Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

They make noise, too.

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Skree
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Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

Post by Skree » Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:55 pm

As titled, i finally got round to where i'll be looking at buying the graphics card for my Antec NSK3480 build.

Other important specs are as follows:

I5 3570k @ stock (for now)
noctua d14 with the PWM fans. The 140mm one is on the HS, the 120mm one is my rear case fan
No hard drives in the main chamber.. psu is a seasonic 660w XP2

Case is utterly unmodified except i switched the sides around to get the 80mm fan slot behind the motherboard. If necessary, i will be fitting another noctua 120mm or a similar noiseblocker 120mm fan to the front of the case, and while i do that, i'll be using that 80mm side fan to get some motherboard rear cooling. I'll chop the rear fan grille out while i do that, too.

Not really very up on graphics tech. When i started designing this build, the AMD 7850 or 7770 (and the hd4000 with lucid mvp i mode) were the choices. Now i'm not so sure. Do NVIDIA now have the deep power off operation AMD/ATi had back then? I'm not really super concerned about noise whilst i'm gaming and thrashing the card but i don't want noise when at idle, or browsing, or watching movies

Budget restricted to ~£160 but i can go up to £200 if there is something about a £200 card that blows everything else out of the question, i want as much performance for my pound whilst being as cool and quiet as possible (don't we all? :D )

I was considering the 115w TDP R7 265X but the R9 270 and GTX 760 outperform it so much for so little extra money.... Question is, is this great little case up to keeping it cool?

quest_for_silence
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Re: Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

Post by quest_for_silence » Thu Sep 11, 2014 11:53 pm

Skree wrote:Question is, is this great little case up to keeping it cool?


IIRC you already subscribed the excellent but now defunct Druneau's thread: so you should know the answer, it depends of how cool is cool according to you (and how much quiet is quiet according to you too).

BTW, I wouldn't opt for a GTX-760Ti in any case, as it's just an older (previous generation), rebadged GTX-670.

Skree
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Re: Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

Post by Skree » Fri Sep 12, 2014 4:34 am

I don't know enough about graphics to be able to distinguish between generations like that.. or, more importantly, judge the impact of such things. Am moving back into pc gaming after many years on consoles.

What i'm doing is comparing performance figures from reviews of cards i can afford, then looking at the TDP. I feel confident i can keep 115 watts cool enough to mean that i eventually upgrade the card because it will not play a new game i want to play, however I have a feeling I may be disappointed with the performance of the R7. I play primarily racing games. 170w seems possible but at the upper end of possible.

From what i can gather the performances in order (first is most powerful)

GTX 760ti (170w)
R9 270x (180w)
R7 265 dual-x (115w)

I can't seem to find the 670 available new for sale with a quick google, what would you suggest I buy instead? everything else seems to be lower end or hotter.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Sep 12, 2014 6:26 am

Skree wrote:I can't seem to find the 670 available new for sale with a quick google, what would you suggest I buy instead? everything else seems to be lower end or hotter.
Probably I wasn't clear: as far as I know the GTX-760Ti is a GPU which is equivalent to a GTX 670, and up to now it has never been seen in the retail market.
Broadly speaking the GTX-670 is slightly hotter and not significantly better performing than a GTX-760 (I mean: the non-ti version): so, as that GTX-760Ti should be that similar to the old GTX-670, it seems worthless to consider it.

One of the most comprehensive source for video cards reviews is TechPowerUp!, so you may rely on it for your comparisons, but I like also HardOCP about performance assessments, as well as HT4U.net (a german site) or Guru3D, but there are many ones.

About performance levels, priorly you should state your gaming resolutions (your monitor' one, usually), and then your favourite racing games (F.1 20XX, Dirt: Showdown, whichever): with those data, scan the web looking for useful data and gameplay videos, maybe using some search terms as, for instance, "F.1 2013 benchmark" (just as a guess, coming you off console-like performances, I think you will hardly be disappointed by a minimum speed of 45-60fps at your resolution).

So, have you already done that?

CA_Steve
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Re: Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Sep 12, 2014 7:34 am

quest_for_silence wrote:About performance levels, priorly you should state your gaming resolutions (your monitor' one, usually), and then your favourite racing games (F.1 20XX, Dirt: Showdown, whichever): with those data, scan the web looking for useful data and gameplay videos, maybe using some search terms as, for instance, "F.1 2013 benchmark" (just as a guess, coming you off console-like performances, I think you will hardly be disappointed by a minimum speed of 45-60fps at your resolution).
+1

As far as fps/watt goes, Nvidia's Maxwell architecture runs circles around AMD at the current 28nm node. Unfortunately, there's only one card out at the moment, the GTX 750 Ti. The GTX 970 and 980 are expected to release as soon as later this month...but both will be overkill for 1080p and are likely to still be in the 200W+ range. Don't know when the GTX 960 will release...or even if it will until Nvidia moves to 20nm.

