4870 + MCW60

mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
edited April 2009 in Hardware
Removed the cover and core heatsink:

removed.JPG

Left the main card heatsink and fan:

prepped.JPG

Added Swiftech MCW60:

withblock.JPG

Can't install and test yet. Need to pull my whole rig apart and re-plumb. Will post more when that happens, hopefully this weekend.

Comments

  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    You should put the cover back on it will look cool
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    _k_ wrote:
    You should put the cover back on it will look cool

    I considered doing this, but I'd have to cut holes in the cover. Since I trade cards every 6 months having an undamaged stock cooler is pretty important.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    I am looking at the cover and the sink that is still on there, you might need to redesign your paper mod air flow trim to hit that card a little better. Looks like you are going to have to compensate for lose in left and top center for contact to the main sink.....but you already knew that. And only a volt mod/edited bios would solve OC overheads, so no worries I guess. Appendix A to your article, and next time I am by the house show and tell.
  • bullzisniprbullzisnipr Topeka, KS
    edited August 2008
    Looks great man. I have one myself, but i'm a ways away from getting into water cooling. I imagine my rig next year will probably have some minor water cooling. Can't wait to see the temps and the overclocking results.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    _k_ wrote:
    I am looking at the cover and the sink that is still on there, you might need to redesign your paper mod air flow trim to hit that card a little better. Looks like you are going to have to compensate for lose in left and top center for contact to the main sink.....but you already knew that. And only a volt mod/edited bios would solve OC overheads, so no worries I guess. Appendix A to your article, and next time I am by the house show and tell.

    .... WHAT.

    I'm going to try to address what I think you are talking about. I have not run the ghetto air chamber in quite a while, haven't really needed to since I moved most the hard drives into my server. The red heatsink makes great contact to everything that produces heat other than the core itself. I left the radial fan attached to provide a bit of airflow over the VRM area.

    Earlier this week I flashed the BIOS to that of the ASUS TOP 4870. This gives me a max of 900MHz on the core straight through CCC. There is no way I'm going to need it to be any higher.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    I am also looking at at where there are indentions on the still attached read sink where the copper contact plate for the AL sink was touching. But you already said you haven't seen any kind of issue with it so far.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    _k_ wrote:
    I am also looking at at where there are indentions on the still attached read sink where the copper contact plate for the AL sink was touching. But you already said you haven't seen any kind of issue with it so far.

    Ah, I see what you are saying. However, when the cooler is fully assembled the copper sink does not touch the red aluminum one at all. They both attach directly to the card and come close but do not touch. If they did, the memory would surely get roasted.

    EDIT: Perhaps a pic will help clarify.
    copperbottom.JPG
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    If you don't want to destroy the red cover, make a mold of it and make one out of fiberglass. could be a fun project.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    Yes, helps.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    Initial results @ stock speeds:

    Stock cooler:
    Idle - 80C
    Load - 87C

    MCW60 on existing loop:
    Idle - 37C
    Load - 44C

    :rockon:

    Now to see what this does (if anything) for the OC.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    OK, so apparently last night I somehow killed two of the three fans on my radiator while tearing down and rebuilding but didn't notice until just a few minutes ago. After switching the dead ones out this is where I'm at:

    Stock speeds:
    Idle - 32C
    Load - 41C

    Max overclock so far 830/1100:
    Idle - 35C
    Load - 46C

    So yeah, I'm pretty happy. The only downside is that Q6600 load temps have gone up ~4C, but that's not really a big deal. I will have to use AMD GPU Clock Tool to push memory higher but I don't think it will go too much further without having to drop the core clock. It feels like I'm tapping out the current power draw, but we'll see. I'm trying to resist the volt-mod.

    Also, some details for those who may be interested:

    Pump: Swiftech MCP-655B
    CPU: Swiftech Apogee GT
    GPU: Swiftech MCW60
    Rad: Thermochill PA120.3
    all barbs are 1/2" and tubing is 7/16" Tygon R-3400
    no res

    EDIT: I should also add that load temps were acquired with FurMark. A few hours of Crysis & TF2 tonight; never went over 40C (this is with OC)
  • bullzisniprbullzisnipr Topeka, KS
    edited August 2008
    temps look great. do you have a picture of the piping all in the case?
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    do you have a picture of the piping all in the case?

    heh. Yeah, I 'll get one up in the next 48 hours when I have had a chance to get everything cleaned up. This was one of three major projects for me this weekend so my whole desk is a disaster:

    postprojects.JPG
  • bullzisniprbullzisnipr Topeka, KS
    edited August 2008
    sweet. what order do you have the components for the water cooling? im guessing cpu, gpu, radiator and repeat?
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    Rad In The Fridge Rad In The Fridge.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    sweet. what order do you have the components for the water cooling? im guessing cpu, gpu, radiator and repeat?

