Impressed with Aventum 3 Cooling

I've had my system for a few months now and i have decided to start performance tweaking. 

i've focused recent efforts on tweaking the 2xAsus 980ti Strix under EK water blocks as part of my single loop (cpu+2xgpu) config. 

the Intel I7-6700K is only oc'd to 4.6GHz and not optimized as of this testing.  the mobo is Asus' Deluxe Z170. 

the tweaking tool used is Asus' GPU Tweak II version 1.1.8.3, and is supposedly W10 compatible. 

The Settings:

the GPU Boost Clock = 1400 MHz
Max GPU Voltage = 1213 mV
Memory Clock = 8000 MHz or 8GHz
Fan Speed = controlled by the DS Control Center and set to run on "Auto".
Power Target = 110%
GPU Temp Target = 83C
Frame Rate Target = N/A

the benchmarking software used was Unigine's Heaven (free version).  i set the resolution to 1920x1080p (still waiting on my 1440p Ultra Wide) with "Ultra" settings enables.  no anti-aliasing. 

Observations:

FPS was between 160-200 consistently throughout the test.  temps on primary gpu never jumped over 43C.  utilization of primary gpu was 99%.  the fans in my system never even ramped up.  noise was as normal (which is to say very tolerable). 

i was able to achieve 1615 MHz oc (as read from the Heaven real time benchmark); however GPU-Z reported 1501 MHz frequency.  i tend to believe GPU-Z and HARDOCP got similar actual frequency numbers.  Screen shots to show GPU-Z report: , and
 

the mobo in the AV3 is rotated 90 degrees, so the cpu sits at the lowest point in the loop, while the gpu's are at the top.  i've seen cpu temps hit 65-75C at times under load, while the gpu's remained ultra cool.  HARDOCP tested this video card utilizing the same oc'ing software and wile speed/performance results were almost identical, their card wasn't under water (it utilized the Asus custom air cooling unit that comes with the card).  their temps were in the 70's, while mine (under the 3 rads that come with the DS top of line cooling) never rose above 43C.  that's some impressive cooling! 

just wanted to share for any interested in such things.  i hope others can post their experiences with DS performance and cooling.


Edited by db188 - 21 Feb 2016 at 6:27pm

Excellent info and thanks for sharing. 

I would think, from eeekman's experience and the general case layouts, that the Aventum 3 with sli Strix or a similar setup, are better water cooled than on air.  If someone doesn't want to put the cards under water then the Velox with its side fans would be a better setup for gpu cooling.   Unless of course someone just wanted the Aventum 3 case, which is an awesome case. 

Too bad the Aventum 3 didn't have the option for a side fan or fan located between video cards and drive cages to kick the heat out. 

Just my thoughts. 

Until db comes back.... I would download the latest version from the Asus website.

Good to know about the side fan.

So I did the same OC settings as you but when I ran the same benchmark I did it at 1440p and got:

FPS Avg : 107.5, FPS Max: 203.5, FPS min: 38.3, and score of 2707, Max GPU Clock 1513 MHz, Max GPU Voltage 1212mV, Max Mem Clock 8002 Max GPU Usage 99%.
The temp spiked at 43c but averaged in the 30's.

So I would say the Hydrolux lvl 3 works quite well in the Hailstorm II as well lol.

Edited by SnowandSand - 22 Feb 2016 at 7:57pm

Originally posted by SnowandSand So I did the same OC settings as you but when I ran the same benchmark I did it at 1440p and got: FPS Avg : 107.5, FPS Max: 203.5, FPS min: 38.3, and score of 2707, Max GPU Clock 1513 MHz, Max GPU Voltage 1212mV, Max Mem Clock 8002 Max GPU Usage 99%. The temp spiked at 43c but averaged in the 30's. So I would say the Hydrolux lvl 3 works quite well in the Hailstorm II as well lol.

so pretty similar results.  i am surprised at the minimum frames being in the 30's though.  once the program got going my temps were pretty constant in the 40-43C range.  what rads are used in your loop? 

Originally posted by SnowandSand Yeah I was surprised by that too.  As far as the rads all I could see on them was XSPC on the side, but I'm not sure which models.  I forget the size, I believe that they might both be 360's(one on the top and one in the bottom compartment). The card's were running in the upper 30's when I did look at the bench mark running but my 8 month old pulled me away for most of it lol.  This weekend I might try and bump the CPU OC up a bit.  It came at 4.5GHz from DS but I want to see what it can do lol.

prob the same as mine the XSPC EX line of thin rads.  the Aventum 3 comes with a 560mm, 420mm, and 280mm.  not sure with the Hailstorm.

no, i'm using Cougar's.