Dell Alienware RTX 3090 custom waterblock options?

[airborne spoon]

check out alphacool they make blocks for everything. also if you have a card they dont currently make a block for you can send them your card and they will make a block for free.

but they make like a zillion different blocks so hit them up and ask if they make a block for your card.

[MaratM]

3 hours ago, N3URAL said:

Here is the front. I was not able to take off the black bracket, it felt like it was held to the board with a screw/tab/something I couldn't see so I got nervous and put it back together. This is after all a $3000 card :

The black metal heatsink plate is held by the thermalpads, by the look of it is is a refference board. Therefore the reference block from EK or alphacool or any other manufactures can be used to watercool it. 

[N3URAL]

10 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

check out alphacool they make blocks for everything. also if you have a card they dont currently make a block for you can send them your card and they will make a block for free.

but they make like a zillion different blocks so hit them up and ask if they make a block for your card.

Yes I've been using their blocks for years and I've been watching their site. So far nothing for the Dell 3090 yet. Unfortunately their service to "send in your card if we don't have it already and get a water block for free" is only available in Europe. 

8 hours ago, MaratM said:

The black metal heatsink plate is held by the thermalpads, by the look of it is is a refference board. Therefore the reference block from EK or alphacool or any other manufactures can be used to watercool it. 

By the feel of it I'm wondering if it's held on by thermal adhesive, I was putting enough pressure on the pcb that it was actually bending... I wouldn't think they would use adhesive or glue but that thing wasn't moving at all off the pcb. 

[narrdarr]

im pretty sure it has 3 screws where the i/o is that need to be taken out.

[MaratM]

2 hours ago, narrdarr said:

im pretty sure it has 3 screws where the i/o is that need to be taken out.

You are right

these 3 screws

[N3URAL]

7 hours ago, MaratM said:

You are right

these 3 screws

Yea i got those, and then once that bracket was off there were two screws on the black retention plate that also needed to be removed to release the heatsink/fan combo:

[For Science!]

18 minutes ago, N3URAL said:

Yea i got those, and then once that bracket was off there were two screws on the black retention plate that also needed to be removed to release the heatsink/fan combo:

 

Usually with these plates the VRAM thermal pads produce quite a lot of adhesive force, and so I would really try to gently by firmly apply leverage onto the side opposite to the PCIe connector to introduce air between the thermal pads and the VRAM chips.

[XGoodGuyFitz]

23 hours ago, N3URAL said:

 

*snip*

god i thought that was the cpu at first glance and i saw the thermal paste leaking ;-;

[narrdarr]

1 hour ago, N3URAL said:

Yea i got those, and then once that bracket was off there were two screws on the black retention plate that also needed to be removed to release the heatsink/fan combo:

thats cool that it has a heatpipe to the back plate 

[narrdarr]

we need new pictures of the die side of the pcb as the cover/ heat spreader is off .

[aataulla]

So can anyone here give their definitive temperature readings after pad changes? Any feedback on pad thickness on either side and results achieved will be appreciated.

[Evosnipe]

Im working on a little something something with the ole 3D printer, will post junction temps before/after

[N3URAL]

I ordered 0.5mm and 1.5mm FujiPoly 17w pads. When they come in I will post updates.

 

For now I have gotten the mem junction down to a steady 88-90^oC when mining by mounting the card out of the case and attaching an Arctic "Patented Backside Cooler" backplate to the stock backplate. It's held on with little clamps to the existing backplate.  

 

I think based on the recessed nature of the memory cutouts for the rear heatspreader that I need 3mm pads to close the gap between the mem and the cooler that I put on top of the backplate.

[N3URAL]

EK Updated their compatibility list! Looks like everyone was correct and the Alienware IS a reference board:

[Alphabear1978]

On 2/27/2021 at 2:14 AM, VR-AR_Nerd said:

Hello! I just ordered a prebuilt alienware R11 from Dell because It was the only conceivable way to buy a 3090. I didn’t realize however that the aircooled 3090 dell ships is the short bus version and has kinda not great thermal performance. Does anyone know of a waterblock that would be able to work with this card or a place that can make me a custom one?? (Im in West Coast USA) Thanks!

