O-Dog's Rig Updates (Pic Heavy) Now with 200% more 290X!

[Activate: AMD]

Done some work in a couple of my rigs, so figured I might post up some pics and junk

Re-did my WC loop due to an overheating problem with one of my GPU's. I randomly started getting hard resets and crashes during gaming and was able to track the problem back to one of my cards temps skyrocketing during gaming, likely due to the block losing contact with the core. Prior to this latest update I had two waterblocks that did not match, an EK and an XSPC. The XSPC obviously didn't perform anywhere close to the EK, with core temps 20C higher and no active cooling on the VRMs (the EK has water flow over the VRMs) Because of this, rather than re-seat the block to try to fix my issues, I just decided to replace both blocks and get a matching set.

Rig:
i7-4770k
Maximus VI Hero
2x AMD 7970

Loop:
XSPC Raystorm
2x EK FC7970 CSQ
XSPC RX360
Alphacool XT45 140mm
Laing D5 w/ EK X-res top/res combo
Various fittings, mostly XSPC 7/16"

Before:
This is the only photo I can find right now showing the overall layout, but its from assembly and doesn't have all the tubing in place. Cell phone pic is pretty crappy.

And after 6+ months of running with the side panel off and a fan blowing directly onto the VRM's of the lower card to compensate for the crappy cooling, it was pretty gross in there. Also shows the awkwardness of trying to connect 2 mismatched cards for serial cooling. Since the ports didn't line up exactly, putting that piece of tubing in there was really frustrating and even when I finally got it all together it was still too long. The stress from the long tube is probably what eventually caused the block to separate from the core, compounded by the fact that XSPC only put screw threads at 3 out of the 4 hole locations around the core, unlike every other manufacturer.


After: Blocks installed, new individually sleeved cable extensions and a whole lot of cleaning done

[Activate: AMD]

Reserved

[V3Stream]

Holy watercooling batman! sweet build, loving the white tubing!

[Activate: AMD]

Holy watercooling batman! sweet build, loving the white tubing!

Appreciated

[Pc geek]

Man sweet rig! Do you ever have any problems with high Vrm temps?

[Activate: AMD]

Man sweet rig! Do you ever have any problems with high Vrm temps?

On the motherboard? Definitely not. I could get a VRM block and put it into the loop, but that would strictly be for street cred. To be fair, I haven't pushed the CPU too hard overclocking it yet, but even then my understanding is that the power draw on these haswells is low enough and the VRMs are overbuilt enough for it to be a non-issue

On the GPU's, not problems per se, but with the old water blocks they would get really really hot. I didn't have any issues with VRM related shut-downs, but its just a bit scary seeing numbers that high (90C+). These new EK blocks are good though, with actively cooled VRMs so the VRM temps are right around the core temps (~45-50C under full load)

[Activate: AMD]

Major update, Click to embiggen all pictures

Mail guy dropped off some presents:


I was so excited I didn't even take a "before" pic, but they looked like this:
XFX 290X Double Dissipation

Naked


Thermal pads... I cut these myself then realized that they were pre-scored


Firepowah!


Installed!


Brick o' 7970's, they served me well!

[Lenny]

Wow. Very nice!

[zetachi]

Jelly

[iwalkwithedead]

Those XFX cards are sexy. A nice block is good to look at as well but man, stock is just sexy.

Jelly indeed.

[drkCrix]

Overclock those things yet?

[Activate: AMD]

Those XFX cards are sexy. A nice block is good to look at as well but man, stock is just sexy.

Jelly indeed.

Yea, XFX did a great job on their stock HSF's. I also like the matte PCB, which is completely covered by the block and backplate. That said, even if the stock HSF is quiet, removing the 4 small-ish fans from the GPU's makes a real improvement in noise signature. That was the first thing I really noticed when I first put my 7970's under water.

Overclock those things yet?

Not yet. I'm not sure I'm in a rush to do it either, the added heat over the 7970's is real and overclocking would just be taking it to another level.

[modru2004]

Yea, XFX did a great job on their stock HSF's. I also like the matte PCB, which is completely covered by the block and backplate. That said, even if the stock HSF is quiet, removing the 4 small-ish fans from the GPU's makes a real improvement in noise signature. That was the first thing I really noticed when I first put my 7970's under water.

Not yet. I'm not sure I'm in a rush to do it either, the added heat over the 7970's is real and overclocking would just be taking it to another level.

ive been toying with the idea of crossfire 290x but id need a new motherboard. considering taking that 8350 from the last vlan buying a crossfire motherboard for it and swapping out my i7 2600k. over all performance difference is negligible vs the 2600k especially in gaming where the 8350 is only a few fps behind the 4790k. or i could just buy a motherboard for the 2600k........but i kinda feel like thats a waste. at least with the 8350 route i have the stuff for two systems. or i could "upgrade" to haswell but again the performance difference in gaming is generally 3-5 fps. just can't see it being worth the extra $450 id have to spend. decisions decisions.

[Activate: AMD]

ive been toying with the idea of crossfire 290x but id need a new motherboard. considering taking that 8350 from the last vlan buying a crossfire motherboard for it and swapping out my i7 2600k. over all performance difference is negligible vs the 2600k especially in gaming where the 8350 is only a few fps behind the 4790k. or i could just buy a motherboard for the 2600k........but i kinda feel like thats a waste. at least with the 8350 route i have the stuff for two systems. or i could "upgrade" to haswell but again the performance difference in gaming is generally 3-5 fps. just can't see it being worth the extra $450 id have to spend. decisions decisions.

What motherboard do you have right now? You should be able to find a fairly inexpensive z68/z77 motherboard out there to swap. Even some pretty inexpensive motherboards do crossfire (which is why i'm surprised that you're saying yours doesn't)

[modru2004]

What motherboard do you have right now? You should be able to find a fairly inexpensive z68/z77 motherboard out there to swap. Even some pretty inexpensive motherboards do crossfire (which is why i'm surprised that you're saying yours doesn't)

well it technically does. but its a pci-e 3.0 16x pci-e 2.0 4x combo. biostar TP67B+. it was right around the time sandy bridge rolled out and IIRC they were having supply issues at the time and there weren't a whole lot of options to choose from. i think there was some sort of chipset issue that had to be sorted? or am i thinking of something else? anyway thats what i have.

edit:

also sandy bridge stuff is still stupidly expensive. i can buy haswell stuff for the same price. (new stuff) haven't tried to source any used stuff.