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Topic: Affordable, but good water cooling gpu system? (Read 958 times)

hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
January 08, 2014, 03:27:58 PM
#10
I began with XSPC pump/reservoir combo. First one was faulty and so was second one. Then i desided to go with EK. Best choise i made. Now I use EK D5 pump and Alphacool reservoir, EK GPU block and EK CPU block. Rads are Alphacool (120 and 240) which are ok. Using 5 fans (3 for the rads, 2 for case intake), all are 120mm 1400rpm Gentle Typhoons. Really quiet setup. And keeps my R9 290 cool. These aren't very cheap, but imo worth it. You don't want to build a watercooling system with low quality parts. If something breaks it might (probably will) break alot of components.

Edit: My PC ain't really built for cryptomining, even if I use it for it pretty much. This is more of a budget gaming PC and for me it is important that it doesn't make too much noise as it disturbs me. Roll Eyes

Thanks for reminding me of EK water cooling systems. Yup, definitely don't want coolant dripping on the electrical components.

I've seen and heard a swiftech close loop system, those are pretty quiet. I might go that route, if the Kraken is that loud. Anything is probably quieter than 80%~100% fan speed of a reference cooler...lol

I wouldn't consider the Kraken loud at all for a mining rig.
It's reasonably quiet for a gaming rig, rarely needing to be kicked up to 100%, if ever.

What ever is in my budget between Swiftech, Kraken and EK, but still silent enough for me.

Thanks guys for the input....
newbie
Activity: 36
Merit: 0
I've seen and heard a swiftech close loop system, those are pretty quiet. I might go that route, if the Kraken is that loud. Anything is probably quieter than 80%~100% fan speed of a reference cooler...lol

I wouldn't consider the Kraken loud at all for a mining rig.
It's reasonably quiet for a gaming rig, rarely needing to be kicked up to 100%, if ever.
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
I began with XSPC pump/reservoir combo. First one was faulty and so was second one. Then i desided to go with EK. Best choise i made. Now I use EK D5 pump and Alphacool reservoir, EK GPU block and EK CPU block. Rads are Alphacool (120 and 240) which are ok. Using 5 fans (3 for the rads, 2 for case intake), all are 120mm 1400rpm Gentle Typhoons. Really quiet setup. And keeps my R9 290 cool. These aren't very cheap, but imo worth it. You don't want to build a watercooling system with low quality parts. If something breaks it might (probably will) break alot of components.

Edit: My PC ain't really built for cryptomining, even if I use it for it pretty much. This is more of a budget gaming PC and for me it is important that it doesn't make too much noise as it disturbs me. Roll Eyes
hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
Ok, I'll keep an eye out for it. I might try to find some used switftech and/or other name brand water cooling systems. Maybe Craigslist or ebay.

I actually just did a bit more research on it.
The G10 is a mounting bracket for other presealed watercoolers.
So if you bought the Kraken X60 (A very capable cooler) for $125 and the G10 for $30, which answers pretty much all the problems with mounting a CPU cooler to a video card, it would run you about $300.
Which is worth it, IMO if you're going for LC.
I haven't seen a bad review of the Kraken, period.
Actually, I think I saw one. Pump and fan on max is a little noisy, but the cooling it offers at this setting even beat the HD-D14, so...

I've seen and heard a swiftech close loop system, those are pretty quiet. I might go that route, if the Kraken is that loud. Anything is probably quieter than 80%~100% fan speed of a reference cooler...lol
newbie
Activity: 36
Merit: 0
Ok, I'll keep an eye out for it. I might try to find some used switftech and/or other name brand water cooling systems. Maybe Craigslist or ebay.

I actually just did a bit more research on it.
The G10 is a mounting bracket for other presealed watercoolers.
So if you bought the Kraken X60 (A very capable cooler) for $125 and the G10 for $30, which answers pretty much all the problems with mounting a CPU cooler to a video card, it would run you about $300.
Which is worth it, IMO if you're going for LC.
I haven't seen a bad review of the Kraken, period.
Actually, I think I saw one. Pump and fan on max is a little noisy, but the cooling it offers at this setting even beat the HD-D14, so...
hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
I believe NZXT released a presealed GPU watercooler, and it's pretty close to the Kraken in terms of performance.
So pretty good given what it is, but still not cost-effective.
You can, with some modding, put a CPU tower cooler on a GPU and it cools very well, but you need something done with the memory temps.

How much do those NZXT systems go for? I've seen Kraken CPU cooler and how much those cost? I do see a lot of cheaper generic systems on ebay, but don't trust the build quality on those. Guess I can put heat sinks on the memory modules.

Kind of tired of all the noise these reference fans are making and I want to have superior cooling too...LOL

It's the Kraken G10 and it doesn't look like it's released yet.
Or it was released, but sold out and is waiting on round two.

Ok, I'll keep an eye out for it. I might try to find some used switftech and/or other name brand water cooling systems. Maybe Craigslist or ebay.
newbie
Activity: 36
Merit: 0
I believe NZXT released a presealed GPU watercooler, and it's pretty close to the Kraken in terms of performance.
So pretty good given what it is, but still not cost-effective.
You can, with some modding, put a CPU tower cooler on a GPU and it cools very well, but you need something done with the memory temps.

How much do those NZXT systems go for? I've seen Kraken CPU cooler and how much those cost? I do see a lot of cheaper generic systems on ebay, but don't trust the build quality on those. Guess I can put heat sinks on the memory modules.

Kind of tired of all the noise these reference fans are making and I want to have superior cooling too...LOL

It's the Kraken G10 and it doesn't look like it's released yet.
Or it was released, but sold out and is waiting on round two.
hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
I believe NZXT released a presealed GPU watercooler, and it's pretty close to the Kraken in terms of performance.
So pretty good given what it is, but still not cost-effective.
You can, with some modding, put a CPU tower cooler on a GPU and it cools very well, but you need something done with the memory temps.

How much do those NZXT systems go for? I've seen Kraken CPU cooler and how much those cost? I do see a lot of cheaper generic systems on ebay, but don't trust the build quality on those. Guess I can put heat sinks on the memory modules.

Kind of tired of all the noise these reference fans are making and I want to have superior cooling too...LOL
newbie
Activity: 36
Merit: 0
I believe NZXT released a presealed GPU watercooler, and it's pretty close to the Kraken in terms of performance.
So pretty good given what it is, but still not cost-effective.
You can, with some modding, put a CPU tower cooler on a GPU and it cools very well, but you need something done with the memory temps.
hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
Looking to buy an affordable priced water cooling system for my HD 6900's series (2 of them)and HD 5870's (2 of these also) cards. I'm on a budget, but don't want to buy any thing that is too unreliable either. What's sites and/or store can I buy them at? I know Swiftech is one of the manufactures, but they can be on the high side of my budget. Any thoughts and/or ideas are greatly appreciated in advance...
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