Ati 1900XTX goes watercooled

[Vinnie]

As you all know the ATI 1900XTX, is one of the hottest running GPU out there,
and a noisy one when the fan is at 100%.
Due to the reasons above, I decided to get a water cooling system for my GPU.
Most people go with water cooling for the CPU first; however, I decided to do the opposite. I am tired of seeing temperatures above 70C, and the noise level is outrageous. The temperature of my CPU (AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600, 2.4Ghz) is really not that bad,
OC to 2.7GHz, @ load is only 47C.

This is what I bought for the ATI 1900XTX:

• D-TEK Fusion GFX GPU Water Block
• D-TEK 3/8ID Chrome High Flow Barbs
• Danger Den CPX-1 Water Pump
• Zalman Video Card RAM Sink 8 pack
• Magicool Slim 240 Dual 120mm Radiator
• Koolance Blue Liquid Coolant
• Clearflex 3/8ID Tubing
• 3/8ID “T” Line

D-TEK GPU Water Block:

I decided to go with this block not only because the reviews are excellent and it comes with the ATI Mounting plates,

but also it comes with mounting plates for the Nvidia 8800’s so, you just can’t go wrong.
Look at that beautiful S/S work of art; I was very impressed in how the base of the water block was well polished.





MAGICOOL Slim 240 Dual 120mm Radiator

This was a tough choice, I could not decided if I wanted this radiator or the Swiftech, after seeing pictures and comparing both radiators, they looked identical, so I decided to go for the cheaper one.
I don’t regret getting it, the quality is amazing, better than what I was expecting actually.
Below are a couple of pictures, also with 2-120mm Thermaltake Thunderblade fans:
Fan speed: 2000rpm
Air flow: 78 CFM
Noise: 21dBA
Also pictured below, is a custom wood bracket to mount the fans and radiator to the front of the computer case. Trying to cut that wood bracket in a straight line with a jigsaw turned out to be more difficult than what I was expecting.












Here is a picture of the ATI 1900XTX with the GFX GPU Water Block installed and the Zalman RAM Sink:



This was my first time doing a water cooling setup, it turned out to be very simple and easy. Fitting the 3/8ID tubing over the 1/2OD barbs took a little of effort, I used hot water to soften the tubing, making it a little easier. It only took about 1 hour to get all the air bubbles from the system.
Here are a few pictures of the final product.







Time to test the watercooling system to see if it does it's job or not.
Idle numbers were not as good as I was expecting, with the stock fan it idle around 46-47, with the watercooling is down to 34C, I was hooping would bring it down to high 20's, I guess a drop of 13C is good, but not impressive. Now I was worried about the numbers I was going to get at load.
Run some stress programs, played Crysis, and a few other games for a few hours, run 3dmark06 in a loop for 1hour.
My jaw dropped open...I could not believe the results, not only the results are excelent, I no longer have to listen to the Ati 1900XTX sounding like a jet anymore.
The pump, the fans, all silent, it's like there is no computer beside me anymore, this is amazing.
The kit I put together is exceptional, and I truly believe the Magicool radiator is top notch.

Here is a graph showing different OC Temperatures of the card:

[Babrbarossa]

Very nice installation! Are you eventually going to add a CPU block to the loop? I don't know how well those rads cool, but those are some pretty high-flow fans and the loop should be able to handle the CPU as well. Are those babies loud?

[Vinnie]

Eventually the Cpu will also be watercooled, I'm just happy I don't have to listen to the fan from the 1900XTX.

The fans are silent, I don't even know the computer is on, besides seeing all lit up in blue.

[Shredder]

Nice Work Vinnie,
Is the GPU waterblock the same height as the stock case enclosure when all installed ? Or is does it take up a little more room in the card bay ?

[Vinnie]

It actually takes less space than the stock cooler, 1/8 inch to be precise.

[lcdguy]

that is some nice temps. I currently have my X1900XT WC and i love it. Super Silent. Mind you i didn't use a d-tek on my GPU. also was their a reason you didn't go for a thermalchill rad? In regards to the wood bracket an idea would be to use a scroll saw next time (makes the cuts alot straighter than a jigsaw.)

[Vinnie]

For the price of 1 thermalchill rad, I got all the parts needed to watercool the 1900xtx.
Well....almost.

[low351]

Nice job Vinnie, What was the Cost exactly?

At some point I'll have to go watercooled for the same reason that you did, noise. I don't overclock much because I can't stand fan noise. So I'm going through the stages.

P4HT 3Ghz in an Antec PLUS1080AMG, AIW 9600pro - 4 x 80mm, 2 x 80mm psu (loud)

AMD X2 4800+ in an Alpha 602BK case, Integrated GPU - 2 x 80mm, 1 x 120mm psu (bearable)

AMD X2 6400+ in a Cooler Master Elite 330, HD2900PRO 2 x 120mm, one on psu (okay until 2900 Fan goes 100% in overclocked gaming)

Current plan, go from Elite 330 to CM690 with 3 x 120mm and possible Thermalright HR-03 on the gpu.

After that who knows maybe I'll be forced to water cooling if that's still to loud.

[biff]

Great to hear everything worked out so well. Glad to hear that it's so quiet too.

As for cutting the wood, I'm sure it's the quality of the saw that caused your issues. I use a jigsaw for a lot of work since it's very accurate, not tablesaw accurate but nothing you can't make near perfect in a minute or two with some #120. If you plan on doing a lot of work with one it would be a worth while upgrade.

[Vinnie]

The cost of all the parts was $143, plus $18 shipping.