VGA WATER COOLING 2 1900XT Radeons

ptsigas

Hey just a couple of questions regarding vga cooling.

I recently spent a good amount of money for my rig which is meant for gaming- it is not 100% complete yet but here are the specs so far...-

-SYSTEM SPECS-
===============

PROCESSOR: Amd Athlon 4400+ Dual Core 2.2Ghz

MOTHERBOARD: Asus A8R32 Mvp Deluxe x3200 crossfire chipset

Memory: 1gb ddr pc3200 Generic

Video: Ati Radeon 1900xt Crossfire Ready 512Mb PCI-E

Sound: realtek HD audio (onboard) ( i do also have a 128bit pci SB card - didnt install it physically though)

Storage: 80gb seagate 7200rpm IDE

Cooler Master Aquagate r120 water cooler for the CPU


====================

-now i have to still buy OCZ pc 3200 2GB Dual Channel platinum xtc memory for overclocking.
-still need to purchase a 2nd ati radeon 1900 crossfire edition (master) Pci-E card



so the problem/question:

had the system running for a week now. been playing condemned, fear, oblivion with almost maxed out details- the only thing i dont have maxed is AA - well atleast for oblivion..that game is insane hehe.

JUST today though i got this VPU recovery message report thing..happened 8 times today..checked the video card temps...nothing crazy was running at a high of 70C
**BTW- im using the OMEGA drivers..but i uninstalled them and switched to CAT 6.6**

so i tired oblivion and i didnt get the message but the game crashed..and i needed to restart..checked BIOS for cpu temp case temp no worries 37C for cpu

the crash only happened 2wice of the 8 times.


now a friend of mine informed me that ati 1900 series stock coolers suck and he advised me grabbing an accelero 2... i checked them out they seem nice actually and by the reviews..they seem more efficient than the zalmans..

so i figure well...is air cooling for the GPU worth it or...should i just snag a water cooler for the gpu??

AND the fact that im using water cooling for my cpu im wondering if it matters that i will use water cooling for 2 GPUS (when i get the 2nd)- or should i just stay air cooling 2 accleros?

now im going to play more oblivion and see what happens but regardless of air or water i wanna get Coolers for the two cards..

i checked out a THERMALTAKE vga watercooler..but it requires 2 pci slots..ugh..


PLEASE any insight, advice comments questions is well appreciated..back to some gaming woohoo!! thanks in advanced folks- game on-


EDIT (just checked my mobo)- the TT vga water cooling would only help out 1 card..cause it needs 2 pci slots..i only have 3 pcis and 2 pcie's great...)- thanks again!!!!

Pengwin

Hey, the X1900XT's can hit 100+*C before there are issues.

I have both accelero X2 and a Zalman VF-900 the Zalman is better.

Thermaltake makes a kit for 2 GPU's. Newegg doesnt carry it but here u go

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/produc...6/cl-w0086.asp

ptsigas

thansk for the direction of that cooler Pegwin! thats wicked!

yeah i had a feeling it wasnt heating cause alot of people said the 1900's hit 80-100c so i wonder what the hell the problem is. well the message says vpu recover. i havent overclock or messed with my gpu at all.

so the next step would be to try playing fear for 2 hours and see what happens. if it happens again then i will erase my drivers with a cleaner and reinstall cat 6.6 hopefully this will do the trick.

and i came across soem people who had this vpu problem with world of warcraft..dont know what happened with that though..but seriously this is bullcrap.


again thanks for the reply and the TT kit!! game on (or work on) 3d edit on etc etc!

Pengwin

np.

lpzml

I have the thermaltake tidewater plus on my 1900 and there working great i recommend getting some artic silver instead of the white compund they give

EfrainMan

Yeah, a little arctic silver and even the stock HSF becomes more efficient. If I was using air, I'd definitely go for the Zalman, but I use water with an Exos, so I use standalone waterblocks. Unlike the thermaltake, they only take one slot (when you count the standalone radiator). But anything would be better than stock.

hackerx

if u already have a water cooling system(which i don't think u do),u ought to get danger-den's crossfire water blocks.
But other-wise TT Tidewater is the best bet.

Al_Vampyre

Personally I would go air on the gfx card unless you're planning to builld a high capacity loop with lots of flow or a separate loop for your GPUs, 2 GPU's are going to be dumping a lot of heat into your water!

ptsigas

i have cpu cooling already. i want 1 tidewater for the 2 gpus.. i dont think itll be a prob plus fixed my problem jsut did a drive clean heeh game on

ptsigas

nope i dont have the tide from thermaltake...nor anything cooling my card aside from the stock cooler.

now i checked out this danger den stuff...but is the maze4 gpu thing just a water block..so do i need to only get that block on my GPU and thats it its running cooler..or does it connect to something else? (apologies if it is a really really noob question)- thanks again

hackerx

its kinda of a noob question.But what i meant by water cooling system is whether ur cpu is cooled by water.If its extending water cooling to the gpu(or 2 in ur case)isn't all that difficult.
TT tidewater is a self contained gpu water cooling system.As in it only cools gpus and is pretty much maintenence free.
As for ur question,u have to connect the gpu block to the water cooling system(which usually consists of a pump,a radiator and a reservoir,these are the minimum requirements)
Of course if u buy TT tidewater all this is eliminated.

ptsigas

yup knew it was a noob question ill go with the tidewater. i have 3 pci slots free. planning on buying an audigy 2 for something more loud and crisp than my onboard realtek hd.

alrighty thanks again folks!