Water cooling GTX 470 SLI

[Inferno1217]

I've searched the internet, read many forums and articles. I'm not interested in 3 slot coolers as I have a tv tuner, sound and wifi card also to install. I would like to get some ideas or solutions and go with the best one. Basically I just want to quiet it down. I have also considered selling the pair and getting a GTX 680 or HD 7970 GHz Edition. I have already applied new thermal compound to both cards. Water blocks seem to be few and far between. I may be better off investing in a new single quiet card and selling off the other two. Thanks in advance.

System Specs:
Antec 1200 Case
ASrock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3
Core i5 2500k @4.4 GHz
Corsair H50 Cpu Cooler
8GB Mushkin CAS 8 DDR3 1600
2x GTX 470 (GTX 465's Flashed to GTX 470)
WinTV 1800
X-Fi Sound Card
Kingwin Lazer 1000W PSU
2x Seagate 1.5 TB 7200 RPM Hard Drives
3TB Seagate External Hard Drive
Patriot Pyro 120GB SSD
42" LG 1080P HDTV

 

[Lutfij]

GTX full cover blocks will be hard to come by now. Well if you're going to watercool - then the whole thingymajiggy should go too.

read up on the watercooling sticky and find out how much of raddage you'll need.

GTX465's are another thing - I thought they were 470's. best put those toasters to rest and invest in a cooler/quieter and an efficient running card like the GTX 6xx or the 79xx's

sound card? the onboard solution is miles ahead of what creative offered during that time. I don't know how most are fooled into getting anymore of their X-Fi cards. Its all software based/app layer up/down mixing.

 

[Inferno1217]

GTX full cover blocks will be hard to come by now. Well if you're going to watercool - then the whole thingymajiggy should go too.

read up on the watercooling sticky and find out how much of raddage you'll need.

GTX465's are another thing - I thought they were 470's. best put those toasters to rest and invest in a cooler/quieter and an efficient running card like the GTX 6xx or the 79xx's

sound card? the onboard solution is miles ahead of what creative offered during that time. I don't know how most are fooled into getting anymore of their X-Fi cards. Its all software based/app layer up/down mixing.

The cards are the black pcb boards that can be flashed to a gtx 470. No difference between them. As for the X-Fi card I've had it for a while now and there is a big difference in sound quality. I think I'm leaning more towards a single card solution. The upgrade will cost less as I will be able to get a decent chunk of change for the cards.

 

[Lutfij]

^ yeap, thats the smarter choice

 

[Inferno1217]

I think I will go for the GTX 680 Gigabyte makes with the 3 fan cooler.

 

[boiler1990]

I would balk on the 680 and just get a solid 670. It will already perform extremely well, and they've been proven to OC to 680 performance levels (and at $100 cheaper).

The GTX 660Ti should be out around Aug 16th, and it's rumored to compete with the 7970 and 7950, when it'll be priced around the 7850/7870 range. Would be worthwhile to consider.

Also, the lower TDP of the newer cards will be easier to cool, both with the stock coolers or with watercooling. Any custom cooler models of the GPUs will require you to use universal waterblocks if you ever decide to go water.

 

[Lutfij]

a three fan cooler might seem amazing in the cooling dept but is a total failure in the heat dump dept. The three fans on a windforce will cool the pcb by blowing directly onto it - however that heat is thrown into the case and not out the back like squirrel cage coolers.

The gigabyte or any dual/triple fan cooler just mean higher internal case temps and it also feeds the gpu fans warmer air - so you can multiply the heat sucked up by the gpu over time.

added with a squashed case like the 1200 - you're just factoring in more heat.

If you're going to watercool that GTX 6xx card - finding a waterblock for a non reference card become a total pain in the behind.

My 2 cents

 

[boiler1990]

If you're going to watercool that GTX 6xx card - finding a waterblock for a non reference card become a total pain in the behind.

Not really - the GTX 6xx mounting is the same as the 8800 GT series, so the mounts that come with most universal waterblocks fit already (they're the official WB mounts that should be used according to Swiftech). Plus, the TDP is low enough that universal and full cover blocks should perform very very similarly.

 

[Lutfij]

oh sorry mate, thanks for correcting me, but i was talking about the full cover blocks full cover blocks+non reference seem to be like north and south Korea.

 

[Inferno1217]

Best answer selected by Inferno1217.

 

[Lutfij]

thanks for the BA vote!

 

[rubix_1011]

This topic has been closed by Rubix_1011