The DIY/TECH Thread Enthusiasts & Learners Welcomed! 56K WARNING!

[Recon-UK]

Now i know a few folk here who love to tinker, whether that be overclocking a certain part of their PC, or simply reducing noise and finding innovation  through DIY jobs.

 

Sometimes these things go wrong, this is to be expected at some point, and is of course merely a learning curve.

 

The positive side is reaching the goals you set for yourself, and what is reasonably attainable.

 

 

So, guys share your DIY/Ghetto jobs, it can be anything that is tech related, consoles, PC, microwave... yeah you get my point i hope

 

 

 

My own venture into some DIY was the first generation of Nvidia Dx11 GPU's known as Fermi 400 series, i had 2 480's.

 

Heat is a known issue with stock Fermi GPU's, however Nvidia did not do a good job of researching a decent cooler for their 400 series GPU's up until the GTX 460 arrived on the scene.

 

My 480's in SLi reached 102c, i later gave my 2nd 480 to a good friend who made good use of it for 1050p shenanigans, 102c is crazy, but it was my fault, spacing for the cards was literally not there.

 

So, me being the overclocker and tinkerer i am, i wanted MOAR from my single card to make up the difference as much as i can..

 

Here is images of what i did...

 

Cooler off the GPU.

 

 

 

 

Image of the single card with a replaced cooler: GELID Icy Vision REV 2.0

 

 

This was good for stock voltage bios and 850mhz on the core, but i still wanted more.

 

I wanted thermal performance that would come close to a basic water loop.

 

I did a lot of experimenting with different fans of all sizes and types...

 

Xigmatek fans 120mm:

 

 

 

Phobya G silent 120mm:

 

 

 

None of the above was going to cut it, i needed some quality fans which are capable of forcing air in a small space, not overlapping the entire heatsink.

 

 

So i went for Noctua 92mm fans, these were amazing, inaudible and deadly at cooling!

 

 

I have no images for this, but i noticed i was not gaining any OC headroom, this is where i decided to order a Thermalright VRM-G2, which would replace the entire array of tiny heatsinks that covered the VRM's.

 

 

I then proceeded to modify the cards bios with a ridiculous amount of voltage overhead, a serious bios not really meant for air, but gave me the raw card to play with.

 

Tweaked phases and more voltage on tap than the local power grid would earn me the fastest air cooled GTX 480 on overclock.net (OCN)

 

The cooling capacity was pretty insane and impressive in one go... see for yourself:

 

 

 

 

Performance numbers:

 

 

3D Mark 11:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5654604

 

vs stock 7950:

http://www.pcchip.hr/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sapphire-Radeon-HD-7950-3DMark11.jpg

 

 

Unigine Valley run:

 

 

 

Video at a lower clock:

 

 

These next shots are downsampled images at 1440p and higher:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Freaky_spider]

just reminded me of this amazing commercial

 

 

damn, so you tamed a 480? nice

[Manny Calavera]

Send application to noctua.

[ShadowCaptain]

So, thats mental

 

I wish I could be arsed to do things like this, I just throw money at it because I am lazy

 

Quite impressive for an old card 

[Recon-UK]

Glad it is an enjoyable read guys

[Freaky_spider]

Glad it is an enjoyable read guys

didnt they cut holes in the back of the PCB for better cooling

[Recon-UK]

didnt they cut holes in the back of the PCB for better cooling

 

My card before the VRM upgrade:

 

 

Might have been, hardly helped though

[Freaky_spider]

My card before the VRM upgrade:

 

 

 

Might have been, hardly helped though

yea you can see it, to the right in the middle of the PCB, 2 half circles cut out of the PCB

[Recon-UK]

I suppose attaching a 120mm Corsair to the bottom of my laptop is classed as DIY, but not as impressive as my prior feats

[jiyang1018]

I almost got that cooler for my quadro 4000 which is based on fermi architecture.

But last year, I got a waterblock custom made for quadro 4000, and I bought a slightly used alphacool xt45 480 rad. I decided not to waste money on air coolers but spend more money getting a pump, CPU block, gtx680 block, tubing and fittings and made a custom loop water cooling system.

Now my quadro is 55c, gtx680 45c, 3930k oc4.4 ghz 1.375v 62c under full load, intake air about 29-30c. And I'm very happy about this.

I understand this may be off your original topic. Just want to complain about the heat issue of my quadro card, but ended up dumping too much details.

Hope you won't mind.

[Recon-UK]

I almost got that cooler for my quadro 4000 which is based on fermi architecture.

But last year, I got a waterblock custom made for quadro 4000, and I bought a slightly used alphacool xt45 480 rad. I decided not to waste money on air coolers but spend more money getting a pump, CPU block, gtx680 block, tubing and fittings and made a custom loop water cooling system.

Now my quadro is 55c, gtx680 45c, 3930k oc4.4 ghz 1.375v 62c under full load, intake air about 29-30c. And I'm very happy about this.

I understand this may be off your original topic. Just want to complain about the heat issue of my quadro card, but ended up dumping too much details.

Hope you won't mind.

Put as much info as you like sir, good to see some activity in this thread