Solved Investing in a good Aftermarket GPU cooler

[Solarstarshines]

I want to know how difficult would it be to switch my GPU reference cooler to a aftermarket one like this
just an example I don't know if I would want this style but I am considering better cooling since I have reference cards and have them clocked pretty high im sure if I do this it might give me some more room to edge some more out of them

 

[Britton30]

I've seen those too and I wonder how well they would fit. You know, all 7970's or GTX 690s aren't built the same since each manufacturer adds its owns bits. It would seem they would do more cooling if you're current ones are single fan and have a smaller radiator on the heat sink. the extra stick ons for other little chips may be a good thing too.

We are more than willing to test them out and let us know though.

 

[Solarstarshines]

I also was looking into a dual water cooling type deal I seen some on this HD 7970 Water Blocks | Page 1 | Sort By: Product Title A-Z - FrozenCPU.com *

Not sure if that is a better option then what I already posted I mean if you think about it how much more can I gain using water vs a better system with copper pipes and three fans ?

 

[Solarstarshines]

After looking around the first one is my best bet so thanks for the input

so I'm looking to spend atleast 190'00 for two of them i'll wait a while though see how my sin city trip turns out

 

[Britton30]

After a trip to Lost Wages you may have to sell your PC.

 

[bobkn]

I've used aftermarket GPU coolers in the past, but was usually unimpressed.

For one thing, the new fans didn't connect to the onboard connector. There was no thermal fan speed control.

For another, the memory chips, VRs, etc. were not cooled by the new cooler. A lot of small individual heat sinks were supplied, and held in place by thermal tape. The OEM cooler cooled the other chips as well, although the thermal interface was through thick pads.

The aftermarket coolers sometimes occupy the space of an extra (third) slot. That may not be a problem for you.

The main issue was that the third party cooler didn't do much to increase overclocking of the cards. I don't recall whether the card allowed software-adjustable GPU core voltages; I certainly didn't mod the hardware.

YMMV.

 

[Britton30]

My OEM cooler, if it cools the memory and other chips, does it by the fan only. The heatsink only mates with the GPU chip. The fan on it does have an on-GPU-card connector.

 

[Solarstarshines]

I honestly would like to go the watercooling route but geesus it is expensive

 

[Britton30]

Too bad you missed out on this, it was $1499. Newegg.com - ASUS ROG ARES II (ARES2-6GD5) Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition x 2 6GB 384-bit x2 GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card

 

[Solarstarshines]

Too bad you missed out on this, it was $1499. Newegg.com - ASUS ROG ARES II (ARES2-6GD5) Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition x 2 6GB 384-bit x2 GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card

wouldn't be a problem to do like 2 antec 620s for cooling but positioning would be a B****

 

[ganjiry]

Have you seen these before? I've read good and bad about them Accelero Hybrid · VGA · Cooling · ARCTIC

 

[Solarstarshines]

Have you seen these before? I've read good and bad about them Accelero Hybrid · VGA · Cooling · ARCTIC

Yea I seen those and I have a Antec 620 here unopened just came in from RMA I could strip one down then see what I can do with it but the problem is placement in some cases if I do choose to do this im going to look into the best options I might need to invest is custom waterlooping which im scared of doing myself Best thing I can think of now is look for a shop that could customize a loop for all my parts that would need it i'm assuming this would run me 500.00 to 600.00 easy so I need some sane suggestions of how I could go about this

 

[ganjiry]

Yeah if you went the sealed unit way you'd end up spending nearly as much as a custom loop would cost you anyway enit chap.
There are some good starter kits out there. Have a look here just for an idea XSPC, Swiftech and WCUK Watercooling kits - Easy to install, all in one!! >> Watercooling UK
Custom Loop Guide - How to Watercool your PC - Overclockers UK Forums