EVGA 8800 GTX Black Pearl cooling advice please

[Comdot]

My brother just won an unused one of these on ebay and he needs to cool it fast to check if it's DoA or just not working (he has about a week to test it). He has beetween $200 and $300 to spend and is wondering whether to get a kit or make his own rig. He's good at these things so I think he can make his own rig if he knows what to get and if it is cost effective.

What would you recommend?

For kits, so far he's been looking at the Swiftech H2O-120 Compact and the H2O-220 Compact. These are CPU coolers, so he's need to adapt them to cool his GPU. Are these any good, could he do better with a self-build? Note- he would like to cool his CPU as well if he gets a kit, but just his card if he goes for self-build.

 

[Comdot]

Nevermind, he's gone with a heatsink/ fan combo for about $100.

 

[Grievearz]

Why'd he get the black pearl if he isn't going to water cool it?

 

[alexnifty]

Because it went cheap for £92 / $180, I'm thinking of using a Thermalright HR03 Plus and a 92mm fan of choice to cool it.
From reviews I have read I think its up to the job.

 

[Grievearz]

Yeah, that'll be a good combo, but you've already paid for the water block. It would be a shame not to use it.

 

[aspire]

Sell the block on ebay/tf/anandtech

Also just for information, you cannot adapt the swiftech h20 to cool just a gpu.

The pump and cpu block are one unit.

 

[alexnifty]

I agree that it is a shame not to watercool this card but the cheaper option for me is to aircool it and wait until I can go for watercooling.

Also, taking a closer look at the cards pictures I think I got a Black Pearl Ultra and not a GTX The cooling block on the Ultra is different to the GTX from what I can tell.

 

[Preacher]

The card looks so small with the GPU water block

 

[Comdot]

Sell the block on ebay/tech forums/anandtech

Also just for information, you cannot adapt the swiftech h20 to cool just a gpu.

The pump and cpu block are one unit.

What if you just don't attach the CPU block and leave it? Silly question but I'm curious. The kit seemed really good in the reviews I read (magazines), only problem being if you didn't want to cool the CPU. It just seems a shame that such a good kit cannot be used alone for a GPU when you've already got a GPU with waterblock. Am I making sense? Wasting money? Alternative kits?

 

[Comdot]

Because it went cheap for £92 / $180, I'm thinking of using a Thermalright HR03 Plus and a 92mm fan of choice to cool it.
From reviews I have read I think its up to the job.

Well done, brother. Welcome to the community and all that. I'll stick up for you if you get bullied too badly... they can be quite rough with newbies in here.