OC & Modding Ideas Required for custom Heatsink for GPU

[madnav]

I'm planning to have a custom heatsink for my HD4850, although, ideas need not be specific only to this card... generic ideas which could be implemented on any card would also do.

All ideas are welcome, however crazy they might be!!

for starters, look at XtremeSystems Forums - View Single Post - Custom Heatsink thread

i might consider this since i'm getting sccf 120mm, which i would be using for mod.. i will either mod that sccf for cpu or cut it for this kind of stuff.

let your ideas flow in here :hap2:

 

[Gannu]

Will require a lot of thought, time, patience and moolah!

A fairly easier option is to use a low-weight CPU heatsink just as how the XS member has done. But you're required to have the holes drilled on the backplate and the retention plate depending on the card used. Or you can have some 2mm thk SS plates bent to fit the profile of the base of the heatsink and holes drilled to match the ones on the card just in case the stock ones do not serve the purpose.

I think all HD48XX series cards use the same holes. Get the holes drilled and machined from an engineering workshop in your neighbourhood.

Heavier heatsinks will exert force on the card and may have the card permanently bent. My previous motherboard was bent due to the weight of the TRU120E itself so you could probably imagine the scale of damage to the card, which's probably a quarter in its dimensions compared to the motherboard!

Bikey may have some old TR coolers - he might have the SI 128 itself! Drop him a PM.

If you're required to bend any cooler, do it by properly clamping with the help of a bench-vise and properly sealing the base of the heatsink (with some rounds of masking tape) which otherwise may end up scratched after all the work's done.

Good luck with the mods and keep us posted!

 

[madnav]

yup my major concern is stress on the pcb due to heavier heat sinks..

thus i will mostly try to balance the weight by adding a spacer between the heatsink and the floor of the cabinet.

mounting with the help of steel plates and nut bolts should be easier on the standard reference pcb of HD4850, plenty of holes for the same

lastly, the reference heatsink is a great heatsink for vram imo, so i would be willing to use some part of it for the vram cooling.

will look into SI 128

but somehow it gives me a feeling that accelero s1 rev2 would be better than SI 128, let's see how much SI 128 costs

 

[Gannu]

^Nope I'm quite sure the SI128 should beat the accelero hands down. I googled up on the specs of the Ultima as well and the Ultima weighs around 460g w/o the fan and the HR03 series weighs around 410g so even the Ultima is a good contender and you could have the push pull arrangement with the fans throwing the warm air outside the enclosure if you manage to have a slot in the side panel adjacent to the fans.

The Ultima uses a fairly easier and a fool-proof retention mechanism. Perhaps you could so something to it but yeah it could bend the board since the tower heatsink will pull the card vertically below.

 

[madnav]

^^ yes so as to avoid that pull, i'm thinking of putting a spacer betwwen the top of the tower cooler and the floor of the cabinet ..so as to make it feel like cooler is kind of resting on that spacer..

anyways, ultima sounds like a good contender to me.

 

[Gannu]

^Yeah, a thick neoprene block between the cooler and the floor or alternately, the cards generally have a hole near the power connector at the corner-ends. You could use a 1~2mm thk metal strip to hold the card which could be held in place from the enclosure - maybe somewhere close to the hard disk slots/5.25" slots. Use a nut and screw it. Make sure you isolate the contacts with some washers which acts as insulators and also ensures a secure clamp.

I've seen a similar arrangement on My Dell workstation at workplace - it's a nV QFX4800 card and is clamped to a thin metal plate.