[SOLVED] Need help understanding NZXT's G12

[wrendre]

Hello,

I have an MSI 1080 TI Armor GPU, as I'm sure most of you know the cooler is horrible on it (Gaming X 1070 IIRC)

As such gaming at 1440p is possible but my card temps end up quickly at the high 70's early 80's in celcius, but more importantantly they reach these temperatures long after the fans hit 100% speed and become obnoxiously loud even over headphones, I've set a very aggressive custome curve in Afterburner to compensate for the sub-pa cooler.

I have since changed tactic and severely undervolted and underclocked the card to maintain more normal temperatures and fan speeds, currently running 67-68c at around 60% fan speed or there abouts.

I was going to run this set up untill i upgraded my graphics card... but well.. that's not gonna happen unless I get extremely lucking or extremely rich. so I am now looking to get an aftermarket cooler, enter the G12..

So I'm looking to get that but there are some things I wanna know before I bite the bullet and brick a graphics card

Can I keep the underplate of the Armor on that covers most of the VRMs with the G12 on it?

Do I need to get tiny heatsinks for the 4 remaining exposed VRMs at the at the bottom of the card? or can I leave those bare

Is there any harm in running the X63 Kraken I'm pairing the G12 with at full pump speed?

Is there anything else I should know going into this before I embark on this journy?

Any and all advice will be most welcome, thank you.

 

[Eximo]

You might be able to keep the backplate, just depends on the length of screws, etc.

You can get tiny heatsinks if you want, if they are directly under the G12 fan, it isn't as necessary.

You probably don't want full pump speed just for noise, but no harm in doing so.

Can't really think of anything, just a good decision if you aren't going for a full coverage waterblock.

 

[wrendre]

I'm trying to keep it cheap, not looking to do a custome loop for a GPU.. I've no experiance in custom watercooling.

So VRM heatsinks aren't needed.. what kind of temperatures can I expect from the VRM's? little worried they'll burn without some kind of cooling even from an out of date cooler that comes with the Armor.

 

[Eximo]

It is a shame it is a custom board, some pretty cheap 1080Ti blocks still available, coupled with an expandable AIO, could have not worried about the VRM cooling.

If the VRMs have a fan pointed at them, they will pretty much be fine. They can get up to 120C without issues, but that is pretty hard to accomplish with airflow nearby.

Which VRMs specifically are you worried about?

 

[wrendre]

Just had a look at a tear down and looks like there are VRM's on the side of the chip nearest the IO panel and there are four at the top of the card.. the four should be alright.. mostly but the otherside ones will be blocked by the pumpblock

 

[wrendre]

Not sure if I can post links to pictures but this is the card

 

[Eximo]

The main power VRMs are on the right.

Those on the top are likely memory voltage supplies, which won't get nearly has warm.

And the ones on the left are also similarly minor voltage supplies.

Quite rare for them to get cooling other than airflow from the axial fans. If you are concerned, you can add heatsinks, or just get a fan to blow on them. You can get those bendy ones designed to go around CPU VRMs when you have CPU water cooling.

 

[Phaaze88]

Can I keep the underplate of the Armor on that covers most of the VRMs with the G12 on it?

Underplate?
/looks up pics

Oh, that.
I believe you're going to have to leave that out.
1)It looks like it'll interfere with the G12's mounting hardware.
2)It's just not needed. I wonder if it's the reason for the Armor's overall crappy cooling..? 🤔
My Gigabyte Gaming OC model didn't have that, but it also had a 30w lower power limit ceiling... even then, it never saw over 65C before I put the G12 on it, but I ran my gpu fans at 100%. It's inside a H500P Mesh.

Do I need to get tiny heatsinks for the 4 remaining exposed VRMs at the at the bottom of the card? or can I leave those bare

It's optional. You can leave them bare; that's what the fan is for.
Pads n sinks on the Vram also isn't a necessity on the 1080Ti because of GDDR5X's lower operating thermals(compared to GDDR6 and R6X). If you've got good chassis airflow, it's a non issue.

Is there any harm in running the X63 Kraken I'm pairing the G12 with at full pump speed?

No. 100% is preferred, or 90% even(if for some reason you're not comfortable with 100% all the time). Just don't use a PWM curve on the pump. Static speed is best.

Is there anything else I should know going into this before I embark on this journy?

1)The G12 is compatible with Asetek-made coolers. Their mounting design is universal - the round cold plate and 'teeth' around that.

2)Use thicker/higher viscosity pastes. The silicon die is like glass; 'runnier' pastes tend to get more of their substance pushed off the die and pool around the sides potentially leading to hotspots. Tom's has a short list on it somewhere...
https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-thermal-paste

Spoiler

Ignore the [Viscosity 'lower is better'] thing, that's for cpus; the IHS has a grainy surface in comparison.
I've been using NT-H2 - not listed up there - to good effect. It's a little thicker than the old H1. Likely not the best compared to some of the other pastes on that list, but it works fine.

 

[wrendre]

I'm thinking of paring the G12 with an X63 to be safe,

As long as the pump on the X63 is quieter than the stock fans at full speed, I don't mind how loud it might be, pretty sure it'll be quieter either way, will be mounting the thing correctly too so that helps.

I was thinking of maybe getting some Arctic silver for it.. heard its good paste.

Thank you both for your help.

 

[Eximo]

Arctic Silver 5 is listed in a lot of charts, but it is really an older one and not super amazing. Also been reformulated a time or two, so it winds up all over the place.

Arctic MX-4 (not to be confused with Arctic Silver, different company) is a good all around paste to keep around.
Arctic ships MX-2 with their GPU coolers I believe.

Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is excellent, but expensive. Suitable for extreme temperatures.
Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut is their formula for water cooling, not quite as good as Kryonaut, but about 40% cheaper.

The Noctua pastes are good enough as stated above.

XSPC K3 I use a lot because I have a bunch, tends to fall into the 'average' territory.

Also used a lot of others over the years that used to be top performers. Tuniq TX-3 for example.

 

[Phaaze88]

The pump should be quieter by far, unless something's seriously wrong - no knock on wood.

 

[wrendre]

Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is excellent, but expensive. Suitable for extreme temperatures.
Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut is their formula for water cooling, not quite as good as Kryonaut, but about 40% cheaper.

I've heard that this stuff is used for Extreme OCing ... I might apply a small overclock to my card if temperatures are great.. but nothing that I feel would need liquid metal.
I am also worried about using a liquid metal compound due to Galliums tendency to corrode aluminum .. I know if I'm careful and apply a very small amount I should be fine.. that said I'll just go with a more traditional paste

MX-4 is the same price as Silver on Amazon in the UK so I'll be getting that as per your reccomendation.. thank you. (Edit: actually found some laying around so yay me!)

 

[Eximo]

A common misconception. Kryonaut, Hydronaut, and Aeronaut are not liquid metal. Thermal Grizzly gives their liquid metal the name Conductonaut. It is what they are famous for though.

 

[wrendre]

Ah.. I did not know that, thank you, I have some MX-4 so I won't be buying any paste. MX-4 should be fine for a small overclock if I decide to do one.