Liquid cooling GPU: Worth it?

Originally posted by narmio I'm a machine learning researcher and gamer looking to build a ~$5k machine for combined CUDA and gaming uses -- probably 75% work, 25% play. That gives me a few non-gaming needs: lots of RAM, very fast primary storage, single GPU (as CUDA can't leverage SLI), things like that. I can post more specific thoughts on my config, but right now I have one question: is it worth getting a liquid cooled 1080, or will the ACX 3.0 cooler do the trick? For those that don't know, training deep neural nets will absolutely hammer a single graphics card for hours and hours. I'm looking for this machine to last me a good few years of what equates to benchmark-level for very long periods. Long training times really bug me, so the highest stable GPU overclock would be very much appreciated -- a few % difference is really noticeable in a 10-hour training time. Plus normal gaming use when I'm not working, of course! Given that, does it make sense for me to get: A) A Hydrolux Lite cooled CPU (likely a 6850k) and ACX-cooled 1080, spending the money saved elsewhere. B) A Hydrolux Lite for CPU+GPU. C) A Hydrolux Pro for CPU+GPU. Will the liquid cooler make for significant gains in stability, lifetime or performance? Will the difference between Lite and Pro? Also: I heard that DS can only put the 1080 FE under water, as the blocks they use aren't compatible with the EVGA board? Is that a factor in my decision, or is it all the same once properly cooled and OCed? Cheers, DS community!

I'll give you my 2c

It really depends on 1- Budget and 2- Requirement

Watercooling your GPU is all about pushing for hight OC with higher voltages to keep the temps lower and thus achieving better OC all while keeping the system "less noisy" ... depending on the size of the radiator that can or cannot be true though...

I went with the Pro because it has better components and it "moves" more water so the system is more effective at keeping these temps lower... To answer your question, at stock clocks all these cards are reliable and stable, LC allows you to push the system with higher clocks while keeping it stable at those crazy high OC, this all happens because the temperatures are lower...

If you're going to OC your GPU may as well got FE, it's really almost all the same, you get enough power to OC with the FE and it's been already shown that they OC virtually identical with Water cooling... The idea of getting these 3rd party cards is all about their custom air cooling, so if you're removing it for LC then it somewhat defeats the purpose...

Having said that, as of last week the FE was the only card DS can LC due to the fact that they did not have Water Blocks for the third party cards...

Well I get the 3rd party cards because of the pcb and better customer service which is evga.

Keep in mind with a high oc you are looking at 10fps extra, but if you have a 60hz monitor or are already at 60fps then the extra fps will not be noticed.

I have posted link to EK's site that shows they have wb for the evga cards.

If you are going lc go pro, and keep in mind you will have to work on the lc system, things can go bad, pumps or have leaks, so be prepared for that.

For your cuda I'm not sure how much difference the OC makes but I imagine it will make a good difference.

If you want the highest oc the gpu can offer you want the hydrolux pro and in your case if you are ok with working with the lc system then go pro.


Can't you add more gpus and let them do the cuda work separately from eachother?

For the cpu keep in mind the skylake 10 x is coming out q2 of 2017

Edited by DST4ME - 11 Jul 2016 at 10:57am

Yes but if one is not a hurry there is no reason to buy at the end of the tock. You will be at the end of it, but if you do so at the tick then you got about 2 years on it depending. But if you have to buy now then its brodwell.

I'm not the one to tell people to wait normally, but I do want people to know it is the old architecture.

Edited by DST4ME - 11 Jul 2016 at 11:03am

It might be lower we are assuming but it will be the newer architecture and better use pf cores. kaby is the 4 cores cpu.

Edited by DST4ME - 11 Jul 2016 at 11:28am

don't have to wait long for the Titan P if you want a single card with massive CUDA cores.

This is what I think (which by the way I was in front of the same predicaments just a couple of weeks ago)

Originally posted by narmio Hmm, the Titan P is awfully tempting, assuming it's actually possible to get one soon after the August launch, and supply issues don't stretch on and on towards the end of the year.

I agree, Titan P could be very fast, but I think you're probably better off with a 1070 in SLI for much less money with probably the same performance and you can have it now... ultimately in 2-3 years you're going to want to upgrade, however a pair of 1070's or 1080's will be able to run anything maxed out in 4K for the foreseeable future give or take some dumb Nvidia Works features :)

Originally posted by narmio * I'm definitely now leaning towards liquid on my GPU given the thermal stability on long runs.

I can assure you stability is not something you're going to address with water cooling over air cooling UNLESS you heavily OC your GPU's, in fact if you're looking for stability + reliability due to work, stay air... LC is an enthusiast cooling solution to pushing clocks higher that air can, plain and simple...I would save money on LC and spend it into SSD's or something that you will be using more on a day to day.... Having said that.. I i'm getting LC because I intend to push my GPU's to as highest as they can go and also because I hate noise... SLI=Noisy system when on air and because I want to run 4k and 5k gaming, I need SLI.... hence why the LC is a slam dunk for me
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Originally posted by narmio * My reasoning for the 6850 over the 6800 is that, for me, small differences in CPU clock actually matter. More than just keeping a GPU fed with data during training, there's a huge amount of an AI data pipeline that can't be efficiently thrown at CUDA and needs to be crunched on the CPU. My reasoning for the 6800/50 over the 6700 is that cores matter too -- I can parallelise a lot of this stuff fairly easily. My reasoning against the 6950 is holy sh*t that costs as much as a budget gaming machine all by itself.

I was going to get 6950x but then I figure it was a royal waste of $$$ for me in particular.. I did want the xtra cores but the one thing I wanted the most was Core Clock speed and 40 PCI-E lanes, mainly because with SLI + M.2 i'm already over the 16 lanes offered by 6700 and 6800... therefore the 6850K was the perfect choice for me...

Originally posted by narmio * I am interested in learning more about the difference between the EVGA 1080 and the FE regarding watercooling. Are DS just currently unable to watercool the EVGA card because of supply issues, or because they've decided it's not worth carrying separate blocks?

If I had to guess, DS has not had the chance to properly source water blocks for the third party cards... the more important thing is if you're going to LC, why do you even care? it's the same GPU..... the fans are what ultimately make these 3rd party cards worth it and you're removing them to LC so it renders their #1 feature completely out of the picture... Sure they have a different PCB and warranty and even more power intake which in theory can provide better OC... but from what I been reading, Pascal does not OC past a point regardless of cooling and power.... seems the FE, or the cheapest card really, the best option to LC... I know a ton of people will disagree but that's just my thought... today :)

Edited by Xenecus - 12 Jul 2016 at 8:16am

Titan P is "rumored" to be out by end of summer but that's just pure speculation... or did I miss an announcement? Also expect the Titan P to be priced at ~$1200 being that it will be 50% faster than the 1080....

Mine is a very educated guess based on pricing/performance history and deltas between their different cards...

1080 is about 20-25% faster than 1070 and 50% more expensive... fast forward past the 1080ti and we will be sitting way above 1k... I also doubt very much Nvidia is not going to milk the super hot product like the 1080 as long as they can... I would be shocked if Titan P gets released before October.... I guess we'll see.



Edited by Xenecus - 12 Jul 2016 at 11:39am

Sorry if I came across that confrontational... I was just saying that my thoughts are just a guess.... Nothing is official in pricing but I have a funny feeling Nvidia is going to play the Intel i7 6950X card with the Titan P...