What size radiator for gpu overclocking?

[CookieMunster73]

GPU is 1080 FE.

[Sapph]

Anything really. Even just 120mm will be better than most air coolers.
240mm is of course optimal. Anything bigger will mostly be wasted potential.

[Arya]

I need more info; what kind of loop are you planning to use, and what kind of case do you have?

[CookieMunster73]

I'm gonna use a NZXT Kraken M22 with the Kraken G12 mount. Case is varying right now. What I'm looking at is the Corsair Crystal 460X and the Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L.

[Monk]

As big as you can afford to go really, jayz2cents recently did a video where he used4 480mm rads to get the cards down to near ambient temperatures.
A 240 will do a better job than the stock cooler in most cases, a 360 would be better.
The old rule of a 120mm rad for each component and double that for overclocking still works, but with pascal performing better the cooler you get it (albeit not by much), there is no overkill really.

Though, budget should be heavily considered, go to mad and you would be better off selling the 1080 and getting a 1080ti under air instead as it would be cheaper and faster as watercooling gets very expensive, very fast.

[Arya]

İlk olarak CookieMunster73 tarafından gönderildi:

I'm gonna use a NZXT Kraken M22 with the Kraken G12 mount. Case is varying right now. What I'm looking at is the Corsair Crystal 460X and the Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L.

Cases are extremely important for liquid cooling, you need enough space for your radiator and with the Kraken that bracket needs to fall within easy reach 0of the inlet and output tubes. Neither of those cases is a good fit.

I would recommend Phanteks for liquid cooling, failing that BeQuiet. They both offer very good Liquid Cooling support. They'd be a lot easier to work with, and both brands easily outdo Corsair and Cooler Master for build quality

[Kaihekoa]

360mm radiator for a single GTX 1080 with direct die contact seems pretty overkill. If you're spending all this money on cooling, might as well have ♥♥♥♥♥♥ a 1080 Ti.

[Monk]

Yeah, best option would really be an EK fluid kit over the kraken, it would look better also.

[Arya]

İlk olarak Kaihekoa tarafından gönderildi:

360mm radiator for a single GTX 1080 with direct die contact seems pretty overkill. If you're spending all this money on cooling, might as well have ♥♥♥♥♥♥ a 1080 Ti.

I would've spent the money upgrading the CPU's cooling instead. That's where the gains are going to be, from my experience Pascal leaves little room for improvement.

I should say, as a disclaimer, my experience of Pascal overclocking comes from a slightly odd card. I have an Asus Strix O8G, a briefly-produced version of the 1080 with a major overclock. And I've had very little success improving on that, Asus seems to have found the limit of the early-production 1080 and pegged the O8G right on it.

Extra cooling might help a little, but Direct Cu-III is already the best air cooler on the market and I'm not sure how much you'd gain from it.

İlk olarak Monk tarafından gönderildi:

Yeah, best option would really be an EK fluid kit over the kraken, it would look better also.

Funny you say that, I finished leak testing my EK Supremacy kit this morning. It's been a pleasure to work with, now I've actually got the concentration and spare time to create a working loop with it.

[Alfresco Rhythm]

Bigger rad and slower fans.

[Arya]

İlk olarak Alfresco Rhythm tarafından gönderildi:

Bigger rad and slower fans.

Funny thing about radiators; bigger radiators can actually perform worse.

Rads built around 120mm fans usually outperform 140 based models. 120s are very good at forcing air through the radiator core, which makes the system much more efficient. 140s are good at pushing air through a case, but they don't handle high pressure tasks very well. You tend to get hot-air pooling inside the core, and that means higher temps.

TLDR: A 240 usually beats a 280. Small is beautiful. Fast fans are ideal.

[CookieMunster73]

Is that true?

[Revelene]

You could just use the G12 bracket and any ol' AIO, and get temps well under 60c overclocked. Well within optimal temp parameters for Pascal's GPU Boost to be steady and efficient.

Any temps lower yield with diminishing returns. Voltage is the true limiting factor with Pascal, not temp. Even most AIB partner air cooling solutions hold Pascal under 70c.

I recommend getting a G12 bracket with an AIO or just upping to a 1080 Ti, because the money you are willing to spend on cooling can be better spent towards a better gpu.

[CookieMunster73]

Ok. Thanks for the advice.

[Arya]

İlk olarak CookieMunster73 tarafından gönderildi:

Is that true?

I know it sounds weird, but it's true. It comes down to two things.

Radiator cores produce a lot of air resistance, you have to force-feed air through the core for it to work effectively. Otherwise hot air can pool inside the core and that seriously hurts efficiency.

Larger fans generally spin slower. Most 140s are designed to be quiet rather than powerful, and don't generate enough airflow to run a radiator efficiently. High-Static Pressure 120mm fans are much louder, but they produce the kind of pressure you need. And you can buy specialized radiator fans iin that size, like the EK Vardar-120.

Larger rads actually have some major downsides. Longer rads need extra fans, which adds to costs. You also need to power them, and full-size 360 rads usually need a dedicated USB Fan Hub(worth $50+). Thicker cores need more airflow, again that means more fans. My system has a 360 by 62 millimetre LC Solutions rad, and that needs six fans and it's own fan hub.

For custom loops, bigger rads also guzzle more coolant. My complete loop needs $80 worth of coolant to fill, or two and a half bottles.

[Monk]

to be fair you dont really need push pull until you are on the monster 80mm thick rads, but, yeah i guess at 62mm you are getting close, i just run 45mm rads myself, for reference aio's tend to be around 23mm.

depending on the fans you use, those costs can add up VERY fast.

i baulked at the last minute on using fancy coolant (primochill vue which i still want) as just using standard clear water lets me swap colours when ever i want and the vue would of sort of made me stick to just one, that, and due to a fault on my cpu i had to drain the loop after only a week, and it would of cost £120!!!!!! to fill it (or 4 bottles lol).

Given that i want to extend my cooling by 4 more 480mm rads, i dont think ill ever get to use vue as it will just be insane to spent £200 on coolant lol.