mth91

So here's my question. What's going to give me better performance? An HR-03 GT with an 80CFM fan, or this watercooling setup? Also, what kind of difference in celsius could I see?

MCR120 Rad/Res with 80 CFM fan
MCW60-R GPU Block
D-Tek DB-1 Pump

I hear good things about that DB-1 from Gir, and of course the GPU block is good. The rad/res should be pretty well sufficient, since it's just a GPU loop. But what do yall think? I can get the watercooling setup for $145 shipped, and the HR-03 GT for roughly $48 shipped.

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/Fail

Depends. I'd take the water.The HR-03 will cool it fine, but it takes up a huge amount of expansion slots. But, then, there is cost to consider.

The SilentX fans suck. They grossly exaggerate the specs, and the actual fan is terrible.
The CM is decent, especially for the price, but its sleeve bearing so you mounting it horizontally might cause problems.

mth91

Yeah, that's true. I already have an 80cfm thunderblade, so I could stick with that.

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Mikecdm

It seems pointless to spend $150 on extra's for your card. Why don't you sell it and put the money towards a 5800 series card when they come out?

But to give an answer to the question, if the water cooling cools better than the HR-O3, I don't think that it's going to be much better if any. It wouldn't be worth spending twice the amount for 4-5°c. I don't have any concrete info on this and I really don't know how hot ati cards run, but I have seen some differences in nvidia cards.

My gtx 260 and 275 run right around 40°c under load. I have seen people who use the accelero on their similar cards and are high 40°s under load. If the results are similar on ati cards, I wouldn't be able to justify spending twice the amount for a few degrees. Unless you have to absolutely get the most out of your card I'd just go with air.

Honestly, I wouldn't spend any extra money on it, but if I had to make a choice I'd go air. If you already had a loop and only needed to add the card it'd be a different story.

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How to overclock and understand Nvidia shader straps

mth91

I like your idea mike. Those 58xx series cards look pretty good.

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