Car overclocking experiment using Nvidia 1080 Ti: Immersion cooling setup with a Dodge Journey transmission cooler as a radiator leads to performance boost of 7% to 16%

In the world of gaming, every extra frame per second (FPS) counts. Recently, a Reddit user named u/Tra5shL0rd shared a DIY immersion cooling system that has caught the attention of the gaming community. The system, which uses Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) instead of mineral oil, has shown promising results in boosting graphics card performance.

The experiment, showcased on r/nvidia, involved two popular graphics cards: the GTX 1060 and the 1080 Ti. The Strix variant of the 1080 Ti was the model used in the test. With air cooling, the 1080 Ti ran at approximately 1960 MHz. However, when cooled with ATF, the clock speed increased to a impressive 2114 MHz.

The improvement in performance was particularly notable with the GTX 1060. The tinkerer, known as TrashBench, ran benchmarks on the GTX 1060 and saw a consistent improvement of about 10%, and up to 16% in 3DMark. In contrast, the 1080 Ti's improvement was less impressive, with a roughly 7% increase in FPS. Interestingly, the GTX 1060 doubled the 1080 Ti's gain in performance.

The DIY immersion cooling apparatus consists of two loops. The first loop involves a large plastic container, a submersible pump, an external pump, and a PCIe riser cable. This loop is responsible for circulating the ATF around the graphics card. The second loop involves a Dodge Journey transmission cooler acting as a radiator to cool down the warm ATF.

The cooling system netted first place in Firestrike global scores when the GTX 1060 was tested. However, it's worth noting that ATF stains everything and is difficult to clean from hardware. Dodge provided the transmission cooler for the DIY immersion cooling system. The ATF used in the experiment was from the brand Valvoline.

Efforts have been made to commercialize immersion cooling technology, but this DIY approach offers an intriguing alternative for enthusiasts seeking to boost their gaming performance. While the benefits are clear, potential issues such as the difficulty in cleaning ATF from hardware and the staining it causes should be carefully considered. As always, it's essential to approach such DIY projects with caution and a thorough understanding of the potential risks.