I want to watercool the Asus ENGTX560 (GTX 560) card. It's not a reference PCB so I will only be cooling the GPU core.
So what should I use to cool everything else on the card? Do I need to get something specifically designed for this or do some small random heatsinks work equally well? Of course the point is to not have any fans directly on it, and if possible not an insane amount of airflow through it either.
Cooling the GTX 560 memory etc.
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Re: Cooling the GTX 560 memory etc.
Hi, if my experience with my GTX260 (not dis-similar power envelope) and SPCRs VGA heatsink reviews are anything to go by then yes the VRMs (or FET or whatever they technically are) need to be cooled. In fact cooled carefully and well, not just some tiny after thought heatsinks, most especially as with water-cooling you will have no fan on the card.
To get good cooling on a Radeon card Thermalright make some good heatsinks. That's two heat-pipes and 80mm fan sized fin array, or put another way enough to cool a modest dual-core CPU
I would look at what your card comes with as standard to cool the VRMs and other parts and see if can be re-used. With AMD cards common to use the VRM etc cooling plate(s) with an after-market GPU cooler, but bear-in-mind they will benefit from air flow of the fan(s) used on the GPU.
I have a fairly substantial heatsink on the VRMs of my card, it's been folding for hours and admittedly the cooling fans are slow the air wash from the GPU fans is slow and hot already but I just measured the temp of the heatsink itself at 62°C, so the VRMs will be hotter still. In a previous iteration I once measured the back of the PCB behind the VRMs at 85°C
However I think SPCR say their Radeon card can see VRM temps (of the components themselves I guess) up to 130°C before protection / instability kicks in.
Will try get a picture of my card for you.
Regards, Seb
To get good cooling on a Radeon card Thermalright make some good heatsinks. That's two heat-pipes and 80mm fan sized fin array, or put another way enough to cool a modest dual-core CPU
I would look at what your card comes with as standard to cool the VRMs and other parts and see if can be re-used. With AMD cards common to use the VRM etc cooling plate(s) with an after-market GPU cooler, but bear-in-mind they will benefit from air flow of the fan(s) used on the GPU.
I have a fairly substantial heatsink on the VRMs of my card, it's been folding for hours and admittedly the cooling fans are slow the air wash from the GPU fans is slow and hot already but I just measured the temp of the heatsink itself at 62°C, so the VRMs will be hotter still. In a previous iteration I once measured the back of the PCB behind the VRMs at 85°C
However I think SPCR say their Radeon card can see VRM temps (of the components themselves I guess) up to 130°C before protection / instability kicks in.
Will try get a picture of my card for you.
Regards, Seb
Re: Cooling the GTX 560 memory etc.
OK as promised my VRM cooling:
Standard XFX GTX260 216 core - this is the later revised PCB version. The cooler is just aluminium, losing the heatpipes of the original but the VRMs are lumped more conveniently together and no components between them, unlike the original PCB design.
Akasa Freedom Force GPU cooler with Arctic Cooling F9 PWM fans and good dose of Enzotech copper RAM sinks on the RAM chips and things and cut down north-bridge cooler on the NVIO chip.
The heatsink on the VRMs came off a Slot 1 CPU and was pretty large and very wide spaced fins. Cut down to fit.
Card over view [click for full size, less cropped version]
Close up of VRM heatsink from the bottom:
From the top:
I cut the heatsink to retain as much of it as possible, especially the tall fins.
Mounting system is crude, just used existing holes in card, aprox in middle of VRMs and drilled holes in heatsink to match and put zip-tie as tight as possible! There is white thermal paste on each of the 12 VRMs
I don't know how much cooling of the RAM chips matters, maybe not too much, some people say don't need to bother with RAM chips.
I briefly had a Gigabyte 9800GTX card that was factory fitted with a Zalman VF-1000 cooler and the VRMs on that were bare. Whether they depended on the wash from the main cooler or just didn't need cooling I don't know but I wouldn't be happy with a high-end card with no VRM cooling, unless temperature monitored and definitely fine!
Hope this helps, Seb
Standard XFX GTX260 216 core - this is the later revised PCB version. The cooler is just aluminium, losing the heatpipes of the original but the VRMs are lumped more conveniently together and no components between them, unlike the original PCB design.
Akasa Freedom Force GPU cooler with Arctic Cooling F9 PWM fans and good dose of Enzotech copper RAM sinks on the RAM chips and things and cut down north-bridge cooler on the NVIO chip.
The heatsink on the VRMs came off a Slot 1 CPU and was pretty large and very wide spaced fins. Cut down to fit.
