TR Forums

Hi everybody,

I've got a question, maybe somebody can help: I got an Nvidia GTX 670 from Gainward with a stock cooling soluton (radiatior and single fan) last week, it's a wonderful card, but it's relatively loud while playing Battlefield 3 at 2560x1440.
I'm wondering if there is a drop-in, closed-loop watercooling solution that I may be able to mount on the GPU instead of the stock fan (which I find whines a little too much).
Additional info: it's the regular GTX670 from Gainward, not the "Phantom", which seems to have a better, quieter cooling solution.

I'm looking for something like my H80 watercooler from Corsair, and I haven't been able to find anything like this so far - it's an untapped market if there really is nobody making these things yet.

Thank you for any feedback whatsoever

You said it has a "stock" air cooler...but are you certain the card is reference design? That will count a lot when you will be looking for compatible coolers.

Anyhow, i don't know if it's compatible but check it out, read some reviews (if there are any yet) and check out the manufacturer's site for more info (if any):
http://www.kitguru.net/components/cooli ... rd-cooler/

Arclight, thank you very much for that link. I am going to check the exact type of cooling setup when I get home.

I think this type of cooling solution has a lot of potential for GPUs. I would totally do this.

There might be something wrong with your GTX670... my EVGA Superclocked doesn't have this issue, it's barely audible when playing BF3 at 2560x1600.

Hi, I have checked which card I have got - it's this one, with the Nvidia reference design.
http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=881&lang=en

I have just finished playing a few rounds of BF3 - as I've said the benchmarks do not lie, the GTX 670 runs BF3 very nicely at 2560x1440 - but the whining noise from the fan
is a bit annoying for me (sensitive) ears. As a subjective reference, I could hear my former GPU, a Radeon HD 6950 through my headset as well, but the fan noise was more of a "whoosh" sound rather than the slight whining sound of the GTX 670. It just does not sound good enough for a €400 card

I am going to start monitoring fan speed and temperatures with GPU-Z, Gainward's "Expert Tool", and perhaps with Rivatuner, too, and will report back here.

The Arctic Cooling solution looks very nice, but none of my favourite e-tailers in Germany seem to have it listed as "coming soon". I guess I will have to wait until June to buy it,
but I am still hopeful I can get the noise under control with some software tools...

Anyway, anybody else got any input on GTX 670 noise?
Airmantharp does not seem to have any issues with his EVGA Superclocked unit, but perhaps there are more of gerbils you who can chime in?

Testing update: GPU goes up to 80°C, fan speed stays between 2100 and 2400 RPM (around 50-56%). So far, nothing out of the ordinary. It's just an ugly, whiny fan noise...

I will say that EVGA customized the shroud on the Superclocked- apparently they made the intake duct smaller, which reduced the load noise/softened the load noise profile.

In any case, it works; if you're finding the stock card too noisy, I'd suggest returning it for a good aftermarket cooled one, or if you need an exhausting blower, EVGA's Superclocked (or higher).

I'd bet you'd need to use a push/pull fan configuration with a single radiator kit, just like with the CPU kits, to get temperatures in line with the top performing air coolers. I've heard/seen a few of the Corsair kits in use now and I wasn't impressed once you considered in the installation annoyances (there's an endless stream of poorly placed Corsair kits all over the web, either they're not positioned as an intake or in cases that haven't been reconfigured to take advantage), the cost, and noise levels. Now take that to a GPU and I'm even more questionable of the benefits. For one of those kits + your initial purchase you could have a GTX680.

Washer wrote:

I'd bet you'd need to use a push/pull fan configuration with a single radiator kit, just like with the CPU kits, to get temperatures in line with the top performing air coolers. I've heard/seen a few of the Corsair kits in use now and I wasn't impressed once you considered in the installation annoyances (there's an endless stream of poorly placed Corsair kits all over the web, either they're not positioned as an intake or in cases that haven't been reconfigured to take advantage), the cost, and noise levels. Now take that to a GPU and I'm even more questionable of the benefits. For one of those kits + your initial purchase you could have a GTX680.

Pretty much .

I'm using an H60 on my 2500k, exhausting, but I also have 2x120mm and 4x140mm fans set as low-RPM intakes. It's extremely quiet, and with filters on the fans, the inside of the case stays pristine. No dust clogging my fans or H60 radiator!

