cwjakesteel

So I tried it out, and the cooling bracket is burning hot, but the games are still running. One thing I notice is that games that would load instantly now take a few seconds longer, but actually playing the game is the same. The ram might be slower. Either way I only have GPU and CPU outtake in my PC (both are liquid cooled). The only thing bringing heat into the case is the non-cooled parts of the GPU which brought my case temps up to 52 degrees. The intake from the liquid cooling though keeps some parts of the PC extremely cool though. Unfortunately I don't have any room to even use a case fan to even slightly cool the GPU FET and RAM. I'm using an NCase M1. It would be great if I could do a custom liquid cooling loop. But $80 for an AIO and bracket vs $300 for buying all the parts for the custom loop is just too good an offer. Unfortunately I can't even put a fan on the bottom of the case because my HDD is in the way. (also the case is just a PAIN to work with)

Okay. I'll give it a try and get back to ya then. Thanks.

So even though it it just a flat sheet of metal with stick pads, and not like a metal grid that sticks out in 3D space it should be fine? As you can see it is just that flat piece.

No it is not. It is compatible with a wide variety of cards. I am using it right now with my zotac amp! edition. There is a list of compatible cards. Check here: AMD: http://www.corsair.com/en/hydro-series-hg10-a1-gpu-liquid-cooling-bracket Nvidia: http://www.corsair.com/en/hydro-series-hg10-n980-gpu-liquid-cooling-bracket And go to the tech specs tab. There is you compatibility list.

But note that for the ram and other bits on the card, there aren't "spreaders." Like the metal grills that dissipate heat. It's just one flat metal sheet. Also if you do intend on buying it, I recommend you not use the included fan at all (hate corsair fans). You can remove the fan easily by removing the stick pads underneath the fan (the screws are undeneath the sticky pads). And you could probably put a 120mm fan close to that part of the card. I didn't have any space for that though. If you don't want to go through the trouble of removing the fan and sticky pads, what I did was thread the fan's cable up through the fan so that it didn't get in the way of mounting.

Yes, according to corsair's website and the manual, the bracket fits any Hydro series coolers. What's more important is that the card itself is compatible with the bracket.

Hi all. I recently bought a corsair hg10 for my GTX980. This is a bracket for the graphics card that allows you to put a corsair H-series all in one liquid cooler onto the GPU die. It also has that little fan that's meant to cool the non-gpu part of your graphics card. That blower style fan that most reference cards have. So I installed this thing with a 120mm rad because my current open air graphics card was making too much noise (it's 3 fans was at in minimum 1500 rpm) and I wanted quieter, but using my hg10 turned out to be even louder, with the fan going at 1750 rpm. And it being a blower style instead of an open air style just multiplied the loudness. I couldn't take it, so I just plugged it out of the card. Now, I hear that it is important to keep the MOSFET bits of the graphics card cool. So with my set up, only the die is being cooled, while everything else has the sticky thermal pads on it attached to a flat piece of metal (the cooling bracket), but no fan. So I would like to know if this is sufficient for the the vulnerable parts of the card. I have seen that there are heatsinks just for FETs. So I might be inclined to by the heatspreaders for the non-liquid cooled parts of the GPU, as I would still like to game, with it.

Wow! This caught me off guard! I'm so glad I didn't go ahead and start my m-ITX build already! I was going to use a BitFenix Prodigy for it's air-cooling and water-cooling space and for holding long graphics cards, but with this I can go super small form factor!

I see. Thank you all for your replies. This is my first time investing in a desktop PC. I have had a gaming laptop with a 460M for the past 3 years. When I said I had no access to anything to build a computer, I mean, none of the parts are sold in my country, like the cases, power supplies, cards, processors. I would have to get them internationally shipped or travel to the US to acquire them. Since many of you attest to the rate of DoA being low, then I may just go ahead in acquiring all the parts individually. However, I would hate to find out that even one USB port at the back didn't work, or say the ethernet port didn't work and I was set back to using the computer for several more weeks. I would assume that having it pre-built, the companies such as cyberpowerpc would check for these things. Having the PC built professionally for novices and making sure all the parts work - I thought that would be standard quality assurance. Okay. However, I was only going to choose that card if I were to buy pre-built from cyberpowerpc. Otherwise I would get one of the much cheaper cards such as MSI's. So if I do end up going with cyberpowerpc, then I shouldn't have to worry about that. I like the small form factor if mini-ITX cases and the portability. Since mini-ITX cases don't suffer any loss of over-all power (for single GPU set ups) and I can move them around easily, I prefer them. Actually, I would have even gone with a mini PC if I could find any that had a GTX 980M. According to Linus, the 980M has only 10% less performance than the big 980, so it would even be more portable without sacrificing performance over the GTX 970. I plan to use the bit fenix prodigy since it has handles, side USB ports and enough room for cooling (I also plan to use a CPU liquid cooler). All the mini-PCs I found only had the AMD r9 275M as the highest level card. However, a mini-ITX setup is much more future proof and upgradable than a mini PC or laptop. Well, as long as some games go up to 144hz then I'll appreciate it. I already own the monitor after all.

Hello all. I wasn't sure if I should have made this topic in the Planning and building thread or the Graphics card thread. Anyway, I wanted to build a new mini-ITX PC with an MSI, ASUS Strix or Zotac GTX 970. I hear they are all good, but where I live, I have no access to anything to build a computer. I can ship them overseas, but I hear that when building a computer, there is a high chance that many parts might be dead on arrival and require sending them back to the manufacturers. This would be very difficult and expensive for me. So I was thinking of getting a pre-built gaming PC from cyberpowerpc. However, they only have the Reference card and the EVGA 970 card which I know has misaligned heat pipes and I don't want a faulty card. So I am wondering if I should buy the PC with integrated graphics, and buy the card seperately from amazon or some place. If I do get Intel integrated graphics, is it possible to install the graphics card on the sole PCI-E and make the computer switch to it? And how would I do that? I don't know how to use BIOS or anything like that... I want to game at 144 Hz at 1080p, so I am willing to go a little below max settings to get 144 Hz at 1080p so I know the 970 is capable of it.

What is the difference between SP and AF? Or are those just brand names? I was thinking of getting a BitFenix Prodigy too, the m-ITX, but now that I see your build I think I want the M for the extra video card slot. I was fine with the m-ITX because I wasn't planning on getting 2 graphics cards since the increase in performance doesn't scale as well, and by the time I want to upgrade my graphics, I can just replace the card on the m-ITX. Also can you fit an optical drive in there with those two long cards?