. however i understand it isnt a very thirsty game. if all else fails i might have a look into slightly underclocking the ram and see how i go.

[edit]
Getting Artifacts Rubix, as in discoloration in a strip on my screen. from what i understand, tearing is where objects on the screen sort of split and shift in different directions making the picture stretched and obscured? im sure what im getting is mostly green strips of colour kind of like a thin barcode run across my screen horizontally only rarely and not as significant as i've seen in some pictures but i was wondering whether this could lead to bigger and worse ones of whether my monitor is just playing up.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I'd look at clocking the Cpu to address any 'lag' issues, but the artifacts to me sounds like screendeath

I'd also avoid the Xspc cases, as much as I love their kit, I can't justify the prices on their cases for what they are
Moto

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

Yeah i figured $500-$600/ish dollars seemed pretty slanted, but it would be damn cool to show off with at a LAN X-) haha Might look into a 800D or a switch later on.

Also, with my statement on Witcher II, would this be normal? i understand the game has been optimized for Nvidia cards but i thought i'd be able to smash that on a single screen with a 6970 -__- I'm going to have a look into trying to optimise my GPU clocks. And i decided later when i can afford it, im going to get a universal Raystorm GPU block and look into modding my case for another 240mm and run two seperate loops seeing as my res supports it. hopefully then ill get better temps by keeping all the hot air out of my case.. Only time will tell. i may not even have to get a new case.

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

Oh, another thing i wanted to ask was is it ok to have some air in your res? or is it preferred to have none at all? because i went to the trouble to use a syringe to fill all the air out once my loop was properly bled.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Bit short on time atm but having your res full minimises noise, its a good thing in my eyes
Moto

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

good good is there a cost effective way to check that your water is flowing? without having to buy a flow meter? also one that wouldnt alter the integrity of the water? i know my water is moving because im getting good temps but id like to be able to put something in my res that would bounce around or move just as a piece of mind. also it would be fun to watch

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Maybe a piece of plastic/tubing?
I just hold a section of tubing in my fingers and feel it pulsing, maybe I'm sensitive though
Moto

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

I'll try that at home tonight, i've done that before but i wonder if its because I used the fingers on my left hand (mighty weathered from playing guitar haha) ill try using my normal hand and see if it works. i can usually hear the water going through or the whir of the pump but i've got 7 fans in my pc now so its hard to distinguish haha, back to the question at hand though, does using a universal GPU waterblock have any disadvantages apart from aesthetically? is there anything else on the card thaty would need to be cooled?

 

[rubix_1011]

My res is about 85% full and can easily see turbulence inside. If you are that worried, setup temp monitoring to trigger a shutdown if your CPU or GPU temps reach a certain threshold. CoreTemp and RealTemp both do this...and it's a good practice anyway.

 

[boiler1990]

Are you OCed at all on the GPU? I had 2x6950 2GBs and couldn't play Skyrim at 60 FPS thanks to terrible driver issues. Couldn't get them fixed so I ditched them and went NVIDIA - haven't had issues since and won't be buying AMD for a while. It was strange since one 6950 should have gotten me at least 60FPS max, but my dual setup couldn't even hit 60 once, and the driver fix didn't come out for many weeks.

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

Well, i've actually been smashing skyrim at 60FPS with a single 6970 while i was still playing it. which made me wonder why i couldnt do the same for witcher II? I'm not 100% phased by it though because i barely like witcher II but it just confused the hell outta me.

(edit)
it wouldnt phase me if i couldnt play it at a full 60FPS but at least something bareable would be good.

 

[boiler1990]

Witcher II isn't that intense IIRC, so I believe a 6970 would be plenty to handle it. I think it might be a driver issue, if it's not related to any OCs.

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

Ah i see, well tonight ill have a look at updating my drivers and seeing if i've altered my GPU speed at any point in time, i doubt i have but ill restore everything to factory, will come back with my findings

 

[super-smashman]

If you're trying to play Witcher 2 with the preset at Ultra then you're not going to have a good time.

Ubersampling is the biggest hog of resources I have ever seen. Turning it off alone can bring you from unplayable to playable.

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

Hey guys, i reckon my gpu may be faulty, last night while playing Ghost Recon future warfighter my PC seized up twice and i was getting stretched pixels.

[edit]
just to clarify they were really minor stretches but it hasnt happened before.

 

[Lutfij]

artifacting means the gpu is telling you its leaving for another realm

honestly, thats serious.

PSU, RAM, MOBO, GPU can all be culprits in this - RMA?

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

Thats unfortunate to hear. i might have to request an RMA then, I think ill go Nvidia next time.

 

[CrestfallenDesign]

Best answer selected by CrestfallenDesign.

 

[Proximon]

This topic has been closed by Proximon