Converting a waterblock to airblock

[Guest]

I guess I was one of the lucky ones to refresh EVGA's page and preorder the 480 FTW that I can't wait to get next week. Only one issue.... I just discovered that it needs water cooling.

First and foremost, theres no way I'm going to invest in watercooling. I plan to figure out a way to cool this thing at any cost.

I already ordered 4 Delta 6000RPM fans for this (although its going to be extremely loud, not an issue, set me back $160), and im looking to possibly engineer/create a container of water which the fans would cool. That will make one interesting home depot trip.

Again, I won't know until I get the card and start experimenting with temperatures. Do you guys know if there is already a water block converter out there? I tried doing research on this but couldn't find anything relevant.

Can't wait for it! I seriously wake up every day happier than the next knowing I'm closer to getting the card!!!

 

[qbit]

The movement of the water around the chip will be far too slow without some active input (pump). In fact im pretty sure there would be next to no movement around the chip. If you could get a liquid which has a boiling point around 80*C and some fancy plumbing to encourage movement in one direction you might be able to get some movement around the chip (even then its likly to be far too slow).

The other thing you might be trying to do is use the water block, fill it up and use it like an ordinary heatsink to push air over. This wouldnt work so well as firstly you would lack heat pipes to dispurpse the heat evenly. Secondly you would have drasticly reduced surface area in contact with the air.

Your better off looking at something like:
http://www.corsair.com/products/h50/Default.aspx
then modding it to fit the card. Even then i would have doubts over its performance.

 

[flyinfinni]

If you spent $160 on fans, why would you not just water cool the video card? Pick up a pump and a radiator, some tubing and coolant (maybe a small reservoir, though you could probably skip that) and you're pretty much set, and all of that won't cost more than your FANS. You don't have to use that water loop to cool anything else, just the card. Why are you determined to find some OTHER way to do it?

 

[DiscoDuck]

You allready spent enough money on fans to cover the cost of adding a water cooling pump, reservoir, and radiator.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106108&cm_re=water_cooling-_-35-106-108-_-Product

 

[EXT64]

The only way I could see doing this would be to remove the water block and replace with an aftermarket fan. No idea though if any have been made to fit or already fit the 480.

 

[flyinfinni]

Yeah Ext- thats the only other way I could think of doing it, but I don't know if there is an aftermarket cooler that will keep it cool enough! lol

 

[EXT64]

Or, for free refrigerated water cooling in just 15 minutes, just hack into your air conditioning line and run that through. Might be an issue come winter though, and you also have to run your AC whenever the computer is on, but otherwise...

 

[flyinfinni]

Lol- there your go Ext! If you were in a place thats hot enough for AC year round, you'd be all set!