Is it worth it to watercool a RTX 3070 ?

[Ariortega]

Hello community,

I replaced my RTX 2060 Super with a new EVGA RTX 3070 XC3 Ultra.
I'm playing my games on a resolution of 1440p @ 60 ~ 144fps (depends on the game I'm playing since not all games need to be played at 144fps).

Why am I considering to watercool my gpu? It's not because of overclocking and getting the last drop of perfomance out of my card. I'm more into low temperatures and especially into silent systems (trying to keep my rig as silent as possible since I'm sensitive to noise).

Would you guys watercool your RTX 3070?

(Information: I would use a 360 radiator with push /pull and a 240 radiator with push / exhaust fans).

[Prof. Insanity]

I don't see a reason to watercool it when you don't plan to overclock it in order to seriously get the last out of the card. It has a tripple fan cooling solution. The card runs at 220 tdp, so it's very unlikely it will run that hot.

[Monk]

If you go the 'cheap' approach or have half the parts already it wouldn't be too bad, bykski do some great blocks this gen, not sure if your cards covered, but, if they are, they are pretty cheap and work great, know a few people running them on 3090's and I'm waiting for a couple to turn up to do the same.

On the other hand if you are looking at expensive stuff, then, no, you are better off selling the 3070 and putting the £400-1000 the loop would cost you towards a better gpu.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

I pretty much refuse to buy non-liquid-cooled GPUs now; pretty much ever since the GTX 9xx series came out.

The problem with RTX 30 series though is if you do not buy it already liquid cooled, you may have a hard time finding a proper water-block to fit your model of GPU.

[Ariortega]

Thanks for your response so far guys. Thing is: my cpu (i7-8700K) is already being watercooled (custom loop, EK-WB pump + 240mm radiator).

So stuff I'd have to get would be: 360mm radiator, 6x fans and of course the waterblock for my RTX 3070 which would be the EK-Quantum Vector XC3 RTX 3070 (special waterblock made for the EVGA RTX 3070 XC3)

So finding a proper waterblock is no problem at all since I already found a nice and probably high-end one. Question that remains: is it worth it to spend that much money for "just" a watercooled RTX 3070? I'm undecided.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Hmm no; just buy EVGA Hybrid GPU = Done

[Monk]

引用自 Bad 💀 Motha：

Hmm no; just buy EVGA Hybrid GPU = Done

Don't do this, evga's (like most) aio solutions are pretty awful compared to full cover blocks.

Sadly, I just looked and evga seems to be the only 3070 bykski doesn't make a block for (they are like £75 so less than half of ek and work every bit as well).

Unless your going with a 60mm+ rad there is zero need for push pull.

Really a 240 is enough for a 3070, especially if you aren't overclocking it (though you really should).

Value is down to you, but, while you are at it, depending on your mobo picking up a cheap 9900k could be a more worthwhile upgrade for the money.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

That's why I have a 10 year warranty.
Besides if I wanted to I can just grab an off-the-shelf AIO and stick it on there if ever needed to.
Full water-blocks are fine; but you require a certain model GPU for that.
Otherwise you have to buy a custom one for your model.
The AIO solution works fairly well though.

[Prof. Insanity]

Does someone even have a decent answer how much the thermals are going down at the 3070 with a waterblock?
We talk about a 220 tdp card, overclocking doesn't seem to be in his interest.
Investing that much money into that specific model even tho it has a tripple fan design with decent thermals already ; at this point the GPU's reached MSRP prices probably again before the GPU took significant damage by long term heat.
There are enough reports that state, that the card has after 30minutes full load 68° -- Which is more than fine for a GPU.

[Monk]

It would likely run at 40-50c.

But if he's not bothered about overclocking he could just as easily run the card with silent fans now.

[Ariortega]

@ Monk:

I have a MSI Z370 M5 mainboard and as far as I know my VRMs couldn't handle an i9-9900K, the majority of people advise against using that cpu on a Z370 board. And I'm not willing to upgrade my whole system just yet (maybe next year winter jumping to LGA 1200 with i7-10900K and a Z590 board). For now I'm sticking with my Z370 M5 + i7-8700K.

