Parallel In The Black
- Thread starter Mysterae_
- Start date
Ah ok, well interesting to see the internal gubbins of how these things are constructed, even if I'm still none the wiser lol
you kinda lost me at 'sintered'
off to google it now
NP at all now just get on with the build i am so interested heheh
Update
I will admit I had to google "sintered" too!
Work on the 980Ti advanced cooling mod continues.
The stock heatsinks of the Titan X coolers have been stripped of their vapour chambers (dremelled off) and then cut up in to individually shaped pieces. Then a little bit of time on my bench sander to get their edges straight and the copper bottoms flattish.
I'm not too concerned with the bottoms not being perfectly flat, this will help the thermal adhesive to bond.
The fins of the heatsink parts were a bit rough to say the least, so a lot of filing was required with the needle file. This took ages.....! Then a good few blasts of air from the compressor to make sure there is no swarf left. The smallest piece could short out the PCB of the graphics card.
To make them look good again they needed painted. All the parts lined up ready for their many coats of gloss black paint.
I think they came out very well
.
What's all this for? To improve the transfer of the heat from the graphics card's chassis plate, as I reckon at stock it may soak up the heat from the VRMs and memory IC's very well, but it does a poor job of dissipating it - this mod aims to fix that.
The air from the the stock fan will (I hope!) pass through the fins, over and around the GPU water block and out the back of the card, taking the heat from the VRMs and memory ICs with it.
The acrylic window will of course be put back on once I've drilled the holes required for the pipes to go through. Thankfully the release ring of the push-fittings I'm using will be proud of the window meaning that I can still release the tubing when required.
Looking forward to getting the window back on, the LEDs in position and the other little mod I have intended.
Thanks for reading, 'til next time...
I will admit I had to google "sintered" too!
Work on the 980Ti advanced cooling mod continues.
The stock heatsinks of the Titan X coolers have been stripped of their vapour chambers (dremelled off) and then cut up in to individually shaped pieces. Then a little bit of time on my bench sander to get their edges straight and the copper bottoms flattish.
I'm not too concerned with the bottoms not being perfectly flat, this will help the thermal adhesive to bond.
The fins of the heatsink parts were a bit rough to say the least, so a lot of filing was required with the needle file. This took ages.....! Then a good few blasts of air from the compressor to make sure there is no swarf left. The smallest piece could short out the PCB of the graphics card.
To make them look good again they needed painted. All the parts lined up ready for their many coats of gloss black paint.
I think they came out very well
.
What's all this for? To improve the transfer of the heat from the graphics card's chassis plate, as I reckon at stock it may soak up the heat from the VRMs and memory IC's very well, but it does a poor job of dissipating it - this mod aims to fix that
.
The air from the the stock fan will (I hope!) pass through the fins, over and around the GPU water block and out the back of the card, taking the heat from the VRMs and memory ICs with it.
The acrylic window will of course be put back on once I've drilled the holes required for the pipes to go through. Thankfully the release ring of the push-fittings I'm using will be proud of the window meaning that I can still release the tubing when required.
Looking forward to getting the window back on, the LEDs in position and the other little mod I have intended
.
Thanks for reading, 'til next time...
Update
Cheers, I do think the temps on the 980Ti's will be quite impressive for "reference" cards.
Glad you like them, you should like this post.
Modification number 5 to the 980Ti's was to paint, anodise or chrome the black part that surrounds the fan. At first I looked in to getting this part anodised, perhaps dyeing it green during the anodising process. However, a company that specialises in anodising told me that the finish may not be acceptable as the part is cast aluminium and not billet aluminium. Cast aluminium has a number of additional alloys that don't play ball with the anodising process so the results could be unpredictable. I even thought about buying the chemicals myself and having a go, but if a specialist wouldn't consider it worthwhile then I shouldn't either.
I then thought about getting the parts chromed and one company would do the job, but it was costly and would have been about a 2 - 3 weeks turnaround. So I settled on painting them myself and experiment with different paint finishes and colours.
Before doing anything to the fan surrounds I removed the brushed aluminium ring that is around the fan aperture. This is stuck on with light adhesive and I found the best method is to get your nail under it and gently work around it, lifting it more with each rotation. See image 1 below:
With reference to the image above:
1. Ring removed
2. The aluminium disc fan hub cover, stuck on with adhesive tape. This tape is really strong and difficult to remove with damaging the metal disc. I won't bother removing the others, just use the original fans from the 980Tis.
3. The fan housing - this surprised me as the heat sink at the back of the reference cooler (image 4) is totally closed off - there is no air flow over it. So positioning an additional fan at the rear of the card will give little benefit imo.
