Loving My New GTX 680, Need Aftermarket Cooling Though?

[jlee14]

Hey guys,

As the title implies, I recently built my first rig and i decided on the EVGA Geforce GTX 680 FTW+ 4GB as my card as I am using is for gaming and I wanted it to be slightly future proof. The card runs great but runs very hot. The stock fan is cutting it but only barely and its quite noisy. I am looking for a good aftermarket cooling solution. I am heavily considering the Artic Accellero Xtreme III (http://preview.tinyurl.com/ccpjuch) but I know Arctic also makes a self contained liquid cooling unit that I would also consider. Can anyone who has experience with aftermarket cooling give me advice on a good aftermarket cooler, either the aforementioned or something else keeping in mind that I consider myself still a novice with computer building, so the instillation would have to be doable for someone of my skill level? It doesn't have to be flashy, I'm just looking for a quiet cooling solution that will keep my temps manageable with a very conservative overclock. Also the only thing I LIKE about the stock cooler is that it blows the hot air out the back of the case (forgot what the actual name for that is), so I would love if the new cooler had that same design as it works really well with how I set up the airflow in my case. I appreciate any advice given.

-Justin

 

[adimeister]

Do you have a side case fan already? It should help a lot since it might blow air directly to your card. That's the easiest solution. VGA's really tend to have higher temps than CPU. Don't be surprised about 80deg and at full load and overclocking to reach 90s.

If you're confident enough in adding a liquid cooling system on your VGA, why not include the CPU also? 😉

 

[jlee14]

Do you have a side case fan already? It should help a lot since it might blow air directly to your card. That's the easiest solution. VGA's really tend to have higher temps than CPU. Don't be surprised about 80deg and at full load and overclocking to reach 90s.

If you're confident enough in adding a liquid cooling system on your VGA, why not include the CPU also? 😉

Thanks for the quick response. I do have a side case fan. I have the case set up to draw in cold air from the top and bottem and force hot air out the back, so it mirrors the design of the card. And yeah if I could do it over again I would try custom liquid cooling but I already bought the Corsair h80i for my cpu 🙁 to it's credit it's not bad, though. But yeah I'm just looking for a cooler to knock of a couple degrees for my own sanity... but i know my particular card has a stacked power supply so a lot of cooler wont sit flush. Any non-liquid cooling suggestions?

 

[adimeister]

HEY! Don't make your roof fan as intake Make the front, side, and bottom as intake. The rear and roof as exhaust. Cool air stays in the bottom and hot air tends to rise. If you make your roof fan as intake, it makes the fan less efficient.. That would definitely knock off some degs I believe. Did you OC your VGA? What's your temps btw?

 

[jlee14]

HEY! Don't make your roof fan as intake Make the front, side, and bottom as intake. The rear and roof as exhaust. Cool air stays in the bottom and hot air tends to rise. If you make your roof fan as intake, it makes the fan less efficient.. That would definitely knock off some degs I believe. Did you OC your VGA? What's your temps btw?

Unfortunately I was very limited in my setup because the radiator included with the case can only be mounted in specific ways and setups. I have two fans (one pull and one push) on the top and bottom of the radiator to force air in, two pull fans on the bottom to force air in, and one rear fan to force out (in addition to stock cooler on my card). I thought a lot about it when building and that was really the only way to keep it balanced as anywhere else would have sacrificed quality elsewhere. At any rate my temps aren't HORRIBLE. they usually fluctuate from high 70's to low 80's under load. Im just worried because it's almost summer and i know that will definitely affect temps. So to me, a small investment to keep the card cool and happy and potentially extend the life is worth it. the VGA is OC'd yes but only slightly as I still am learning a lot and didn't want to do anything drastic. However I would like to push it further if i could get the temps down. It's already a great card, I'd love to be able to max out Crysis 3.

 

[adimeister]

I see. You know what I would do if I were in your position? I would just turn on the AC to keep my rig cool, and yourself!😀 I believe you have the money to pay the electricity bill since you have an expensive rig. 😉 And I doubt you'd run your pc if you're not home. So just turn on your AC when you use it, it'll definitely lower your temps by 5degs. That's the way how I experienced it anyway. You already have a good setup. BUT if you would really want to spend more, mod more, etc.. It's up to you. I know that feeling when you've finished your rig, then you have some extra money, you tend to spend a little more to get better results. hahaha It's inevitable, then you'll realize that it would've been better to save that money and spent it somewhere else, or save it up and make a new rig. 😉 There are lots of improvements coming in this year. And I doubt the competitors would let the other one win. At the end of the day, it's up to you.

Back to topic, just turn on your AC or electric fan and direct it to your rig. If that doesn't sound good for you, try to think about water looping and buy the EK water block for your gtx 680. It would be a tough decision and an expensive one. Good luck to you.