GTX 780 modded w/ Kraken X60

[Benbass]

 

 

 

Before painting the glass in black.

Rest of the Album.

 

Context: I built a standard i5/780 config in a Node304 a couple of months ago but the PC being close to me, the GTX780 became very noisy when it went under load. So when I saw the NZXT G10, I took my chance to watercool the graphic card.

 

Modding: I wanted to keep the stock cooler for the look (I bought the GTX for that) but I also wanted to keep the pump under the glass and route the tubing at the bottom of the GPU (that was a bad idea). As you can see on the pictures, I had to remove to pump cover to get everything under the stock cooler glass. I had to do some cuts here and there but nothing too drastic. Also I didn't do a good job measuring the tubing length and I had to rethink how to connect the X60 radiator to the back of the case (I couldn't screw it at the end because of the GPU's HDMI cable so I just hung the radiator on the rad holder...).

 

Result: The GTX780's temps went from 30°/85° to 20°/40° with the same small overclock without overvoltage. But the real bonus comes from the noise level: every fans on the rig are running at the lowest RPM, the PC stays at a 'idle noise level' event under load for hours.

 

PS: In the heat of the moment, I forgot to do a proper build log, that's why I'm posting this here instead of the build log.

PS2: Cables management and case final modding are not finished. The graphic card modding took me all day, I'm busted.

[SAV1OUR]

looks a bit odd without the heatsink on the stock cooler in my opinion 

[Ryan Leech]

THIS IS AWESOME! I should do the same thing with my 465

[wtfxmitchell]

put a cover over that giant hole in the card

[AlwaysFSX]

Yeah... you should spray paint the plexiglass for the cooler and put that back on, it looks ugly without it Great mod though.

[Milesgaming]

It looks great, the only thing that bothers me is the exposed pump PCB, you should try to hide that in some way in the future 

[Osmium]

Very nice job!

[dizmo]

Looks neat.

You bought the card for it's look but....the case doesn't have any windows.

Just open it up sometimes to admire it?

[Ghost]

You would probably be achieving the same temps with the kraken x40. No need for a 280 for a single card. A 240 would be just about justifiable. Also hope you put heatsinks on the RAM and VRM or that's going to get hot and might die soon.

 

But good job with the mod. I really like that the coil of the pump is showing, gives it a nice "homemade" look.

[Constantine]

Is that the blower fan or the G10 fan? How are your VRAM temps?

[Ghost]

Is that the blower fan or the G10 fan? How are your VRAM temps?

That is the stock nvidia fan.

[flibberdipper]

This is really cool. Nice job.

[Benbass]

Thanks for the feedback guys. You are right, I should do something about the pump look, maybe try to shove the NZXT cover in it or paint the glass in black (the inner or outer layer?) . I'll think about it.

 

 

Looks neat.

You bought the card for it's look but....the case doesn't have any windows.

Just open it up sometimes to admire it?

With some white leds, I can see the card behind the mesh (the picture doesn't do it justice, it looks better in real life).

 

 

You would probably be achieving the same temps with the kraken x40. No need for a 280 for a single card. A 240 would be just about justifiable. Also hope you put heatsinks on the RAM and VRM or that's going to get hot and might die soon.

 

But good job with the mod. I really like that the coil of the pump is showing, gives it a nice "homemade" look.

I tried to add a 120mm CLC in the Node304 but it was impossible. I could should have changed the CPU cooler, use a small heatsink and reuse the H90 I use right now on the CPU for the GPU but I'm dumb and didn't do it... So I went for a X60 because I was afraid of the heat from the CPU (50/60°C under load) raising the temps of the GPU's rad behind it (cf 2nd picture of the album). At the end, the GPU is just 6°C hotter when the CPU is under load, the X60 is overkill yes.

No worries for the RAM/VRM, it's the stock cooler.

 

Is that the blower fan or the G10 fan? How are your VRAM temps?

The G10 fan is just a simple 92mm blowing directly on the VRM. I cut the metal plat from the G10 to get the mounting for the pump cooler only and put back the stock cooler from the GTX on the card.

Sadly GPUz doesn't find the temps for the VRM, but it's Nvidia stock cooler so it should be fine.

[flibberdipper]

Thanks for the feedback guys. You are right, I should do something about the pump look, maybe try to shove the NZXT cover in it or paint the glass in black (the inner or outer layer?) . I'll think about it.

I would try the NZXT one.

[Benbass]

Sadly the pump without the cover is already pushing a little on the stock cooler so I cannot add a 3mm cover on it.

Finally, I blacked out the glass and it turns out decent. 

 

 

And the final shot.

[Prophet of Entropy]

kinda ghetto,  fully awesome!  

 

love it,  good job man.

[warmmilk]

so I'm not trying to be a hater, but idk how to ask this without sounding like one...

 

whats the point of a small build like the Node 304 if you're gonna hang a rad off the back of it?