One beneficial difference between the reference coolers of the Titan and Titan X is that on the original Titan the fan is stuck down with strong adhesive tape and screws, whereas it's only fixed to the Titan X (and 980Ti) with screws.
The parts of the shroud around the fan are powder coated black which can be a pain to remove. I thought about sanding them down but chose the most aggressive method - Sodium Hydroxide (caustic soda). A few words of caution here - wear every part of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) - gloves, 2-filter mask, goggles, long sleeves and do it in a well ventilated area as the exothermic reaction with water produces hydrogen gas and the chemical will burn your skin! Add the caustic soda to the water, not water to the soda, this way you will reduce the splashing. Also, don't leave aluminium in sodium hydroxide for long and you must keep checking it - it eats aluminium quite aggressively! If in doubt about it, research it or don't do it.
I lightly sanded the parts to take the shine off the powder coating to give the chemicals something to bite in to and dipped them in the sodium hydroxide. Fizzing.
After a short while:
After a few thorough rinses with clean water and a bit of wet sanding with 1200 grit sandpaper the parts where ready for painting.
As you can see there are three of them - 2 from the Titan X and one from the original Titan I got before. The one from the non-X Titan is my test piece as it has a broken tab on it.
My initial thoughts on a colour/finish for these parts was chrome and in my research the ideal way to achieve a perfect chrome finish is to paint them gloss black first. Sounds counter-intuitive but the smooth reflective finish of black is ideal for the chrome paint. After the first few coats of gloss black had dried I wasn't happy with the finish, sanding marks could still be seen through.
So a bit of wet sanding to flatten them out.
Much better:
The silver one in the image above is actually unpainted, I wasn't happy with the finish (it had a few runs) so I stripped it back down using cellulose thinners to start again.
So, colours. First, my wildcard - metallic green:
Looks quite good, and that's before the clear coat is applied. The clear coat will definitely give it more "pop" and help in its durability.
Not sure if this will be too much green with the green LEDs as well. Definitely unique though.
Next, the chrome:
Looks good, quite industrial. The chrome paint polishes up well and that is without the clear coat as well, so it should shine even more. Will there be too much chrome in my build, with the chrome tubing and fittings?
However the chrome paint is a pain! Perhaps I put too many coats on (3), the paint is quite heavy and takes ages to dry. Even after 3 days drying the paint was still soft enough for me to leave finger prints, damn!
So what do you reckon is the best - metallic green or chrome?
Cheers, I do think the temps on the 980Ti's will be quite impressive for "reference" cards.
Glad you like them, you should like this post
.Modification number 5 to the 980Ti's was to paint, anodise or chrome the black part that surrounds the fan. At first I looked in to getting this part anodised, perhaps dyeing it green during the anodising process. However, a company that specialises in anodising told me that the finish may not be acceptable as the part is cast aluminium and not billet aluminium. Cast aluminium has a number of additional alloys that don't play ball with the anodising process so the results could be unpredictable. I even thought about buying the chemicals myself and having a go, but if a specialist wouldn't consider it worthwhile then I shouldn't either.
I then thought about getting the parts chromed and one company would do the job, but it was costly and would have been about a 2 - 3 weeks turnaround. So I settled on painting them myself and experiment with different paint finishes and colours.
Before doing anything to the fan surrounds I removed the brushed aluminium ring that is around the fan aperture. This is stuck on with light adhesive and I found the best method is to get your nail under it and gently work around it, lifting it more with each rotation. See image 1 below:
With reference to the image above:
1. Ring removed
2. The aluminium disc fan hub cover, stuck on with adhesive tape. This tape is really strong and difficult to remove with damaging the metal disc. I won't bother removing the others, just use the original fans from the 980Tis.
3. The fan housing - this surprised me as the heat sink at the back of the reference cooler (image 4) is totally closed off - there is no air flow over it. So positioning an additional fan at the rear of the card will give little benefit imo.
One beneficial difference between the reference coolers of the Titan and Titan X is that on the original Titan the fan is stuck down with strong adhesive tape and screws, whereas it's only fixed to the Titan X (and 980Ti) with screws.
The parts of the shroud around the fan are powder coated black which can be a pain to remove. I thought about sanding them down but chose the most aggressive method - Sodium Hydroxide (caustic soda)
. A few words of caution here - wear every part of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) - gloves, 2-filter mask, goggles, long sleeves and do it in a well ventilated area as the exothermic reaction with water produces hydrogen gas and the chemical will burn your skin! Add the caustic soda to the water, not water to the soda, this way you will reduce the splashing. Also, don't leave aluminium in sodium hydroxide for long and you must keep checking it - it eats aluminium quite aggressively! If in doubt about it, research it or don't do it.I lightly sanded the parts to take the shine off the powder coating to give the chemicals something to bite in to and dipped them in the sodium hydroxide. Fizzing
.
