Water Cooling for an ATI 5870

[Kraggy]

Is there a water-cooling solution for an ATI 5870 card?

I don't want to over-clock a GPU but even stock speeds the fans on these things get too loud when being pushed. A long time ago I had a system with a water cooler that was fitted to both CPU and GPU (it has a two-foot high blue cylindrical water tank, long ago forgot the brand name), but my searches for a modern-day equivalent have drawn a blank.

So, is there a solution I've not found, or do I have to carry on running my gaming PCs in the other room?

 

[Meds]

Hi Kraggy,

You can fit a watercooled solution to your graphics card but unfortunately we do not provide this sort of liquid cooling. Basically what you do is remove the stock heatsink and fans and fit a water cooling block (see below);

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news...ance-announcing-hd-5870-water-cooling-blocks/

Then you will need to purchase a pump, tubing, reservoir, coolant etc and fit it all together. It is a solution but it's pretty difficult to do and pretty much goes against any warranty you may have so for the time being it may be better to stick with the noisy fans

 

[PCS]

Sounds like you had a Zalman water reservoir. Good for cooling, but for most people a bit of an overkill:

If you're serious about the noise, CoolIT are due to launch a GPU cooler: http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.php/omni.html - we may even be able to sell you these once our stock lands, but they may not be the easiest thing to fit and you would need to check it would fit in your case...

 

[Kraggy]

Indeed, I now recall it was a Zalman, the big, blue one! Yeah, kind of impractical for many, I used it on an HTPC where it was conveniently snuggled behind a permanently-open curtain.

Actually, I'm looking for an option for a PC I'm in the process of specing I intend to buy from here: Had one in February, very pleased so looking for a similar spec as a partner for that one.

Therefore if there's a solution you know of, such as the CoolIT you mentioned, and could build into that system for me all the better. Would that be an option?

 

[Matt]

Sounds like you had a Zalman water reservoir. Good for cooling, but for most people a bit of an overkill:

 

[PCS]

Once the CoolIT Omni is available in the UK, we should be able to offer this for you. However at the moment we only have the fittings for the HD5970 and GTX480.

CoolIT are planning to have GTX470 and HD5870 plates soon, but at the moment they're unavailable.

 

[Kraggy]

Sadly the 5970 isn't an option because it seems unless the drivers recognise the game you want to run it only uses one core and performance is worse than the 5870.

Thanks for the information, I'll ponder it for a bit.

 

[PaulH]

I think what PCS is trying to say that as soon as Coolit make the omni with the 5870 backplates, this might be an option, I dont think hes telling you to buy another card