    Correct.
    _k_ wrote:
    Rad In The Fridge Rad In The Fridge.

    I know I've talked about doing this since before I got the fridge, but man ... that's some precious real estate in there :wink:. Plus, it's not like I need to; it'd just be fun.

    Also, UPDATE. The thermal compound has had time to burn in and I repositioned the radiator to get cooler air. Load temps even under FurMark are 41C :D
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    are those blue moon bottles?

    good man :thumbsup:
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    fatcat wrote:
    are those blue moon bottles?

    good man :thumbsup:

    ;D that's the first thing I noticed, too. ^5
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    fatcat wrote:
    are those blue moon bottles?

    good man :thumbsup:
    ;D that's the first thing I noticed, too. ^5

    All projects begin with the same 2 steps:

    1) Prepare work area

    2) Open cold beer
  • ZuntarZuntar North Carolina Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    mas0n wrote:
    All projects begin with the same 2 steps:

    1) Prepare work area

    2) Open cold beer

    Good boy!:wink:

    BTW nice stuff Mas0n!
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    do you have a picture of the piping all in the case?

    I'm not completely finished putting everything back together but here are some pics. Case is Antec P180B.
  • bullzisniprbullzisnipr Topeka, KS
    edited August 2008
    looks very nice man, very well done. just a bit of finishing touches and it'll look great! ill be consulting you when i attempt water cooling :p
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    Uh i want to put my sli in a loop, Mason since you are starting a consulting business why don't you sponsor me for your skillz and buy me those swiftech blocks i showed you. Very nice cable management, never seen inside your rig.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    _k_ wrote:
    Uh i want to put my sli in a loop, Mason since you are starting a consulting business why don't you sponsor me for your skillz and buy me those swiftech blocks i showed you. Very nice cable management, never seen inside your rig.

    I'll definitely help, but yeah, you'll be buying your own blocks. And again, I know full coverage blocks are sexy, but they are also expensive and have very low compatability. For the price of 1 full coverage block you could buy 2 GPU blocks + ramsinks and have money left over. The MCW60 works on 30 different cards and is a much better investment than any full coverage block. You just have to make sure the card has some airflow to it which should not be an issue in your case.

    The other thing people tend to like about full coverage blocks is that they can be easier to use for SLi/Crossfire setups, but flexible tubing and coils can do wonders. Full coverage blocks can also reduce flowrate more than GPU-only blocks which can be an issue if you want a CPU and 2 GPU in the loop.
  • KometeKomete Member
    edited December 2008
    I know this is an older thread but it is new to me. Anyways, I've always wanted to try and glue hex nipple's (it's not an S&M thing) to the memory chips and run water through them in an S pattern. Even running water through brass would be better at cooling them than the best glued on tiny heat sinks.

    The main obstacle, in your case, would be to find a glue that would be alcohol solvable so that they can be safely removed when you want to sell you card.



    Here is a link to a Hex nipple. http://cgi.ebay.com/Buyers-3-8-M-NPTF-x-1-2-M-NPTF-Hex-Nipple_W0QQitemZ280282350628QQcmdZViewItem

    If you need me to I can sketchup an example if you don't get it.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited April 2009
    That's interesting, your actualy drawing enough cooling just by leaving that aluminum sheet on with the cage fan going? Without the cover, I figured it would not be effective at guiding the air needed to cool the GDDR5.

    I do so some modern waterblocks now that cool the entire card, would that be a better option?
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited April 2009
    Also do you have the GPU fan going, or is the sheet of aluminum making contact enough passive cooling for the ram?
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited April 2009
    That's interesting, your actualy drawing enough cooling just by leaving that aluminum sheet on with the cage fan going? Without the cover, I figured it would not be effective at guiding the air needed to cool the GDDR5.

    I do so some modern waterblocks now that cool the entire card, would that be a better option?

    Just having the aluminum plate in contact with the modules keeps them plenty cool and the heatsink stays cool to the touch. I keep the fan running at 10% to pass a little bit of air over the plate, but mainly to cool the power circuitry.

    I personally avoid full coverage blocks because they cost 2-3 times as much as a good GPU block and have extremely low compatability. Quite frankly, their only advantage is aesthetic, IMO.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited April 2009
    Thanks Mason - That is outstanding info, I would have never thought to do this. When I give it a go I will follow up.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited April 2009
    OK, so "cool to the touch" isn't quite accurate. I got home and checked with the IR thermometer; nowhere on the red heatsink is hotter than 44C. Still pretty good. I don't think the 4000 series report temperature from the modules themselves.

    :cheers:
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