(This post follows up on the previous 1080 ti piece, and a couple smaller status updates where a lot of you guys helped a lot. Thanks to @Moonzy and @Aereldor especially).
Small Case Mod Blog.
This is the first case mod I make that doesn't look horrible (still not the best, but looks fine), so I'm excited to share it with you.
If you've followed my previous content you'd know I placed the radiator from my 1080 Ti on the top front slot of my case for space purposes.
Well, I ran into the problem of the front panel in front of that rad is completely solid. Whoops!
Initially I thought about making some other changes like flipping the front panel (which was not doable).
So I decided that the simplest solution is probably the best one; here's what I did.
I took the top of the front panel (pictured above) and chopped it off. It allows a little over 1/2" of opening (13mm for cultured folks). You can see two guide cuts and one botch in this first picture.
This is the end result. The finish is not the nicest looking, but it's smooth enough and it's safe (the most important bit). I sawed the big chunk off then used a file to remove material and sandpaper for the finish. I could definitely do better with better tools and instruction.
This is how it looks back on the case! I'm very happy with this, and I'll be doing some temperature testing once I do Part 3: Performance of my GTX 1080 Ti blog. I can tell you that before making this change, the card slowly heated up and reached as high as 83C, then I stopped the load because it didn't show signs of stopping.
Current setup: GTX 1080 Ti SC2 Hybrid, Corsair AF120 fan (an Arctic P12 static pressure optimized fan arrives next week).
Temperature before: 83C+ (I stopped the test before it went over, it was showing no sign of stopping).
Temperature after: 75C (After 10 minutes of looking straight at the Dragon in Heaven Bunchmark with Extreme Tessellation).
I'm expecting a significant temperature drop once I use a static pressure optimized fan. 75 is very high for a watercooled card.
The takeaway here is folks, airflow matters. Don't buy a constrained case for any reason! Unless you don't mind punching holes into it like this.
- Moonzy, PCGuy_5960, TVwazhere and 3 others
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@Moonzy there's a bunch of reasons that add up
1) The fan I'm using is shit for radiators (that gets solved next week)
2) This card likely hasn't been repasted (not going to open it up until the 30 day return window closes, just being careful)
3) GN measures Delta T over Ambient (it says temperature adjusted for ambient). Though 50 degrees over ambient seems high, this is a 1080 Ti we're talking about.
4) Not sure if GN tests in a case or in an open air bench. That might also add up.
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1) steal that noctua from your cpu cooler to test this theory
2) possible cause yis
3) yea they do, i doubt your ambient is anywhere near 50c tho
4) i think it's open air based on their config using top deck station as casing, butttttttt a good casing wouldnt cause more than ~5c difference than open air.
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The noctua is 140mm and the rad is 120
I mean I could zip tie it in lol, but I have a fan coming
And yes, a good computer case should not heat up components very much compared to an open air test bench.
In fact I'm surprised GN doesn't use an open air bench as control test for their case reviews
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