So I did not follow the whole thread but TechpowerUp says it's a PG132 SKU 10 pcb or with other words a reference pcb.  Sorry about the 2 different fonts lol am doing this on my phone

[Dkmonster]

So has anyone figured it out with water cooling the Alienware 3090?

[Imannudein]

On 3/9/2021 at 4:38 AM, MaratM said:

The black metal heatsink plate is held by the thermalpads, by the look of it is is a refference board. Therefore the reference block from EK or alphacool or any other manufactures can be used to watercool it. 

This looks eerily similar to my 3080 reference board which is the PNY uprising. 

[rand2021]

On 3/9/2021 at 12:43 AM, N3URAL said:

Here is the front. I was not able to take off the black bracket, it felt like it was held to the board with a screw/tab/something I couldn't see so I got nervous and put it back together. This is after all a $3000 card :

I have two of this 3090 card, I'm trying to replace the thermal pads for memory, but only 12 of the 24 memory are exposed, the other 12 are on the other side, how could I separate the two parts?

[Evosnipe]

i wouldnt worry about replacing the pads on the GPU side of the card, jsut hit the area around the GPU (where the two stickers are, remove and wipe adhesive with isopropyl alcohol) with some thermal paste and reassemble. that allows the VRM on the gpu side to get contact with the heatsink and believe me, it works! (confirmed with two 3080s and a 3090). The thermal paste on the plate mod was a godsend for my 3080s, not too noticeable on the 3090 though.

 

The VRAM on the backside of the 3090 is whats cooking, you can do a few things to improve back side (all required bumping card to last PCiE slot)

 

1. Most effective: water cooled backplate (i made a ghetto one with aluminum plate and a peltier style 80mm x 80mm water block connected to the plate with thermal epoxy), temps never hit above 98C now with +1500 memory OC. 119.5mh/s on ETH

 

2. Second most effective, but not recommended: add heatsink to backplate, with more surface area and drop a fan on top of it. Could not OC more than +300 on memory without reaching 110C and experiencing thermal throttle. Seemed to settle around 106C. Too much work for too little gain. 106mh/s on ETH

 

3. Easiest, least effective: drop a fan directly on top of the backplate pushing air into the crevices in the backplate around the VRAM. Could not OC memory at all, but stabilized temps around 95C. 96mh/s on ETH 

 

4. Unconfirmed: Similar to number 3, except you glue small VRAM heatsinks to the backplate where they recess and come in contact with the thermal pad, then drop a fan on top of that. i watched some russian dude on youtube do that and it seemed to work well.

 

Also if you bump the card down to the last spot and need a new GPU support, i created one over on tinkerCad that works like a champ on the R11 and R12 chassis' gpu support | Tinkercad

 

Also the backplate for these cards is hot garbage, what the heck dell?

[Fafafa168]

On 5/8/2021 at 10:09 PM, rand2021 said:

I have two of this 3090 card, I'm trying to replace the thermal pads for memory, but only 12 of the 24 memory are exposed, the other 12 are on the other side, how could I separate the two parts?

I am in the process of doing water block on my R11’s 3090, couldn’t remove the final plate that holds the card like you. Finally, I decided to take a risk since Inalready got everything else ready and just waiting to water block this puppy.

 

All because your picture above gave me an idea, maybe the card is somehow glued to the bracket by the thermal adhesive or pad. So I started rocking the bracket up and down a bit like the green and red arrow indicated. After couple minutes of R’N’R’, Bang! The card got separated from the bracket, and sure enough, bunch of thermal pads were holding the bracket like glue!

 

Thank you and hope you have continued your project too!

[N3URAL]

I finally installed a reference waterblock on my Dell Alienware 3090 and can confirm it fits the reference specs. I will upload pics soon.