Watercooling/Graphics card mod idea

Exsurgo · 1 Apr 2011 at 20:16

Stock Card :

My idea :

Basically the orange represents a cut copper sheet about 2mm in diameter, folded up 90 degrees at the end of the card. It will be lined with little heatsinks/ramsinks attached to it via thermal tape(represented by dark orange).

The copper sheet will be attached to the VRM area via thermal tape and two securing screws at each side of the PCB.

So, does this seem like a viable idea to cool the VRMS of the card? My logic is I will be able to fit about 2/3x the amount of ramsinks that I would normally be able to fit on the area, and I have a fair few spare ones lying around.

Any opinions?

mjones1 · 1 Apr 2011 at 20:21

These would be much easier to apply http://www.enzotechnology.com/mos-c1.htm

Exsurgo · 1 Apr 2011 at 20:44

The problem with those smaller enzotech sinks is that I would need two packs of them to cover all the VRMs, which will work out at £18. My mod idea would work out about the same price overall and would seem to offer better cooling, at least that is my theory

Tealc · 1 Apr 2011 at 21:41

Provided the copper sheet doesn't short out to anything other than the tops of the vrm chips there's nothing to prevent it working. The extra area of course will not be as efficient at drawing heat after the 90 degree bend. You'll also have two levels of thermal interface which also reduces the effectiveness of heat transfer. Perhaps epoxy based tim would be better between copper and ram sinks as I'd imagine it's more effective than tape.

Exsurgo · 2 Apr 2011 at 16:51

Cheers Tealc, will have a look around for some thermal epoxy.
As long as I use washers and make sure the copper piece is cut right there should be no risk of shorting out the card.

The only image I can find online with a 5870V2 with little ramsinks applied. The cost of the ramsinks would work out at about £27 new, which is just crazy. Also his vrm temps hit 75c at stock voltage with a 92mm fan blowing on them, which isnt really good enough for me as it will mean the GPU block is wasted.

Unfortunatly the consensus is 5870's VRMs just run insanely hot, and need a lot of cooling.

I am gonna order the copper sheet and experiment with sizing and attaching it to the card without the tape and just the screws to see if the idea is pratical.

If it is not my only choices are either get a Thermalright VRM R4 and cut it up to fit (£20and no guarantee of sucess/compatability) or to just go with a full cover block at £70, which will be worthless when I upgrade with the next generation of 28nm cards.

Marvin · 2 Apr 2011 at 18:01

It's not a bad idea, though, as others have said, I'm not sure the bend will do much for you. I'd be tempted to try out some of Thermalright's motherboard mosfet coolers on the VRMs, as they aren't too pricy: Clicky

Although, with your copper idea, I'd go with Tealc, and affix the heatsinks themselves through a more efficient means than thermal tape, and use that on the copper-VRM plate. Because you've got the copper too, it should aid the dissipation anyway.

Exsurgo · 3 Apr 2011 at 01:40

Thanks marvin, I completely forgot that a while ago I was thinking about trying those MOSFET coolers. I think they just might fit, and not a bad price anyway.

Gonna give them a shot first, can always stick them on the MM if the idea does not work.

Marvin · 3 Apr 2011 at 01:42

Exsurgo said:
Thanks marvin, I completely forgot that a while ago I was thinking about trying those MOSFET coolers. I think they just might fit, and not a bad price anyway.

Gonna give them a shot first, can always stick them on the MM if the idea does not work.

Or return under DSR once you've had a good look at them, see whether the size is right and all that...