After a short while:
After a few thorough rinses with clean water and a bit of wet sanding with 1200 grit sandpaper the parts where ready for painting.
As you can see there are three of them - 2 from the Titan X and one from the original Titan I got before. The one from the non-X Titan is my test piece as it has a broken tab on it.
My initial thoughts on a colour/finish for these parts was chrome and in my research the ideal way to achieve a perfect chrome finish is to paint them gloss black first. Sounds counter-intuitive but the smooth reflective finish of black is ideal for the chrome paint. After the first few coats of gloss black had dried I wasn't happy with the finish, sanding marks could still be seen through.
So a bit of wet sanding to flatten them out.
Much better:
The silver one in the image above is actually unpainted, I wasn't happy with the finish (it had a few runs) so I stripped it back down using cellulose thinners to start again.
So, colours. First, my wildcard - metallic green:
Looks quite good, and that's before the clear coat is applied. The clear coat will definitely give it more "pop" and help in its durability.
Not sure if this will be too much green with the green LEDs as well. Definitely unique though.
Next, the chrome:
Looks good, quite industrial. The chrome paint polishes up well and that is without the clear coat as well, so it should shine even more. Will there be too much chrome in my build, with the chrome tubing and fittings?
However the chrome paint is a pain! Perhaps I put too many coats on (3), the paint is quite heavy and takes ages to dry. Even after 3 days drying the paint was still soft enough for me to leave finger prints, damn!
So what do you reckon is the best - metallic green or chrome?
imho (and it's very humble) the metallic green pops out so much more. Depends if you are looking for complimentary or contrasting colours here, but I think the green led + metallic green paint should add some nice accent colour. Will you be continuing the colour anywhere else in the build?
Associate
I prefer the green, chrome paint just looks tacky in my opinion.
Associate
I second this, the green should add a nice look to the system and make the GPU's stand out whilst looking classy
Thank you!
The green certainly does, and your last sentance struck a cord - there isn't any other green in this build apart from the LEDs inside the cards and the Geforce logo. The green might stick out a bit too much.
I have seen that done before and looks good, it's the black around it that looks a bit funny. It looks fine when the shroud is black, but not when the shroud is another colour. I've a spare Geforce logo so I'll experiment and see what I can do
.Indeed, the pipes will be replaced with chrome pipes soon, just need to get these graphic cards done!
Interesting opinion, perhaps it was my amateur paint job that makes it look that way?
I second this, the green should add a nice look to the system and make the GPU's stand out whilst looking classy
That was my intention when I first thought of painting (or anodising) them green. It has a certain draw, but might look a bit out of place in a case otherwise void of green.
I have however decided to go with the chrome but give up on the painting - it isn't the true chromed look I envisioned. So I'll be getting them chromed properly, should look a lot better!
Thanks for the feedback guys.
Update
So the fan surrounds are away to be chromed as I couldn't get the finish I wanted with paint, but that doesn't stop progress! I used the spare fan surround that I'd test painted metallic green which is in the images later.
The next job was the acrylic window of the 980Ti's. I first tired drilling one, first at 4mm then increasing up to 18mm but that ended in disaster. That part became my test piece and more care taken with the remaining two. In the image below to the top right, you can see my test piece - I also experimented with flame polishing the cut edge. Yeah, not so good, it melted a bit too much. Oops.
So I made a number of cardboard templates (5 to be exact!) so that the positioning of the holes for the tubing was perfect. The acrylic plates were marked up and chain drilled in a circle with a 3mm drill bit and then cleaned up with a tungsten carbide tool in the Dremel - if you have a Dremel you need a set of tungsten carbide bits!
The edges were then sanded smooth with wet 1200 grit sandpaper then buffed clear with acrylic polish and the polishing/buff tool in the Dremel. A lot of work but well worth it.
Now with some lighting:
I also painted the Geforce GTX logo in preparation for the chromed fan surround.
The more I see the metallic green the more I like it, but I'm sure the chrome will look just as good.
So the fan surrounds are away to be chromed as I couldn't get the finish I wanted with paint, but that doesn't stop progress! I used the spare fan surround that I'd test painted metallic green which is in the images later.
The next job was the acrylic window of the 980Ti's. I first tired drilling one, first at 4mm then increasing up to 18mm but that ended in disaster. That part became my test piece and more care taken with the remaining two. In the image below to the top right, you can see my test piece - I also experimented with flame polishing the cut edge. Yeah, not so good, it melted a bit too much. Oops.
