Should I buy this? (watercooled EVga GTX 480)

[noobz1lla]

It has come to my attention that one of the biggest concerns most people are having about GTX 470/480 is that the card is rated to run at 106º C and hovers around 91ºC. So this massive amount of heat I think could be more efficiently dispensed with a water-cooling system as opposed to air cooling/heat-pipes.

I guess Evga is one step ahead of the game with this

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=012-P3-1479-AR&family=GeForce%20400%20Series%20Family


So what do you guys think? Will water cooling be much better than the stock fans/heat-pipes?


EDIT: I changed the product from the Hydro-copper GTX 480 to the 470. I have waited 2-3 years. the last card I had was a 7950 GT and that died about a year ago and I've been using my friends extra 8800 GS since then.
If I get a GTX 470 I am definitely thinking about setting up a water cooling system. If for nothing else than the 470!

Sorry, I wasn't very clear in my original post, the point of this post was not to discuss if I should actually buy this $500 GTX 470 but rather if a water-cooling solution would be far superior to air/pipes in the GTX series.

Could the noise and heat problem be addressed properly with a water-cooling solution?

 

[rolli59]

Your money not mine. If your goal is to do a lot of benchmarking and overclock a lot by all means.

 

[Shadow703793]

^ Agreed. Also, realize, a radiator (220/320) and a MCP355/655 will cost you $150+ easily.

 

[builderbobftw]

No, You should buy this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131322&cm_re=radeon_5870-_-14-131-322-_-Product

 

[shadow187]

You're over a thousand dollars on that card, love. Just grab an HD5970 for that price, or Sapphires 4GB HD5970 when it comes out.

 

[noobz1lla]

please read my edit.

 

[builderbobftw]

And where would he find a 5970?

Also, the 4gb 5970 is oly gonna be usefull at like 7680 x 3200, Without Eyefinity, you won't get close to useing 2gb of frame buffer per card.

 

[Mallikii]

I have 3 GTX275s and I am thinking about it but I don't think it is worth it. I was shocked about how little of an improvement they truely are. I think this is an example of companies making smaller steps with product improvements in order to bring in more money from those who want the best of the best all the time.

 

[shadow187]

You're going to spend $1,000 on a card that's 2'nd-best compared to spending $650 on the best card.

At this rate, I don't care anymore.

 

[noobz1lla]

Dude this thread was supposed to talk about the advantages of water-cooling a GPU.

Instead it turned into a pissing contest between NVidia and ATI fanboys. All the wackos have come out of the wood work to tout the superiority of their brand decision.

 

[jyjjy]

Eh, they are rightly pointing out that the options you are considering and the resulting question you are asking is really not well thought out or wise from a monetary standpoint. That isn't wacko.

 

[rolli59]

Water cooling versus air cooling. Usually water cooling allows for higher overclocks since it is more effective than air cooling. Noise wise it is depending on the type of radiator (think fans). There is really no reason to go for water cooling except for the bling factor and/or determination to overclock to the max or record breaking with benchmarks.

 

[Rustyy117]

Watercooling will deffinately make it quieter and also alot cooler, but its not cheap. My loop cost me £260

But... my 5850 idles at room temp + 3C and loads at 36C overclocked to 1000core 1200mem. And its almost silent (pump and fans make some noise, maybe 22DB) And thats with a Core i7 920 in the loop @ 4Ghz

Mind you I'd suggest a seperate Loop just for your GPU as it uses ALOT of power.

( I generally do agree with the other posters and there suggestions, but if your set on a GTX4xx then watercooling will really help)

 

[Mallikii]

I have GTX275's liquid cooled and I wouldn't go any other way. I think it depends alot on your setup. The ability of a component to cool itself is a function of air tempurature and air movement. If you have a well cooled system right now then the added tempurature these cards would provide should be ok without being liquid cooled. If your system runs hot then you should look at liquid cooling. Do you have a dual loop cooling system? Do you have AC in your house? That the kind of cost to performance that you need to consider.

 

[builderbobftw]

Instead it turned into a pissing contest between NVidia and reasonable people with an iota of intelligence.

 

[noobz1lla]

I was not looking to overclock or get crazy benchmarks for the most part. I just wanted an efficient, silent, cooling device. I'm not in it for the bling factor, although putting it together would be fun.

My house is ok, my room gets hot in the summer. But I just bought a new case HAF 932 and transferred all my parts into the new case. My tempts went from 70º C down to 30ºC no joke.

Word to the wise, if it's been more than a year since you cleaned your parts, do it! It's therapeutic take all your parts out of your case lay them down, use dust off on them, clean out your case, psu, heatsinks, GPU. It should be like a spring cleaning thing to do at least once a year.

Also something I've noticed is that there is no information regarding warranties on GTX cards. It's like what if yours craps out. How long would that RMA process take

 

[builderbobftw]

I was not looking to overclock or get crazy benchmarks for the most part. I just wanted an efficient, silent, cooling device. I'm not in it for the bling factor, although putting it together would be fun.

My house is ok, my room gets hot in the summer. But I just bought a new case HAF 932 and transferred all my parts into the new case. My tempts went from 70º C down to 30ºC no joke.

Word to the wise, if it's been more than a year since you cleaned your parts, do it! It's therapeutic take all your parts out of your case lay them down, use dust off on them, clean out your case, psu, heatsinks, GPU. It should be like a spring cleaning thing to do at least once a year.

Also something I've noticed is that there is no information regarding warranties on GTX cards. It's like what if yours craps out. How long would that RMA process take

Uh, You don't need a 1000$ Liquid cooling GTX 480 setup if you don't want insane OCs.

You might be better of with just buying a 5970, and keeping it on air.

 

[shadow187]

Honestly zilla, we're trying to help you. You're spending too much money for too little gain. In a HAF932, even an HD5970 will run cool.

 

[noobz1lla]

Then it's decided I will get just the stock 470. I will count on the case and fans to keep things cool.

It just how long can you expect a card to last if it's hovering around 90ºC at load?

 

[builderbobftw]

Why?

Why not just get 1 400$ 5870 or a 280$ 5850?

 

[yannifb]

Then it's decided I will get just the stock 470. I will count on the case and fans to keep things cool.

It just how long can you expect a card to last if it's hovering around 90ºC at load?

Many reviewers pointed out this too, that it was to hot to last long.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

Yeh, why don't you just return the 480 or 470 get yourself a 5870? It performs almost the same and runs much cooler. The 5970 costs a bit more, but performs much better and gives off the same amount of heat.

 

[bystander]

The price of a normal 470 isn't bad for the performance. That is if he can get it in a reasonable time frame. At least he's going for the reasonable Fermi choice and not going watercooling.

 

[builderbobftw]

Metro has like 8 hours of gamplay.

EDIT: Wrong thread lol.

 

[noobz1lla]

Best answer selected by Noobz1lla.