Airmantharp wrote:

Washer wrote:

I'd bet you'd need to use a push/pull fan configuration with a single radiator kit, just like with the CPU kits, to get temperatures in line with the top performing air coolers. I've heard/seen a few of the Corsair kits in use now and I wasn't impressed once you considered in the installation annoyances (there's an endless stream of poorly placed Corsair kits all over the web, either they're not positioned as an intake or in cases that haven't been reconfigured to take advantage), the cost, and noise levels. Now take that to a GPU and I'm even more questionable of the benefits. For one of those kits + your initial purchase you could have a GTX680.

Pretty much .

I'm using an H60 on my 2500k, exhausting, but I also have 2x120mm and 4x140mm fans set as low-RPM intakes. It's extremely quiet, and with filters on the fans, the inside of the case stays pristine. No dust clogging my fans or H60 radiator!

What case is this?

The Fractal Design Define R3 in my sig. I took the 120mm fan off the back and put on the front, put the H60 there, and then put in four 140mm fans, all set to intake and run at at lowest possible speeds.

Airmantharp wrote:

The Fractal Design Define R3 in my sig. I took the 120mm fan off the back and put on the front, put the H60 there, and then put in four 140mm fans, all set to intake and run at at lowest possible speeds.

So your only exhaust is through the H60 radiator? Isn't it more optimal to intake cool air through those?

DeadOfKnight wrote:

Airmantharp wrote:

The Fractal Design Define R3 in my sig. I took the 120mm fan off the back and put on the front, put the H60 there, and then put in four 140mm fans, all set to intake and run at at lowest possible speeds.

So your only exhaust is through the H60 radiator? Isn't it more optimal to intake cool air through those?

Absolutely, if your case isn't set up like mine.

Airmantharp wrote:

DeadOfKnight wrote:

Airmantharp wrote:

The Fractal Design Define R3 in my sig. I took the 120mm fan off the back and put on the front, put the H60 there, and then put in four 140mm fans, all set to intake and run at at lowest possible speeds.

So your only exhaust is through the H60 radiator? Isn't it more optimal to intake cool air through those?

Absolutely, if your case isn't set up like mine.

LOL, you're so proud of your machine. When are you gonna stop talking about it and start showing us pictures?

DeadOfKnight wrote:

Airmantharp wrote:

DeadOfKnight wrote:

So your only exhaust is through the H60 radiator? Isn't it more optimal to intake cool air through those?

Absolutely, if your case isn't set up like mine.

LOL, you're so proud of your machine. When are you gonna stop talking about it and start showing us pictures?

When I get my 'photo-lab' set up .

I've gotten into photography lately, and I have a setup similar to what TR uses to take their pictures. Honestly though, there's not much to share- building computers is so dumbfounding-ly easy, it's the planning that takes time (and that's what we're here for!).

A water cooling discussion (almost) on TR? What a rare treat!

I recently put together a semi half-arsed custom loop consisting of a 3x120 and 2x120 rads cooling an HD 7970, 3930k and a VRM block for the CPU. I assembled it in my old Antec 1200 case. All the rads are internal. The 3x120 rad is at the bottom front and the 2x120 is at the top rear (the Antec 1200 has dual vertical fan mounts at the back that, with a bit of finagling, you can squeeze a low profile 2x120 rad (doesn't necessarily have to be thin, just not as long as some 2x120 rads) that bolts right in. And I could still put the video card in the top PCIe x16 slot (but only barely). Not much modding of the case was required either. I did have to remove the drive cages to mount the 3x120, then modded the bottom most one so that it was of shorter depth so I could still use it (though not with original attachments to the frame) to mount my 2 SSDs and 2 HDDs. Pretty much the only other thing I needed to mod were the custom dust filters.

Both rads are intaking air and the top 200mm fan is the only exhaust. I think this works OK because, though the fans for each rad are blowing in the opposite direction, they are not facing each other as the 3x120 rad is pretty much completely below the rear 2x120. Having the rads internal and intaking air like that still guarantees a good amount of cooler external air passing over components, which you often don't get with water cooling setups.

It was kind of fun, and I'm glad I tried it, but I'm not certain its worth the effort or cost for most systems (mine included).