Watercooling for eGPU?

[DanKnight]

Hello Tech Inferno eGPU community.

Just doing some research and wanted to know how many people here implement watercooling into their eGPU rigs.

Reply below if you do or you don't and why! If you do, what enclosure do you use?

Regards,
David

[Brian]

I don't think I've seen a water cooler egpu guide posted here yet but if someone did one and documented their build log I'd love to promote it to the front page as a featured article.

[Yukikaze]

There are a few obstacles to watercooling an eGPU:

 

1) Quite a few people want a compact setup (as evidenced by the modded Akitio Thunder2 boxes and mITX GTX970s or lesser cards), which is defeated by the addition of a radiator. If someone makes an eGPU setup in a case based off a mITX case then space is less of an issue and a 120/140/240mm rad can be easily installed (depending on case). That way an all-in-one watercooled card can be easily used, or a custom loop built.

2) eGPUs are already rather expensive. Adding a water block, pump and rad on top of this (or splurging for a card watercooled out of the box) makes an expensive project even more expensive.

3) People who opt for eGPUs typically wish to improve the performance of their existing laptops, or like the portability of a laptop for their main rig, while having a more powerful graphics in a "dock" of sorts. This isn't the typical high-end enthusiast, who would probably opt for a desktop to start with. We're happy with not-quite-desktop performance levels which are none the less usable, as opposed to seeking the bleeding edge (although, as always, exceptions exist).

 

As to how I'd do it: I'd grab a small mITX case, stick in a 240mm rad, the PCB from the Akitio Thunder2 or the Rocketstor, a PCIe riser to the card and an ATX PSU. The PSU powers the pump, card, Thunderbolt PCB and whatever else I'd stick in there. It isn't complicated, just expensive, and in my opinion rather pointless.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Yukikaze
Typos...

[Another Tech Inferno Fan]

9 hours ago, Brian said:

I don't think I've seen a water cooler egpu guide posted here yet but if someone did one and documented their build log I'd love to promote it to the front page as a featured article.

 

I don't see why you can't have a watercooled eGPU if it's some kind of non-reference card where the manufacturer has all-in-one watercooling as standard on that card, and the pump is built-in (http://www.corsair.com/en-us/landing/hydrogfx).

 

As for the fan, you could probably just have it directly connected to a 12V or 5V rail on the PSU. Perhaps add in a potentiometer to adjust its RPM.

 

I'd happily do this if I had an AIO watercooled card, so if anyone wants to send me one, my address is [censored].

Edited June 2, 2016 by Arbystrider

[Dschijn]

My latest eGPU was a EVGA GTX 980Ti Hybrid running in a Cooler Master Elite 130, worked great and had awesome temps.

Even installed a fan speed controller in the 5,25" bay and reduced the speed/noise of the pump and let the fan on the radiator spin slowly.

[DanKnight]

Thank you everybody for your replies! This is great information.

[Another Tech Inferno Fan]

It seems that it's pretty common to mod a CPU liquid cooler onto a GFX card: http://www.overclock.net/t/1203528/official-nvidia-gpu-mod-club-aka-the-mod

 

 

As it is, under Furmark at 1.050V (-0.025V from factory voltage) and 810 MHz core clock (+13MHz from factory clock), my GTX 580 SC runs at 87C, 85% fan speed (I use a custom fan curve), ambient temp 30C. It runs stable at 888MHz core clock (+91MHz) at stock voltage, but I don't run it at that setting for fear of overcheating.

 

I could definitely get a higher overclock tho, again, if not for fear of overheating.

 

I would love to try this out on my 580... If I weren't such a cheap prick who doesn't want to pay even $50 for a used liquid cooler.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Arbystrider

[deltha]

Hi,

 

I am using on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) 2,2 GHz Intel Core i7 with Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB, Akitio TB2, a water-cooled Nvidia 1080 TI using the driver Nvidia Web Driver 378.05.05.15f01
OS: macOS Sierra v10.12.5 Script: automate-egpu.sh

Components:
V-tubler
Thermaltake C 1000 coolant
2x luna 12 red + led band
Radiator EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream SE 240 (Slim Dual)
Pacific PT40-D5 Reservoir/Pump Combo 250
Akitio Thunder 2 pcie expansion
Plexiglass, acrylic, plastic isolation, screws
Water cooling fittings, pipes, hard tubing, without actually bending the tubing
Lian Li PW-PCI-E38-1 Riser PCIe x16 3.0, 380mm, flexibil, High Speed, EMI Shielding + powered
Openframe case Thermaltake Core P1
RM650 gold PSU+Paperclip

Graphic card:
Zotac water cooled 1080 TI Fe (Zotac 1080 TI FE + Separate mount of Titan X nickel waterblock)