Beginner wanting to watercool pc, Need advice

I was thinking the same. Only a 100mhz overclock on the core and a 50mhz on the memory? Surely his card can hit at least a 150mhz on the core and 200mhz on the memory? Seems sort of low to me but then again I have no knowledge of how all 290x's usually perform with not many people owning them.

Yeah, I've had it in mind that the problem was the heat. Guess we'll find out.
 
Hi Guys,

The heaven benchmark score was 1866 for the person who asked.

I could easily OC further, My max stable OC with stock volts that I had time to test was:
Core: 1192Mhz
Mem: 1672Mhz

WAS TESTED OVER ~12HOUR RUN

Could probably push it further, but once I got to 1300Mhz one the core I needed more voltage for it to render properly. The voltage was not altered in any way at all. Also I noticed the max temp increased to around 44-46C if I had the loop push the freshly cooled water into my CPU first, which is still quite good. Then again I spent around $500 on this cooling loop, so this performance is MANDATORY

I should also note that the EK backplate looks great, Probably one of the few that I would like using, The nice glossy finish and plain appearance is the only reason I even bothered to get it, as I really do not like those backplates with all those holes and cutouts just to make it stand out.

This is my current loop order Pump>res>Gpu block>GTX 420 rad>CPU block>RX240>origination point. Over all this is working out quite well for me, as the RX 240 fans are also doubling as a source of intake, so the cooler air helps the top 420 rad.

Also I got the elpidia branded memory on my graphics card instead of Hynix...
Anyone know if there is much of a difference? As I have honestly never heard of elpidia before, however apparently they are very widely used and one of the worlds largest memory manufacturers, however they recently got bought out by MicroTech.

Well so far I am more or less happy with the card, considering I generally have it clocked to 750Mhz core and 900Mhz mem to reduce power usage and heat (not that it matters anymore:rolleyes:) when I do not require it full processing power.

Here are snapshots of both my daily/normal usage clocks and the other the OC, Could probably OC a little higher.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0md2f3cs2hpw4xd/Untitled.png ~8hour run

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mi213ocuuwjvwv8/OC.png ~12 hour run


Unfortunately I had to resize the images, as there were limitations to the documents that I could attach. If you would like the full size and original image, just send me the email address you would like me to send it to.

Also note that the Untitled run was with an ambient of around 26C and the OC run was with an ambient of around 28C. I tried to take a photo along with the thermostat at the time I ran the test, however this photos wouldnt come out right.
 
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Not bad of an overclock and only a 2C temp increase for that big of a clock jump is not bad at all. If it was me i would try to clock the card as high as possible and see the scores it will pump out.
 
Yea, I was thinking the same too, however I havent had any spare time to run 8 hours OC tests lately, due to work.
 
Then again I spent around $500 on this cooling loop, so this performance is MANDATORY


This made me laugh a little, you linked PCCG so your obviously Aussie. We spend $500 and we've barely bought our hose for our set up hahaha.


and also in reference to your op about a different Res/Pump my suggestion would be this-

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...=25308&zenid=f51645d0be59ebed3bc701a52565ab01


As good as PCCG are, I really do wish they actually had some rear competitors in this market so we could see much better pricing like what the U.S/U.K/Europe have.
 
This made me laugh a little, you linked PCCG so your obviously Aussie. We spend $500 and we've barely bought our hose for our set up hahaha.


and also in reference to your op about a different Res/Pump my suggestion would be this-

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...=25308&zenid=f51645d0be59ebed3bc701a52565ab01


As good as PCCG are, I really do wish they actually had some rear competitors in this market so we could see much better pricing like what the U.S/U.K/Europe have.

This. I think I had to spend about 1k in total for parts (including the case) for my loop, and mine is going to be pretty basic.

Australia really needs some market competition.
 
Australia really gets the shit end of stick when it comes to most electronics. Actually feel quite bad for them. Us US/Eur people take it for granite while the Aussies get screwed.

Nonetheless I still think if Aussie had a big company or two come out to them and have another facility there they would easily catch up in prices, especially in watercooling gear.
 
Sorry the $500 was only for the rad and pump xD, I must have spent around another $600 at least for the rest of the loop haha. But yea, The prices in AU are bloody crazy, couple months ago we were expected to pay almost $200 for a XSPC FC GTX 680 waterblock. In the US it was only around $120.

Anyways, am extremely happy with my current build, its just that I feel the urge to upgrade my case to the Phantek Ethoo Prime (its not even in stock here atm and it was released months ago:mad:).
 
Also I would run the tests overnight, however our electricity prices are.....

unfortunately I just received my latest electric bill and if I were to leave the rig on to test overnight with all those shiny and beautiful lights on I would be hanged by then Mrs haha.

I also added a 200mm NZXT Sleeved blue led cable and I have to say the case looks a lot better.
 
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Only benchmark the gpu for the games that have a built in one(or the harder way and do it yourself) and then all the synthetic benches you decide. If it passes all of them then it is stable(hopefully).
 
Just ran the following benchmarks:

Furmark ~8 hours over night (stable)
Heaven Uniengine ~6 hours throughout day (stable)
OCCT ~9 hours overnight (stable)
Resident Evil 5 GPU bench ~3 hours (stable)
Just cause 2 Gpu benchmark ~8 hours (stable)
Dota 2 online gaming over 3 hours stable

all of these tests were for the following:
Core: 1287
Mem: 6000Mhz effective
Voltage: stock

there were no crashes whatsoever, so I guess it is safe to assume that these clocks are stable on stock voltage for my card. Though I did notice sometimes the unigine reader would be a tad bit off after I exceeded 1200mhz on the core
 
Also I dont know if this is the right place, however I would like to know what case fans are best for silence in watercooling. As I have bought fans that have low rated DB and they are still extremely noisy.

I currently have the following:

4x Xigmatech 140mm white LED fans
2x Bitfenix spectre pro blue 140mm led fans
2x Nexus silent 120mm blue led fan
2x XSPC 120mm fans
3x NZXT stock 140mm fans

I have no idea why its so noisy, also please ignore the last test that I did for my OC, it turns out that the clock speed was spiking every 4 seconds or so, so its probably unreliable, however I didnt experience any crashes or errors for some reason.

Anyways, any help with my fans would be extremely appreciated.
 
Also I dont know if this is the right place, however I would like to know what case fans are best for silence in watercooling. As I have bought fans that have low rated DB and they are still extremely noisy.

I currently have the following:

4x Xigmatech 140mm white LED fans
2x Bitfenix spectre pro blue 140mm led fans
2x Nexus silent 120mm blue led fan
2x XSPC 120mm fans
3x NZXT stock 140mm fans

I have no idea why its so noisy, also please ignore the last test that I did for my OC, it turns out that the clock speed was spiking every 4 seconds or so, so its probably unreliable, however I didnt experience any crashes or errors for some reason.

Anyways, any help with my fans would be extremely appreciated.


That should be posted in the "Air Cooling" section of the forum. We will help there:)

Just downclock the card by 10mhz until the spike goes away. Once you find it go up by 5mhz until it reappears. Once it does back up 5mhz again and it should stay stable.
 
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