FINAL UPDATE --- PC rebuild- X99 6850K with 90 degree GPU mod

[jonathan13]

FINAL UPDATE: Please see the posts towards the bottom of the page. It would not allow me to add additional pictures to this OP due to size limitations.

 

 

As requested, I am going to put the link to the bracket in this original post so that it is easier to find. I am also going to link the PCIe riser because when I was searching for a riser, there were a lot of crappy ones out there that I wouldn't recommend using. I went with the one that Thermaltake sells to be used with their Core P5 case. It seems to be much better quality, has a bit more length than most, and is black which fits in better with most builds. PCIe riser is currently out of stock on Newegg at the time of posting, but it will likely be in stock again very soon. Also, if you cross reference the part number for it, you can find it on eBay as well as other sites that sell it. 

 

PCIe mount bracket: http://www.mountainmods.com/pci-modular-io-bracket-p-701.html

 

PCIe riser: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812183015&cm_re=thermaltake_riser-_-12-183-015-_-Product

 

Alright guys... I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! I have decided to share a small portion of my computer overhaul. I haven't done a build thread just because I don't have the time to keep it updated in a way that would make it worth subscribing to, so today I will share this small fraction. I recently sold off my Skylake motherboard and CPU- i7-6700k and MSI XPower Titanium board, and decided to make the leap over to X99 since I finally have the means to do so and they have finally added some I/O and features to X99 that wasn't offered previously. I picked up an Asus X99 Deluxe II board and an i7-6850K CPU a week or so ago, and then started looking for a new case to keep things fresh-- I currently have a white H440 from NZXT. One of the things I was looking for in a new case was the ability to mount the GPU sideways (90 degrees) to better show off it's beauty, especially since I am about to make the move to Pascal and it seems as though every card is coming with some form of RGB lighting these days.

 

After looking at cases for days, trying to find the 90 degree GPU feature and coming up no dice, things started to look dismal. For starters, there aren't a huge number of cases that offer this feature, and it seems the few that did were well above the price I was willing to pay for a case. DeepCool's Genome is a decent looking case, but I'm not a fan of the reservoir in the front screaming, "hey here I am!! A reservoir! I hold liquid! My owner is a lazy dope that has more money than sense!!" At this point, I began looking for threads where people had modded their case to accept a GPU in the upright position. This too returned a similarly small pool of results. Finally, I found a thread that linked a site that sells a PCIe mount bracket. It is a very simple but effective design. I thought to myself, since I was already tired of my H440, and it doesn't bring huge money used, why not try this out and if it works great, if not, I can just buy something different after destroying the H440. I picked up the bracket for $26 shipped, and this is what I have accomplished so far:

 

Here is the bracket test fitted to my reference GTX 980.

 

PCIe riser card as well as some new thermal paste for my 6850K.

 

Bracket test fitted in my case.

 

Two shots of the video card mocked up with the bracket in place. Not too bad at all. Decently level and no sag.

 

 

Today, my plans are to get the bracket painted white to match the case, and figure out how I am going to make my cut in the rear of the case so I have access to the I/O and can actually plug monitors into the card. I am going to run by Lowes on my way home from work in a few hours and see what I can come up with to line the rectangle cut out that I make. I am not quite sure what I am going to use yet, but I don't want to just leave the cut jagged and ugly. My goal is to make it look like NZXT built the case with this bracket already installed. Any ideas are welcome!! Also, any feedback is welcome as well. Tell me whether you like it, don't like it, or anything you think I should do or should have done. Thanks guys!! Update coming later today!

 

[agent114]

that going to look sweet. I love your mod I think it looks sturdy and good looking. Happy modding friend.

[jonathan13]

2 minutes ago, agent114 said:

that going to look sweet. I love your mod I think it looks sturdy and good looking. Happy modding friend.

Thanks Agent!

[ChrisCross]

wow. that looks better than my one.

[ChrisCross]

can you give me a link for that bracket?

[jonathan13]

10 minutes ago, ChrisCross said:

can you give me a link for that bracket?

PM'ed you. Not sure if links to items for sale are allowed in this forum. If they are, someone enlighten me, and I would be happy to post the link for everyone. 

[ChrisCross]

1 minute ago, jonathan13 said:

PM'ed you. Not sure if links to items for sale are allowed in this forum. If they are, someone enlighten me, and I would be happy to post the link for everyone. 

no you can  post them no problem.

btw i would support the gpu on the right side. i modded my cooler for that but for warranty i would go for a support piece on the bottom.

[Loleo]

Link to the brackets, pretty please?

[jonathan13]

10 minutes ago, ChrisCross said:

no you can  post them no problem.

btw i would support the gpu on the right side. i modded my cooler for that but for warranty i would go for a support piece on the bottom.