@Prof. Insanity:

I think it is safe to say, that both, idle temps and temps under load will significantly decrease with waterblock / custom waterloop. And the most important thing - at least to me - you will remove the noise from GPU. With a 360mm radiator in the front and an 240mm radiator on the top and an adequate fanspeed setting my whole system should be dead silent (and cool of course).

My only concern remains that whole amount of money that needs to be spended, the EK Quantum gpu waterblock is not amongst the cheapest. I could wait of course till the end of November when the whole sale action will be going on.

[CravenCoyote]

My water cooled RTX 3070 (MSI Gaming X Trio) typically runs between 40 and 45c under load if that helps. It's in a custom loop with an Alphacool block.

e;
For the loop, I'm using 2x 360 rads. One on intake (side) and one on exhaust (top). Using a Corsair XD5 pump and Corsair XC7 CPU block on an i7 10700k

[dOBER]

Is it worth for a 3070? In my option no because you could have bought a 3080 for this money you paid for a 3070 + block/rad/fittings.

Custom loop is always questionable/enthusiast level because you pay a lot for 5-7% raw power compare to good air cards. In your case only for lower noise is strange but yes there are people who want silent pc. If you think its worth fine but i guess most people here will disagree.

[Prof. Insanity]

引用自 Ariortega：

@ Monk:

I have a MSI Z370 M5 mainboard and as far as I know my VRMs couldn't handle an i9-9900K, the majority of people advise against using that cpu on a Z370 board. And I'm not willing to upgrade my whole system just yet (maybe next year winter jumping to LGA 1200 with i7-10900K and a Z590 board). For now I'm sticking with my Z370 M5 + i7-8700K.

@Prof. Insanity:

I think it is safe to say, that both, idle temps and temps under load will significantly decrease with waterblock / custom waterloop. And the most important thing - at least to me - you will remove the noise from GPU. With a 360mm radiator in the front and an 240mm radiator on the top and an adequate fanspeed setting my whole system should be dead silent (and cool of course).

My only concern remains that whole amount of money that needs to be spended, the EK Quantum gpu waterblock is not amongst the cheapest. I could wait of course till the end of November when the whole sale action will be going on.

From what I saw and heard yet during watching videos and reading reports.
The card has a fan-stop, so it should technically make no noise at all when you are not gaming.
While gaming, it can reach 34 dBA -- 'Upwards' -- depending if you run the already by @Monk mentioned silent-fan bios or the Performance bios.
Depending on how much you crank the card up, so it consumes more energy, the louder dBA you must expect. Compared to other cards, it is actually a little louder than other cards.
I got rusty when it comes down to custom loops, because I personally don't need that now in my system, but if you are that sensitive towards sound, I can recommend you watercool it.
In my opinion totally not worth it for the 3070, because it's too expensive for this card. You have most stuff for the custom loop how ever available, you didn't mentioned a direct number how much you must pay in the end for the GPU 're'-looping in total, but at this point I have to say; Is it worth for you the additional amount of X euros/dollars to run it more quietly and having even better thermals which are not essentsial at all on the EVGA card you want to buy. The waterblock is probably for that specific card only then.
It anyways looks heavily you decided for yourself already that you want to watercool it anyways. Technically you can test it without the waterblock first, if you really feel annoyed by the noise it makes, you can loop it easily -- it's not a thing you want to rush anyways, since you have a custom loop already present, you know exactly how long it can take in time.

As I said, the EVGA card you selected, is one of the more noisy ones, so the loop is under this circumstences probably the better choice.

[Monk]

If you go with the China brands, so, Barrow and bykski mainly you can save ALOT of money over EK etc.

I run Barrow fittings and as I said I'm waiting for a pair of bykski blocks (with active back plates) to arrive which are only £125 total (each) vs around £250-300 if I went EK and £400 of I went with optimus (as I have on other builds), you also only need push or pull, not both on a 30 or 45mm rad (you'll only really need a 30mm).

If you go soft tubing you'll also save more money (and time).

I'm all for cool custom loops (got mine on my profile) but, that's because I'm pushing everything AND want it silent.

[CravenCoyote]

I've used Bykski only once for a gpu block and the metal plating began flaking after about 6 months. Not sure if it was a one off dodgy block or if it represents their quality, but I wouldn't buy from them again if I could avoid it.

My Alphacool gpu block was £122 and I'm impressed with it. Also using Barrow fittings and definitely can't complain for the price!