Liquid-cooled video card?

Do I need to liquid cool my video card? It was going to put me just above budget. I have already ordered the following rig but I'm not sure if I would have time to add it because, I would have to wait until the 1st until I got paid. Which also brings up another question. If I wanted to add this later could I order the matching part to liquid-cool the video card and at it myself later? Just wanted your thoughts.
Chassis Model: Digital Storm HailStorm (Black OPS Edition)
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 930 2.8GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: !SALE: EVGA X58 3X SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports Triple SLI or CrossFire)
System Memory: 12GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 1000W Digital Storm Certified (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Highly Recommended)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (1.5TB Seagate Barracuda (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray Player/DVD Player (Play Blu-Ray and Play DVDs)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card(s): 1x ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 4: Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System: CPU Only
H20 Tube Color: White Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive)
Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With Zalman Performance Fans (Up to 6 Fans)
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (UV) (Creates Glowing Effect for H20 Tubes)
Enhancements: Touch 2000 Aerocool Temperature Display & Fan Controller (Requires Chassis Airflow Upgrade)
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
CPU Boost: Stage 2: Overclock the processor between 4.0GHz to 4.2GHz (Requires H20 Cooling Upgrade)
Graphics Boost: FREE: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability
Memory Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
OS Boost: FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system

what is the use of this pc? if its for gaming what res, you should have talked to us, this is not the best setup for your money.

nobody needs liquid cooling,unless you benchmark and judging by that 12GB you are not a benchmark-er.

I would change a lot of stuff in your build case its not the best way to config a system.

just my 2 cents.

like I said nobody needs liquid cooling so no you don't need LC on gpu.

by ordering matching parts, do you mean adding a second loop for the gpu? as in order a pump,rad,reservoir and etc? if yes then if you know what you are doing then yes you can add it later, if not, your first time there is gonna be some trial and error.

if you want us to tell you how to reconfig that build lets us know what the use of the pc is and if its gaming tell us what res your monitor can handle, we can give you better performance and maybe even save you money.

cpu needs to be 920

psu needs to be corsair

hdd rule is:

HDD1 = fast drive: os/apps/games

HDD2 = regular large drive: media/personal/work file storage

Don't fill up your HDD1 more then 50%, if think you will need more room for it then pick a bigger one.

now if you need a big drive then go with the 1TB.

do you really need 12GB of ram? if you know you will use it then go ahead but if not then with ram too much is not a good thing.

for your res all you need is 5870, you won't notice a difference from the 5970, and 2 x 5870 gives you better performance anyways but that and the 5970 is for 2560 x 1600 res, also you do know the 5970 is in internal cf so you actually have 1GB of ram just like the 5870, ram does not combine in cf/sli.


drop Zalman they will just make things loud.

Touch 2000 is pointless, you can't control all the fans with it and its temp are not accurate as softwares like realtemp and [URL=http://www.klitetools.com/comments.php?catid=52&id=5536]HWMonitor[/URL.

drop the gpu boost you will see no gains from it, its a modest oc.

drop the boost on os, it will make no difference to apps and games, and you may endup needing one of the services.


go with win7 pro so you have xp mode.

for monitors you want an ips panel like the Dell UltraSharp U2410, its an ips panel which means it has better picture quality, the monitors here are tn panels and they have less picture quality.

Edited by DST4ME - 21 Mar 2010 at 6:36pm

good decision, while you are at it, you should change your case to haf 932, its got great airflow stock, if not the corsair is a great case also, but IMO its better for systems that have LC on cpu/gpu.

call them first thing monday morning and eamil them today letting them know you want to change your order.

call Sarah at 1-866-817-8676 Extension: 115 and she will set you up

but today email them:

[email protected]

Edited by DST4ME - 21 Mar 2010 at 8:09pm