I was thinking about that myself last night when I had it mocked up. Doesn't seem super stressed, but it is a decent amount of weight on the I/O shield. If you don't mind me asking, what did you use to support the end of the card?

 

2 minutes ago, Loleo said:

Link to the brackets, pretty please?

On the way!  I am going to post the link for the bracket and the PCIe riser in the original post in just a couple of minutes.

[jonathan13]

Links added for anyone who is interested. Go forth and mod your cases as much as your hearts desire and your wallets can handle! 

[jonathan13]

39 minutes ago, ChrisCross said:

wow. that looks better than my one.

After checking out your build log, I disagree. Your build and GPU mounting looks pretty freaking awesome! 

[ChrisCross]

2 hours ago, jonathan13 said:

I was thinking about that myself last night when I had it mocked up. Doesn't seem super stressed, but it is a decent amount of weight on the I/O shield. If you don't mind me asking, what did you use to support the end of the card?

i put a screw threw the side of my cooler shroud. but you will need disasemble your cooller for that. a 3d printed bracket is easier in your case.

[jonathan13]

6 hours ago, ChrisCross said:

i put a screw threw the side of my cooler shroud. but you will need disasemble your cooller for that. a 3d printed bracket is easier in your case.

I will look into that. Thanks!

[jonathan13]

I finally have a chance to post a quick update. 

 

I was able to make my rear I/O cut. I used a dremel with a cutting disc for a rough cut through the vents above the two grommets, through the upper grommet hole, and finally merging into the bottom grommet hole. I left the lower one rounded at the bottom, while squaring up the top where the vents were. I then used a round "stone" style dremel bit to round off the edges, and finally a "afro hair" style bit to smooth the edges so they could be touched without getting cut (not sure if the people outside of the States will understand what I mean by "afro-style" because I am not so sure that is a common haircut in the rest of the civilized world). Not 100% satisfied with how it turned out, but I suppose it could have been a lot worse.

 

I ran by Lowes after work and picked up some of the rubber seal stuff you use on windows and window screens (never knew this stuff existed and still not quite sure exactly what it does). I cut it down the middle fillet style, and used that as a surround to try and make the hole look more "factory" like it was supposed to be there. Not sure if I accomplished that or not. Again, not 100% satisfied with this portion either.

 

I was able to paint the bracket as well this evening. I used only white primer with no actual paint, and a matte clear coat. I sprayed the clear coat far away from the bracket in spiratic motions to get a textured look which I am happy to report, I am 100% satisfied with how that turned out. (Yay!! 1 out of 3 isn't so bad! ) I am fairly confident that anyone who might have seen me shooting the clear in the manner I was, probably thought I was a complete nut and that whatever I happened to be painting was going to turn out ridiculously terrible.

 

Finally, I mounted the bracket in the case. Here are the photos of everything, including a pretty sweet shot of me in my safety sunglasses (didn't have any real safety glasses) and sparks flying. I am sad to report that I do not know how to overcome the 20mb photo limit in my original post which is why I am posting the photos down here. Any guidance on how to accomplish adding more photos to the OP, would be greatly appreciated!

 

Super jagged initial cut.

 

Almost done smoothing.

 

A little lumpy  but I suppose no one will see back there... well except for all of you!! Don't judge me!! 

 

Spot on paint job! I guess working in a collision center for all this time has paid off after all.

 

Mounted.

 

Shades on. Sparks flying. Dat Nexus 6P burst mode though... 

 

Tomorrow building the new system begins. To say I am excited is a massive understatement. I would love to do a build log, but I just don't have the time. I will come back in here and post a couple of final shots of the system fully built. Asus X99 Deluxe II and some Broadwell-E on deck!!!! 

[jonathan13]

This is the last update. Just wanted to share a picture of the completed system. I say completed, but in actuality, I will be swapping out the Asus X99 Deluxe II motherboard for the MSI Gaming Pro Carbon. Unfortunately this new Asus board has quite a few bugs and the performance is lackluster to say the least. Anywho, here she is!!

 

[blackpearl]

nice job. want to do this to on my case. i checked how it probably would fit in my phantom 820. the 820 has the perfect side panel with the mesh. so my gpu would easily get fresh air. but need to figure out how to support the gpu somehow.... 

[jonathan13]

On 8/14/2016 at 10:31 AM, blackpearl said:

nice job. want to do this to on my case. i checked how it probably would fit in my phantom 820. the 820 has the perfect side panel with the mesh. so my gpu would easily get fresh air. but need to figure out how to support the gpu somehow.... 

I ended up never supporting the video card with anything. With that being said, I got case fever like a week after completing this mod and completely rebuilt my system with a new Phanteks case. I definitely miss how this one looked though.