Advice on cooling the XFX 9800gx2

[Gigmaster]

Heya everyone,

I'm getting the black edition of the XFX 9800gx2, and I've been hearing some mumbles around here and elsewhere about how hot the card runs. The system I'm setting up has a really good cooling system (Cooler Master cosmos S /w x6 Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm fans to replace the so-so ones that come pre-installed, along with the 200mm side fan), and the option to add/switch to water cooling later on, thanks to the ASUS Striker II setup, but I want to hedge against the XFX running hot even so.

One *duh* solution is replacing the on-board thermal compound with something better... and because Im already using Artic Silver's latest grease (the MX-2), I'm thinking the card should run cooler - plus the fact that MX-2 is non-conductive = less chance of shorting out the card = easier for me. I've also heard of some people custom-fitting GPU heatinks (fins, copper tubing, ect ect).

What would you guys suggest, and what warrenties am I going to be voiding here?

[trueg50]

First off the home made blocks are not going to perform nearly as well as some of the ones specially made for the GX2, the ones that will match specially made coolers will be artisan made, and be quite price, but worth every penny if made by a nice maker. The GX2 will require special blocks made for it and only it, so no pair of swiftech MCW60's for this card.

You can try setting the fan speed to maybe 80% all the time, and only go higher if temps exceed Y temperature. With my 8800GT I just tried different fan speeds and found that if the speed exceeded ~60% then I could start hearing it. So I set the speed to be a minimum of 60% and chopped about 5-10 degree's off my temps just doing this.

[Gigmaster]

Alrighty then (kinda what I figured anyways). And between using a PCI card and a water block, the water cooling method seems to work better (or rather, it actually works). I was looking at the EZ and the Danger Den versions of a 9800gx2 block (since I want to go with copper, as an aluminum would make me laugh), but both are very, very pricey - talking 150-250 bucks. Any equally reliable but cheaper alternatives?

[Goliath182]

You really dont need water cooling to cool that card. If you put a fan that blows into the intake fan on the GX2 youll have more than enough cooling.

[Scott]

If you take that thing apart good luck getting it back together again.

[Gigmaster]

How hard are we talking here? Is it near impossible or something? (Can't be that bad, considering the number of card mods I've seen online...) I repair watches for a living, so I'm guessing I shouldn't have that hard of a time.

[Scott]

If you do that kind of work you should be ok.

[trueg50]

Alrighty then (kinda what I figured anyways). And between using a PCI card and a water block, the water cooling method seems to work better (or rather, it actually works). I was looking at the EZ and the Danger Den versions of a 9800gx2 block (since I want to go with copper, as an aluminum would make me laugh), but both are very, very pricey - talking 150-250 bucks. Any equally reliable but cheaper alternatives?

Any good company will NEVER offer an aluminum block.

Aluminum + copper will generate corrosion and destroy the copper block.

Do you want to cool the CPU as well, or just the graphics card?

The nice thing about water cooling is that it can be quite modular.

My recommendation would be to first cool only the GPU, and only try this after using the GX2 for a short while and see if you really need this.

Lets see, for a GPU only loop you will need a radiator, pump, tubing, and the GPU block. Total cost would be $200 not including the GPU waterblock.

For the radiator, it really is like a big heatsink. You will need at least a 240 (radiators are measured by their size x 120mm for the 120mm fans, so a 2 x 120mm fan radiator is a 240) to cool the GX2. I would recommend a 360 or 480 mm radiator to cool the GPU, and eventually the CPU, though if you don't want to cool the CPU, a 240 should be just fine.

For the pump, an MCP-655 would be idea, but you could use an MCP-350.

As for the blocks just an EK one would work fine.

For the tubing, use 7/16 ID, as it will fit very snuggly over 1/2 OD fittings.

Then you also will need a reservoir or T-line to fill the system. I prefer a reservoir, namely an EK reservoir, as they are very nicely built. However it is $40 for an EK reservoir, and $1.50 for a plastic t-line fitting.

As for where to shop, there are a few primary places I like:

performance-pcs.com

petrastechshop.com

This is mostly just rough info, if you need more just ask and we can hep you more.

[tankbusta]

Just bump the fan speeds to 90-100%. They do heat my room up pretty hot, but i get a solid 130-140F which is way below the thermal spec (220-230F)

[Sadasius]

I stand by EK waterblocks big time. Eddy bends over backwards to help people and ships pretty darn fast especially since it's coming from Slovania. My entire motherboard, video card and D5 tops are all EK and they are sexy. The only thing not EK is my D-Tek Fuzion Gen 1.