EVGA GTX 280 Cooling Solution

[Rison]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to get some opinions on cooling solutions for the Nvidia GTX 280 GPUs.

The stock HSF is like a rocket taking off.. and looking for an alternative aftermarket heatsink + fan for it.

Thermalright has the HR-03, which is both huge and expensive.. I am going to be putting 3x vid cards (280 + 2x 260s) in the system, so the heatsink and fan cannot be more than two slots.

I see Prolimatech has the MK-13, and NCIX does not have any stock (sad face..) does this take up more than 2 spaces? it does look fairly thin.. wondering if anyone has the unit.

The last solution I can think of is watercooling - which could be done, however it's a lot more expensive route since I have a lot of folding boxes being setup, and would need 3-4 watercooling rigs.

Thanks

[mattlef]

Xigmatek makes a fantastic cooler right now... the BiFrost is hard to find but it does work wonders.

[martin_metal_88]

This is killer and work fine.
Arctic Cooling

[mchutch]

Damn I love the look of that Bifrost, and it's cooling capabilities, but yes can't find any for sale.

Anyone using a Accelero XTREME GTX or Accelero XTREME GTX Pro?

I was thinking about the GTX as it's $30 cheaper than the Pro, and they look the same except the mount, which could be a huge difference..

Looking for anyone who is using oneor the other, or any aftermarket cooling on a GTX 280/260.

[Raserei408]

Personally I'd save the money you'd spend on a heatsink and put it toward a Fermi card or a 5870.

[rjbarker]

Just curious, the thing that has always "irked" me with any of those "AM Coolers" for a GTX 280 / 260 is that the Hot air is not being vented out the back of the Case ..correct? If so, just how effective is it going to be at keeping them cool, all that heat being kept within the Case a little longer has to have some effect.

The temp Graphs look very impressive btw!

[MarkOne]

Originally Posted by Rison

Hey guys,... I am going to be putting 3x vid cards (280 + 2x 260s) in the system, so the heatsink and fan cannot be more than two slots.

One question that came in my mind when I see this setup and it can change my reply ...

are you folding with those card ?



.

[rjbarker]

Just so your aware, my 3 x 280's "barely fit" on the Board, they're pretty much right tight to one another, in other words thier is NO room at all for even so much as a 1 mm out.

[MarkOne]

Originally Posted by rjbarker

Just so your aware, my 3 x 280's "barely fit" on the Board, they're pretty much right tight to one another, in other words thier is NO room at all for even so much as a 1 mm out.

will be worry even more if you was folding.. it's why I ask the OP, I don't see why he will use 2 x 260 and a 280 if it's not for folding .

[Rison]

yeah, for folding. I've switched my setups around a lot since initially laying out a folding farm in my basement/garage.
Instead of paying $80 for a heatsink/fan for the 280s, i'm going with watercooling. The new watercooling rig is sitting at purolator currently, going in later to pick it up (no time to set it up until tomorrow night tho.)

I've switched to two 280s (watercooled) in my main box, and setting the 260s up in other i7 folding boxes. Don't know how bigadv and GPU is going to work, but we'll see.