GPU AIO safe temperatures

[Gilles P]

So i have a inno3d iChill 980Ti black edition (in other words, a 980ti with an aio slapped on it)
and temps have always been pretty high, when overclocking a bit (let's say +70mhz) temps get pretty uncomfortable for an AIO... I always set a temperature limit (lets say for example 78°C) and the GPU will allways reach that temperature. (actually i never got over 78°C, soo...)
Of course, if the gpu stays at a certain temperature, and is ready to climb up even higher, it means the core clock isn't at it's maximum.

My question is : How hot do you guys think a watercooled (aio) gpu can go without being excessively hot? What temperature threshold should i set?

PS: being kind of sick of all this, i will try to rise my pc up a bit, so that more air can get in, as the radiator is on the bottom. Also, it is now in a push-pull config, but that doesn't change the fact the the radiator isn't really one of the thickest out there

 

[Lutfij]

Well it's a 120mm radiator though the subsequent question would be where you've mounted it and what your case is? How you've set it up and where they're placed will also result in reduced or higher temps. As per your GPU, mind sharing the rest of your system's specs?

You will also need to provide the temps you're seeing both in idle and at load. To compare those temps to understand the sort of delta you're getting, we'll need to know your ambient temps.

 

[Gilles P]

Well it's a 120mm radiator though the subsequent question would be where you've mounted it and what your case is? How you've set it up and where they're placed will also result in reduced or higher temps. As per your GPU, mind sharing the rest of your system's specs?

You will also need to provide the temps you're seeing both in idle and at load. To compare those temps to understand the sort of delta you're getting, we'll need to know your ambient temps.

So, i finally made this little "mod" , i am pretty happy with it, but i'll first answer your questions:
My case is an Elios Shaman; the front intake wouldn't fit a radiator because of the drive bays being in the way, as for the top and rear exhaust wouldn't work either because of the motherboard being a bit in the was, as well as the CPU cooler, so it ended up in the bottom of the case.
As for the rest of the system, the CPU is an old i7 2600 (non-k) @4.45Ghz, some gigabyte motherboard, 16gigs of ram i think @1978mhz or something, a crucial mx100 ssd and a WD caviar blue (although that might not affect the system that much), the graphics card (with the radiator in a push-pull config) and 5 extra fans (2 intakes, 3 exhausts)
So i already was thinking the radiator didn't had enough airflow, that's why i added another fan so it would be in a push-pull config (which helped a little bit, but not that much). What i now did was adding some height to the computer's feet. going from a bit under 1cm of clearance to a little under 3cm. And that, did the trick.
These are now my temps (and while they're still a bit on the higher side for a watercooled gpu, it isn't as bad as it originally was):
ambient temp:20-21°C (maybe rising to about 23°C because of the computer's heat output)
idle : 33~35°C (idle with fans @100% : 25°C)
load: 64°C load with a +45Mhz OC : 70°C (with some spikes @71°C)
interestingly, boosting the voltage even higher to get a pretty stable +62Mhz OC, yielded the same temps
Before the "mod" and before the push-pull config, at load, those temps could go as high as 76-81°C without any overclock
the GPU really doesn't like getting near the 1530mhz mark, so often, even though temps are only at 66-67°C, it will go down to about 1517Mhz and won't climb back to 1530... i don't really get why because we aren't near the power limit, but that's bedsides the point and pretty marginal)

Now, if you still consider this to be too hot, please say so, and if you have any idea why, or what i could do about, i'm open to suggestions