980 ti, custom loop or evga hybrid cooler

[Aaron Mitchell]

just ordered my EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti ACX SC+ ACX 2.0+ and wondering how i should upgrade the cooler in the future.

my cpu is cooled by a corsair h110, so a custom water loop would be a complete fresh addition.
i have heard the hybrid coolers work quite well and at only $100 it would be quite a bit cheaper than adding on a $600 custom loop

is custom loop really that much better than these aio/hybrid coolers

 

[Bezzell]

Better how? The EVGA has a very nice custom air solution, over reference, that should perform great for years to come.

 

[Aaron Mitchell]

Quiter under load and cooler temps, which in return may lead to my room being a bit cooler while im on my pc

 

[atheus]

I can't really quantify that for you for several reasons, but primarily because you're saying "custom loop" like it's one thing. There are custom loops with a single radiator, and there are custom loops with a whole separate case full of radiators. It's exactly as powerful as you design it to be. So my completely uninformative answer is "maybe".

For a more precise answer, you'd have to mention what kind of case you have, and what exactly this hypothetical $600 custom loop consists of.

 

[Aaron Mitchell]

my planned water setup.

corsair 540 case, will use d5 170/270 reservoir (whichever will fit) rad will either be 2x 280 and 1x140 or 1x360, 1x 240 and 1x 120, waterblock for my i7-4790k, msi mpower z97 so will be cooling the mobo also. i will push/pull fans where space allows. waterblock for the 980ti...

it will be well over $600 when done not even including the case

 

[atheus]

Well, then yeah, if you go that far with your custom loop you can definitely expect substantially better cooling than the closed loops. The only question at that point is whether you will be overclocking to the extent that it's necessary. In other words, if you wind up stopping at 4.5 Ghz on your CPU and a typical overclock on your GPU, that $600 investment in the custom loop will only serve to increase the longevity of your CPU and GPU (which you will likely discard long before they'd get burnt up anyway).

 

[Aaron Mitchell]

I dont plan on extreme oc,

my 4790k is stable 4.6@ 1.25v under 60c on my h110, i havent tried to push it any further

I just want to stay well under max/high temps and stay relatively quiet

I would have held out for the hybrid 980ti but they seem to be a unicorn and i got the 980ti on amazon warehouse deals "like new" one for under $600, so i couldn't pass it up

 

[photonboy]

Hey,

You can NOT beat the performance of the EVGA Hybrid. It is already keeping it to about 50degC at 1480MHz on the GPU. That is good as you are going to get.

Other:
I would personally not get a huge fan such as the 360mm listed. I would get the EVGA Hybrid and off-the-shelf CPU cooler. A quality 12cm solution for the CPU at stock 4.4GHz Turbo will keep it quiet.

With the CPU and GPU heat exhausted out the case there is minimal need for extra case fans. You need some, just not very much.

 

[Deuce65]

Well of course you can beat that performance. If any of my GPUs ever hit 50c I would assume my pumps died. And of course, the VMRs and memory remain air cooled which is an issue if you are going to increase the voltage. As well, it is substantially louder than a custom system can be (i.e., completely silent, not "quiet").
Now whether or not that is worth pursuing is of course a matter of preference.