Card over view [click for full size, less cropped version]
Close up of VRM heatsink from the bottom:
From the top:
I cut the heatsink to retain as much of it as possible, especially the tall fins.
Mounting system is crude, just used existing holes in card, aprox in middle of VRMs and drilled holes in heatsink to match and put zip-tie as tight as possible! There is white thermal paste on each of the 12 VRMs
I don't know how much cooling of the RAM chips matters, maybe not too much, some people say don't need to bother with RAM chips.
I briefly had a Gigabyte 9800GTX card that was factory fitted with a Zalman VF-1000 cooler and the VRMs on that were bare. Whether they depended on the wash from the main cooler or just didn't need cooling I don't know but I wouldn't be happy with a high-end card with no VRM cooling, unless temperature monitored and definitely fine!
Hope this helps, Seb
Re: Cooling the GTX 560 memory etc.
Wow that's a pretty crazy cooler you got there 
Yeah I'm not sure what I can cannibalize from the stock cooler. But it's probably not much. Something bigger would be better.
I guess I could go your route and put a fan on it somehow. I do have a fan controller attached to temperature sensors lying around. But really I wouldn't want to start adding more fans unless it was absolutely necessary.
Watercooling takes a lot of the heat completely away from the card though, which is the beauty of it. So the hot air wouldn't be blown around the rest of the card. And 85C for a graphics card is normal I think.
Are there any heatsinks sold specifically for this card? What would even fit?
Yeah I'm not sure what I can cannibalize from the stock cooler. But it's probably not much. Something bigger would be better.I guess I could go your route and put a fan on it somehow. I do have a fan controller attached to temperature sensors lying around. But really I wouldn't want to start adding more fans unless it was absolutely necessary.
Watercooling takes a lot of the heat completely away from the card though, which is the beauty of it. So the hot air wouldn't be blown around the rest of the card. And 85C for a graphics card is normal I think.
Are there any heatsinks sold specifically for this card? What would even fit?
Re: Cooling the GTX 560 memory etc.
Hi, Arctic Cooling do a set of sinks for GTX 560 here.
Don't know if will fit yours if not a standard layout.
Can do like I've done and use generic VGA RAM sinks etc. You may not need additional air flow but if do a slow fan will be inaudiable and provide a large drop in temps.
Seb
Don't know if will fit yours if not a standard layout.
Can do like I've done and use generic VGA RAM sinks etc. You may not need additional air flow but if do a slow fan will be inaudiable and provide a large drop in temps.
Seb
Re: Cooling the GTX 560 memory etc.
The VR005 is apparently for the GTX 460, which doesn't have an identical PCB to the 560. It probably would fit anyway though, but I'm not sure.SebRad wrote:Hi, Arctic Cooling do a set of sinks for GTX 560 here.
Don't know if will fit yours if not a standard layout.
Can do like I've done and use generic VGA RAM sinks etc. You may not need additional air flow but if do a slow fan will be inaudiable and provide a large drop in temps.
Seb
What RAM sinks did you use in your setup?
Re: Cooling the GTX 560 memory etc.
Hi Puffi, I looked on this AC page and that's where I found the VR005 set mentioned for GTX560.
For my GTX260 you can see all about the original conversion in this thread. Specifically I used Enzotech heatsinks, CNB-S1 (southbridge) heatsink for the NVIO chip, that I don't think you have. On the RAM chips I used some BMR-C1 and BMR-C1L (low profile) "RAMsink" as I had to cut many of them down. I also used MOS-C1 heatsinks on the VRM compnonents. All these copper items are quite expensive, but pretty! Doing it again I'd probably go with cheaper aluminium items, Zalaman do some eg: these.
If go to eBay or google or favorite PC cooling site you should find lots of choice.
I did something stupid which is why I now have a newer card with easier to cool VRM components
Seb
For my GTX260 you can see all about the original conversion in this thread. Specifically I used Enzotech heatsinks, CNB-S1 (southbridge) heatsink for the NVIO chip, that I don't think you have. On the RAM chips I used some BMR-C1 and BMR-C1L (low profile) "RAMsink" as I had to cut many of them down. I also used MOS-C1 heatsinks on the VRM compnonents. All these copper items are quite expensive, but pretty! Doing it again I'd probably go with cheaper aluminium items, Zalaman do some eg: these.
If go to eBay or google or favorite PC cooling site you should find lots of choice.
I did something stupid which is why I now have a newer card with easier to cool VRM components
Seb