[Update: Reinforcement has arrived] GPU sag is the least of your worries - Asetek announces PCIe mounted radiator

[rcmaehl]

Edit:
After doing a bit more research, I've found what appears to be a support bracket in 2 marketing images. Not many images of the R11 exist as it's a newer product, but it does look this is a design feature brought forward from the R10, My original thoughts are incorrect in the case of Alienware specifically but any OEMs implementing this should reinforcement similar to this.

  
 

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Original OP:

 

Sources:
Yahoo

Asetek

Summary:
Asetek, an OEM used by Alienware, has announced their PCIe based 2080Super Radiator, available to OEM partners.

 

Media:

 

Quotes/Excerpts (Trimmed down because marketing AF):

Quote

Asetek's Rad Card GPU Cooler, the...slot-in PCIe radiator card, is...available in Dell-Alienware's newly introduced Alienware Aurora R11 PC. The Asetek Rad Card GPU Cooler fits into your motherboard's PCIe slot, just like any other add-in card. By utilizing PCIe slots, Asetek has defined a way to overcome PC manufacturers' dilemma of finding additional space inside the case. Asetek is headquartered in Denmark and has operations in China, Taiwan and the United States.

 

My thoughts:
Having issues finding news about this that isn't just ripped straight out of the marketing PDF they provided to news outlets. It's a novel idea but my god, is going to require some heavy reinforcement. GPU sag is already a major issues and GPUs are probably half the weight of an AIO (this is probably about a 240mm rad). The sag is going to be REAL with this radiator and I hope it doesn't ruin an absolute ton of prebuilts in shipping as it wobbles around in the PC case. Rev up those reinforced PCIe slots as they're going to pound town with this behemoth attached. God speed.

[Crunchy Dragon]

How badly does the Aurora R11's design differ from older revisions that it requires a PCIe radiator? Sounds like a waste of expansion slot space if you ask me...

[givingtnt]

This is cool hehehe

 

But isin't the point of 120/140mm fans.. not having a blower fan ???

 

I don't see how this is better than having a 120mm radiator with just a bit more tubing for.. well, mounting on a fan port..

 

Also holy shit imagine having to clean that from dust in a few years

 

+ It just removed PCIe slots for no reason

[Tristerin]

And its still blower style.  They missed the point.

[rcmaehl]

3 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

How badly does the Aurora R11's design differ from older revisions that it requires a PCIe radiator? Sounds like a waste of expansion slot space if you ask me...

Barely any as far as I can tell:
 

R11:

R10:

[porina]

As a generalisation, more effective cooling volume could lead to better cooling, but I'm curious just what goes in where in those two parts. I don't see any fan on the GPU section so presumably that's just card/block/reservoir/pump, and the 2nd section is dedicated to heat transfer?

[Energycore]

For when you REALLY want to run SLI but can't because it's not supported anymore

[Letgomyleghoe]

What’s the point if there’s a fucking blower still on the card, and all the radiator heat is gonna get blown out the top radiator for the cpu, so have fun with temps guys! 

[rcmaehl]

4 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

wait is that a blower card for... a blower card?

Yo dawg, I heard you like blowers

[atxcyclist]

6 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

Yo dawg, I heard you like blowers

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

51 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

Barely any as far as I can tell:
 

R11:

R10:

So this is just a gimmick and prevents further upgrades? Nice one, Dell.

[AlwaysFSX]

49 minutes ago, scuff gang said:

What’s the point if there’s a fucking blower still on the card, and all the radiator heat is gonna get blown out the top radiator for the cpu, so have fun with temps guys! 

Not sure you know how the airflow works on blower coolers.

[Letgomyleghoe]

32 minutes ago, AlwaysFSX said:

Not sure you know how the airflow works on blower coolers.

I do, I’m talking about the radiator above it.

 

blowers pull air in from the case and exhaust it out of the slots on the back by the io

[Letgomyleghoe]

37 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

So this is just a gimmick and prevents further upgrades? Nice one, Dell.

I mean, it’s Alienware, what do you expect?

[Crunchy Dragon]

30 minutes ago, scuff gang said:

I mean, it’s Alienware, what do you expect?

Fair point. I guess they like fixing stuff that isn't broken.

[Pickles von Brine]

I would use it. 

[Dabombinable]

Even in old towers designed for quad sli, it'd be a waste of the unused space.

[RejZoR]

I don't understand the design here. They basically split the cooler from the card and kept it... of exact same size. They are just relocating same capacity. Why not just make the heatsink bigger and slam a 80mm or 90mm fan at the end and make it a CPU tower style heatsink on graphic card and avoid using centrifugal fans. Or just use same multifan design and  just use fatter fin stack. Done.

 

The way AMD did with R9 Fury X made sense. This just doesn't.

[Dabombinable]

50 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

I don't understand the design here. They basically split the cooler from the card and kept it... of exact same size. They are just relocating same capacity. Why not just make the heatsink bigger and slam a 80mm or 90mm fan at the end and make it a CPU tower style heatsink on graphic card and avoid using centrifugal fans. Or just use same multifan design and  just use fatter fin stack. Done.

 

The way AMD did with R9 Fury X made sense. This just doesn't.

Triple slot blower?

[RejZoR]

2 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

Triple slot blower?

It would probably make more sense than this.

[Dabombinable]

Just now, RejZoR said:

It would probably make more sense than this.

It'd be more reliable too. If Dell really does use the new Asetek cooler, that's going to cause a world of problems, and probably destroy the Alienware second hand market since the loop will run dry - just like my (admittedly far lower quality+dirt cheap) Seidon 120V rev1 did within 3 years.

[RejZoR]

5 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

It'd be more reliable too. If Dell really does use the new Asetek cooler, that's going to cause a world of problems, and probably destroy the Alienware second hand market since the loop will run dry - just like my (admittedly far lower quality+dirt cheap) Seidon 120V rev1 did within 3 years.

I have CM Nepton XL and it had pretty severe evaporation, but in my case because I run it quiet and thus liquid warms up quite significantly. I just flushed the liquid and refilled it with premixed water cooling liquid from EKWB. It cost me like 10€ total to refresh the AiO and make it work like new again.

[atxcyclist]

8 hours ago, scuff gang said:

I mean, it’s Alienware, what do you expect?

As much as I am a build-it-yourself guy, the new Aurora R9 case looks really cool. I still wouldn't buy it though.

[AlwaysFSX]

9 hours ago, scuff gang said:

I do, I’m talking about the radiator above it.

 

blowers pull air in from the case and exhaust it out of the slots on the back by the io

The cooler is probably going to work better than the heat radiation from the card itself in to the case, non-issue..?

[AsetekDennis]

Hi guys,

 

Thought I'd join in and try to lend a helping hand

First of all, feel free to toss as many questions you want, my way. I'll do my best to answer as much as I possibly can.

 

For the Rad Card, we had a very specific request from Alienware who wanted to optimise on their current GPU Cooling setup, while still remaining true to their unique form-factor. To solve that we came up with the Rad Card.

The card itself (to my knowledge) is built by MSI and the cooler by us. 

 

As for performance the following is the result of Dell's in-house testing:

Noise reduced by up to 69%, Temperature reduced by up to 20%. Up to 6% performance uplift

 

You can read it over here: https://eu.alienwarearena.com/experiences/alienware-aurora-r11

 

Again, any questions (Rad Card or not) feel free to contact me, in thread, PM, Twitter - whatever suits you  )

 

Best,

AsetekDennis