So Project Spectre is in the MkIMOD0 stage, and running smooth. Life has me pretty busy these days, so not a lot of time to talk about it between work, dealing with personal stuff and actually USING it. But I've been batting around picking up the vertical riser available for my case. Should I?
I always vertically mount my GPU's, much more aesthetically pleasing. What case is it and what card do you have ?
Pulse 6800XT in a water block. All tucked into a Meshify 2. Pump moves somewhere around 8litres per minute at 50% power. If I had a decent voltage regulator that was PWM controlled, I'd probably throttle the flow some more just to make it quieter. It's spinning around 3200rpm on 5VDC. Bumps up over 6500rpm and 16L/min on the 12VDC rail. 2x 360mm rads, 21mm thick cores at 17fpi density. My temps never climb above 40C
I have read that vertically mounted GPUs dissipate heat more efficiently...
Makes no difference on water cooling.
You have to be careful that you have a case that wont choke your gpu's airflow.
Airflow? I'm water blocked. 😉
also be careful that your gpu design gets along with a vertical mount. vapor chambers can overheat in some orientations, like my reference 6800xt would stay pegged at 110c after only a few minutes of gaming, with the gpu in an i/o facing upwards position. i have included an advanced technical diagram.
technical diagram
I'm water blocked. The issue you describe is irrelevant. 😉
If you have room to mount it vertically and the tubing mods are not an issue, I would go for it. We really need to see how your video card looks now in it's current orientation within the case. Don't cheap out on the riser cable, as cheap ones have flimsy attachments to the video card PCIe bus connector. You'll pay around $50 for a decent one. Then there is that 90 degree or 180 degree adapter issue that confuses me. I've been buying the 90 degree riser cards, like this one on my recent build:
This one worked out fine in my World of Tanks build (Feb 2024).
I'd be getting the PCIe 4.0 riser from Fractal that's purpose built for my case. $125CAD at my local Memory Express. I've got a long weekend coming up. Maybe I'll post the current setup to Battle Stations after I get my desk cleaned up and the floor vacuumed.
I don't see your new posting to the Battle Stations group. I want to see that Performance over Pretty - we don't care about getting the floor vacuumed.
Choose the right equipment for the job.
If the intention is "performance over pretty" then not sure why even consider a vertical mount? Sure, air cooled cards could see a performance benefit if they are positioned to get fresh air directly from outside the case. But as you point out being water blocked negates those considerations. If anything the 90° fittings likely needed to vertical mount will impede flow slightly, although as you state with your pump that flow is not an issue.
I'm already running 90s in and out.
I'm just mulling it over because just like waterblocking a 6800XT and 5800X3D... it's BECAUSE I CAN. 😉