If the 750 Ti works for you, then take a look at the Asus STRIX version.

idle power: AMD are the only ones that can drop to ~0W when monitor is off. However, both AMD and Nvidia cards all idle in the sub-10W range now. The exception is if you use 2 or more monitors. Then, AMD fails to downclock the video RAM and those cards will burn 20-40W at idle.

Skree
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Re: Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

Post by Skree » Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:34 pm

Now we are starting to get somewhere(information is getting into my rock head). I did look at the 750ti because of its TDP but discounted it because it seemed to be far lower performance than R9 270 and the 760ti whilst not really costing that much less. The TDP makes it a real contender.. and a shoe in if the performance is good enough - i will be gaming in 1080 - i think the max resolution my AOC i2470pwqu supports.

I use dual/tri monitors so NVIDIAs are more suitable, now you say that :D . Trouble i'm having is translating review bench scores into real life performance. I don't want to buy a card then find it doesnt play 2014 or even 2015 driving games properly. Lowering detail is fine but i don't want the game to lock up momentarily while it catches up say mid corner.

I will look into the 750ti much more.

edit: can i still use the lucid virtu mvp in both modes with a gtx750ti? I'm comparing the ASUS STRIX vs the Palit dual x and evga FTW (/me shudders) versions of the 750 at the moment.

vishcompany
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Re: Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

Post by vishcompany » Sat Sep 13, 2014 5:37 am

FWIW, I'm running an Asus GTX-760 (non-ti) inside a Solo2.

The Solo2 design is quite similar to your case, so it's sort of comparable, IMO.
It can stomach the TDP of 170W (GPU) + 125W (FX-8120 CPU) and stay pretty silent while gaming. It probably could take a hotter GPU, but then the exhaust vent just would have to ramp up even more. Like this I can keep all fans below 1000 RPM and keep the temps around 60° or below.

The Asus DirectCU cooler is inaudible at idle, but gets loud under load (MSI seems to be better at this). I ended up replacing the stock cooler with an MK-26, never again heard anything of the GPU (the CPU and exhaust vent are working harder at any time).
You can have a look inside my case here. I installed some extra intake fans hoping to lower my temps all over the system, but I get only 1° if I turn them up all the way, so it's not really worth it. The most important fans are still the CPU and exhaust fan.

The 760 is perfectly capable of driving 1920x1080, however, if you are planning on running 2-3 screens you might want to look for more powerful GPUs.

CA_Steve
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Re: Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Sep 13, 2014 6:11 am

vishcompany wrote:The 760 is perfectly capable of driving 1920x1080, however, if you are planning on running 2-3 screens you might want to look for more powerful GPUs.
Well, 2-3 screens in game mode. If it's one screen for gaming, and 2 screens for browsing/videos, then the GTX 760 is fine.

vishcompany
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Re: Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

Post by vishcompany » Sat Sep 13, 2014 12:01 pm

CA_Steve wrote:Well, 2-3 screens in game mode. If it's one screen for gaming, and 2 screens for browsing/videos, then the GTX 760 is fine.
Yes, that's what I meant. I drove 1 screen gaming and 1 screen showing stats without any problems.

Skree
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Re: Can i keep a GTX 760ti cool in an Antec NSK3480?

Post by Skree » Sun Sep 21, 2014 1:06 am

resolution is just 1080 HD, and yes, my multi monitor setup is one screen for games/video, the others for browsing, stats, task manager etc - 3 utterly different monitors, two quite old

I've looked into the gameplay of the maxwell GTX750ti and that will do me fine i think. A major part of the problem i was having was taking the numbers from benchies in reviews and translating 'this is better than this and this but this does this better' into real world performance i can understand. It seems the 750ti can achieve playable framerate even on high graphics in crysis (which has to be a good sign) and seems brilliant for games i am likely to play such as F1 2013, Next Car Game, Nascar 14, Watch Dogs etc. I like the move to more efficient GPUs.

I don't know too much about graphics tech but i know i would like to run the lucid virtu mvp my motherboard came with and take advantage of the HD4000 in my i5 but i understand that some 750tis dont have display port for the linkup. Managed to find some 750ti cards with display port but is that mode actually supported on the 750ti if it has display port?

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