gtx980ti waterblock issue

Hi, I am in the process of upgrading my water cooled pc and really need some expert advice. I have just purchased a GTX 980ti graphics card and fitted the Heatkiller IV XL full waterblock and back plate. My problem is due to the last paragraph in the instructions for fitting the backplate:-

'Prior to the first commissioning of the graphics card with installed back plate, the distances between soldering lugs and back plate should be inspected visually. The soldering lugs of the electronic components may not touch the back plate. This could result in an electrical short circuit that would damage the hardware. The distance is generally sufficiently dimensioned. Production may however cause soldering lugs that are too long on a few graphics cards. In this case the card must not be commissioned with an installed back plate. If the card is nevertheless commissioned, then this will be at one's own risk'



Even with a light shining behind it is very hard to see if the soldering lugs are touching the back plate, certainly some seem to be extremely close. I need advice in what to do about this, has anyone come across an issue like this previously? Should I try and shorten the longest of the soldering lugs with a soldering iron? Any help and advice with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

here is what you can try
on the back plate place some thermal pads over the suspected area then put the back plate on and press it down then screw the back plate on tight,

then take it off and inspect the thermal pad and see if the soldered area has penetrated the pad , if not and you have plently of thermal pad left after install wich you should have...

then keep the thermal pad on the area and continue installation
or you could try and put a few metal orings under the screws so that the back plate does not screw down completely to the board and has a little gap so that it does not touch ect ect...

Thank you very much for the quick reply and suggestions. Unfortunately I have thrown out the thermal pads that were on the card and used all of the ones that came with the cooler. I was thinking about cutting out the correct shape in paper and lay under the backplate and then tighten it up and remove again to check for indentations on the paper then based on what I find I may try your other suggestion of using orings under the screws. There was plenty of spare plastic washers with the cooler, could they be used instead? You definitely wouldn't try and reduce the size of the solder lugs?
Cheers.

When I made a backplate for my soundcard I had issues with shorting. I stuck a sheet of vinyl on the back (and signed it) then screwed it back on. Then removed it and inspected where the solder pins had indented the vinyl. In these spots I added a few layers of masking tape.



You don't need to do this method exactly but this should help. I mostly used what I had laying around nearby.

Thank you DiscoP, I think I will give that a go tonight. I'm still waiting on a couple of koolance quick dis-connectors before I can build but that will give me more confidence that I'm not going to blow my new card. Hopefully they will arrive for the weekend.
Cheers.

auroraepc said:

Thank you DiscoP, I think I will give that a go tonight. I'm still waiting on a couple of koolance quick dis-connectors before I can build but that will give me more confidence that I'm not going to blow my new card. Hopefully they will arrive for the weekend.
Cheers.

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I can only speak for the EKWB backplate on my 980Ti but there should be some recessed areas on it... These are basically where the raised soldering will be, in the EK guide you are instructed to add thermal tape there which would insulate the solder in any case.

Really simple way of checking, take a piece of paper (good quality thick paper if poss) and cut roughly to size making sure it does not cover the screw mount 'feet'. Simply put it on the backplate, fit the plate without screwing it down and apply a little even pressure for 10 seconds. Solder is sharp, check the paper for holes/dots, forget about it as it probably doesn't touch anything.

Many thanks Smffy, that's pretty much what I ended up doing with the paper and checking for indentations. There was indentations so put a double layer of masking tape over the effected areas and also put little plastic washers in-between the card and backplate to give it a bit more breathing room for piece of mind. I have not powered it on yet as still finishing off some minor details of build but hope to have it completed at the weekend.
Cheers.

also put little plastic washers in-between the card and backplate

Click to expand...

Should this not be done anyway?

Hope you get it up and running soon.

freddie64 said:

Should this not be done anyway?

Hope you get it up and running soon.

Click to expand...

Doesnt come with any but its a great idea, the back plate simply needs to touch the thermal pads on the back of certain chips. Basically it will get f'ing hot so thats your main consideration for a passive cooling component - can whatever I modify take the heat?

You would think that considering they acknowledge that there could be an issue of solder lugs touching the back plate in their manual that they would coat the places on the backplate with some non conductive material and include washers or something similar to address the problem rather than just saying don't fit it. Thanks again for everyone's input, will hopefully be able to get the build finished at the weekend and turn it on without anything going bang.... Cheers!

Thanks again for everyone's input. PC has been built and thankfully all good so back plate mod appears to have done the trick! Cheers!