So I made a number of cardboard templates (5 to be exact!) so that the positioning of the holes for the tubing was perfect. The acrylic plates were marked up and chain drilled in a circle with a 3mm drill bit and then cleaned up with a tungsten carbide tool in the Dremel - if you have a Dremel you need a set of tungsten carbide bits!
The edges were then sanded smooth with wet 1200 grit sandpaper then buffed clear with acrylic polish and the polishing/buff tool in the Dremel. A lot of work but well worth it.
Now with some lighting:
I also painted the Geforce GTX logo in preparation for the chromed fan surround.
The more I see the metallic green the more I like it, but I'm sure the chrome will look just as good
.
Update
I killed my previous Dremel over the summer so now use a Dremel 4000, the one with the flexible attachment - it's actually quite good and reduces the vibration you'd otherwise get when holding the main unit. If you are wondering about the tungsten carbide bits, you have to get these separately and they aren't official Dremel parts. I got mine from ebay.
Thank you very much!
I think you'll still be convinced on the chrome surrounds - the green is only a temporary addition while other parts are off being chromed. You'll see after this update why that was a good decision.
The internal modification to the other 980Ti is complete, still with the original black fan surround as I'm waiting on the chrome one to be returned. Ignore the paint on the Geforce logo, I haven't rubbed it off yet.
Some tools in readiness for the next stage. We have pipe cutter, pipe straightener and pipe bender and not forgetting the star of today's show, the chromed copper tubing .
As I had the normal copper pipes cut and bent to shape already it was just a matter of copying them but some adjustment was necessary. For example I've now fitted to Aqua Computer MPS200 flow sensors (one for in, the other for out).
One graphics card fitted:
Both graphic cards fitted:
Now that I've seen the build with the chrome tubing I think chrome for the 980Ti's fan surrounds was the right decision. The green doesn't suit any more. Anyway, really looking forward to how the chrome 980Ti's will turn out !
After a bit of leaking testing it's power on time. Of course I had to get the green LEDs switched on in the GPUs just to see what they'd look like, these are at 100% power.
How about some blue.
A view at the front. Reminds me of a set of exhaust manifolds!
Talking of exhausts, the added heatsinks inside the 980Ti's are working a treat. The amount of heat coming out of them is considerably higher than before without the 'sinks. Remember it's extracting the heat from the VRMs and RAM only, the waterblock is cooling the GPU. A successful mod
Here' a parting image of the chrome XSPC Raystorm. The Dominator ram below will be changing too ...
Thanks for reading, until next time.
I killed my previous Dremel over the summer so now use a Dremel 4000, the one with the flexible attachment - it's actually quite good and reduces the vibration you'd otherwise get when holding the main unit. If you are wondering about the tungsten carbide bits, you have to get these separately and they aren't official Dremel parts. I got mine from ebay.
Thank you very much!
Haha, read through update, you had convinced me on the chrome option and then I see those final pics with the green...I'm sure either option is going to look awesome!
I think you'll still be convinced on the chrome surrounds - the green is only a temporary addition while other parts are off being chromed. You'll see after this update why that was a good decision
.The internal modification to the other 980Ti is complete, still with the original black fan surround as I'm waiting on the chrome one to be returned. Ignore the paint on the Geforce logo, I haven't rubbed it off yet.
Some tools in readiness for the next stage
. We have pipe cutter, pipe straightener and pipe bender and not forgetting the star of today's show, the chromed copper tubing .
As I had the normal copper pipes cut and bent to shape already it was just a matter of copying them but some adjustment was necessary. For example I've now fitted to Aqua Computer MPS200 flow sensors (one for in, the other for out).
One graphics card fitted:
Both graphic cards fitted:
Now that I've seen the build with the chrome tubing I think chrome for the 980Ti's fan surrounds was the right decision. The green doesn't suit any more. Anyway, really looking forward to how the chrome 980Ti's will turn out
!After a bit of leaking testing it's power on time. Of course I had to get the green LEDs switched on in the GPUs just to see what they'd look like, these are at 100% power.
How about some blue.
A view at the front. Reminds me of a set of exhaust manifolds!
Talking of exhausts, the added heatsinks inside the 980Ti's are working a treat. The amount of heat coming out of them is considerably higher than before without the 'sinks. Remember it's extracting the heat from the VRMs and RAM only, the waterblock is cooling the GPU. A successful mod
Here' a parting image of the chrome XSPC Raystorm. The Dominator ram below will be changing too ...
Thanks for reading, until next time.