Which card as extension on a Titan Black?

[smicha]

Yes I was planning to buy the 6GB versions.

So if I would place them on the bottom, they will blow to the top right? Towards the Titan, which has the fan on the bottom. That won't be a problem?

Their coolers will blow heat downwards, but they will also be hot from their backplate side. Actually in your configuration I am afraid your noctua rad will block 780 backplate from the top.

What temps of titan do you have now under rendering?

[Heerko]

I haven't done any heavy rendering on it yet. But I just had a scene file open and moved my mouse for some minutes and it reached 80 degrees.

[smicha]

Your xeon tdp is 150W - they may be hot under heavy load.

Those cpu rads may affect pcb (backside) of titan temps and make it hotter much quicker and reduce core clocks.

Short question - do you have budget for water cooling with external radiator setup?

[smicha]

If I were you and stick to air here are cpu coolers with 160W tdp - enough for your xeons and slim.

http://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/479

[Heerko]

I have no idea what a full loop would cost actually. But my guess is a small 1000 euros?

For me at the moment that would make the total investment too high.

When rendering with Octane, do you ever have big loads on your CPU?

[glimpse]

so far so good =) nice to see change is coming.

2x HDDs & 3x SSD should easily fit "upstairs" in bays for optical drives - this will allow You to remove both HDD brackets.

disconnect everything from bottom of Your mobo, & then simply get USB3 cable & hub to have connectivity near Your keyboard or other convenient place.

3GPUs should be fine if Your system is not overclocked & PSU isn't wornout (caps degraded)

smaller CPU heatsinks like Smicha showed would do the job & allow better clearance. Alternatively as mentioned You can get something like AIO (All In One, closed loop coolers) & place them on the roof.

Spending for watercooling very much depends on Your chosen parts & preferences (going with more rad space, better fans, maybe some sensors, dual pumps, etc..will keep price higher) - but don't forget You'll get performance back.

The rendering is done inside GPU, CPUs are only responsible for converting & uploading scene =)

[glimpse]

more or less in the same topic, hope with time we'll see more cards like this - ASUS 780 Poseidon (sadly unlike STRIX 6GB, this one came with 3GB only, if I'm not missing something). In short this allows to have aircooled card & then without too much of headache transform the build to leverage watercooling =)

[Heerko]

A hybrid system, didnt know they even existed!

I am still not sure how to fit in the cards..

In both cases there are always two cards against each other right?

[smicha]

The right is right.

[Heerko]

Ok! I now see I was thinking wrong. On every picture of the 780 the fans seemed to be on the top. BUT (how N00B of me) the cards go in the other way around, so the fans are on the bottom Stupid me

Is there software where I can see if the graphics card is shutting down cores to keep the card temperature low?

I was thinking what if I would leave in the Noctuas for now, and check while rendering and daily operation if there is enough cooling. And if there is not I can buy the other cooling rad you suggested?