CPU AIO on a GPU (NVIDIA Mod)----Updated 5-13

[AHaskin14]

Where to begin....how about I just tell you that I plan to write a lot so you can either read it all or look at the pretty pictures I took with my M8 and then downscaled so that I could upload.

 

The Idea: Way back on January 4th I saw this NCIX youtube video on how to attach a CPU all in one liquid cooler to a gpu using "ghetto" methods. It was inspiring. As a mechanical engineering student one of my biggest interests in computers is the hardware and different ways that I can better my system physically. So a few weeks ago I saw that Newegg had a Seidon 120m on sale for $40 after mir so I decided It was my time.

 

The Why: Answer me this...Why do you own a computer? If you answered with anything other than "my life depends on it" then don't argue it. Computers are a fun hobby and my particular enjoyment is in the hardware. People have given me flak about how its a pointless mod and a dangerous mod and blah blah blah. I don't care, it was fun.

 

The Education: Once again, I learned a bit from the NCIX video (youtube) but I learned the most from this overclockers.net forum post overclock.net . While it focuses on modding Nvidia gpu's theres also a complete forum thread for the AMD Red Mod here (overclock.net)

 

The Parts: Cooler Master Seidon 120 M: It was on sale for $40 and I knew it was a decent series of coolers from the Seidon 120XL on my CPU. MSI GTX 770 Gaming 2gb: Great card, cooler is great, just wanted to mod it. Cougar Vortex PWM: I had it as a case fan and it has PWM which I wanted so that it worked with the gpu's onboard control. Cosmos VRAM Heatsinks (amazon): There werent many options so these seemed as good as any. Unknown VRM Heatsinks (amazon): Once again no clue why I picked these but they were cheap and worked. GELID VGA Fan Adapter (amazon) : Iv'e come to trust GELID from having a few of their fan adapters already. quality and at a good price. GELID Extreme Thermal Paste (newegg): I had never heard of this stuff until I did some research. Its supposedly better than everything else out there but I cant really agree to that. oh well.

 

The Before: I used MSI Kombusters GPU Core Burner (Furry MSI) at 1920x1080 with 8x MSAA and Intel Extreme Tuning Utility CPU Stress Test together for 15 minutes. At the end of that time the cpu would range from 64-75 Degrees Celsius and the GPU from 61-62 Degrees Celsius.

 

The Process:

 

Here's a bit of the parts/pieces and the general workspace I was using, my grandpas workshop basement.

 

First up of course was to remove the cooler on my gpu. A fairly basic process, nothing more than four screws and a very hard to unplug fan plug.

 

This is how I wanted the hosing to flex when it was attached to the cooler. I hoped to have the fan exhaust out the bottom and take clean air from the front intakes. At this angle, there is still a fair amount of pressure being applied to the block from the hoses so I knew the attachment would have to be tight.

 

So I came to the point where I needed to determine my attachment procedure. I could ideally use zip ties, but I only had one that was small enough to work. I tried shaving down bigger zip ties to fit through the holes, but that was of no use. Then I saw some twist ties and figured I would give those a try.

 

I simply tied them well around the four holes on the block, and figured I would feed them trhough and tie them up on the backside of the gpu somehow.

 

So I celaned off the gpu (so shiny).

 

Applied the GELID Extreme, and spread it out with the applicator since I know gpu chips need to be cooled over the entirety of their surface area, not just a strip down the middle like a cpu.

 

At this point I realized that I totally should have waited for my friend to come over and give me some more hands. I had no way to hold the gpu AND tighten the zip ties, and it was 11:00 pm so everyone else in my house was asleep and of no help. So.....I carefully tightened the I/O plate into a vice........not the best idea but effective.

 

I tightened the zip ties by tightly twisting two pairs, and then twisting those two in the middle.

 

So there I was, all set except for the VRAM and VRM heatsinks. The block seemed tightly secured and the card was seated in place nicely.

 

So.......I fired up my computer, opened afterburner and found an idle temp of about 30 Degrees Celsius. Sweet, I like it. I click to run kombuster, and this is where things went horribly wrong. After about 1 second of kombuster running I hit 50 Celsius, after about 5 Seconds I was at 70 Celsius, and it would quickly rise up to and beyond 80 Celsius. I proceeded to shut my computer off and inspect the block. It was firmly seated on the gpu with no visible separation or shifting. I could understand If perhaps it was just a worse cooler than I had thought, but the way it quickly jumped in temperature made me curious. So i fired up the computer again, fingers crossed, and repeated the process. Same problem, the temperature was going beyond 80 so I shut down my computer and went to bed crying of my complete failure, with voices in my head of the people who told me it was a stupid idea and wouldnt work. (JK it was midnight and I was tired).

 

So the next day I waited to start until my friend came over. We began by re-fitting the block. Carefully applying the thermal paste, carefully (and tightly) twisting the twist ties, and everything necessary to ensure success. Placed the setup back into my rig and fired it up. Now of course the block seemed perfectly tightened with maxiumum contact. As soon as I hit afterburner, it spikes to 80, what the hell.... At this point I'm convinced it might actually be the cooler itself. So we strip the setup and keep the block and fan plugged in when we turn the computer back on. The block was icey cold, and quickly dissapated heat after we heated it up (breathed on it lol). Evidently this wasnt the problem. So we try the twist ties for a third time......and it was not a charm in this case........time to reconsider the plan.

 

My friend suggests (giving him full credit) while the computer is still on that I grab the block with my hand and press it down firmly. As soon as I do, the temperature shoots down to 55,50, 45, and levels a bit. I was blown away. How could we tighten it down so much and have it look fine, just to have it not be. Either way, we needed a hardcore fastening solution, zip ties.

 

Looking at the time we realize that it was about 4:45, and there was a small local hardware store that would be closing at 5:00. We drive down quick (per the speed limit of course) and catch the owner just as he was going to flip the sign to closed. He takes us back to the electricl section to show us what zip ties they have but none were small enough. Hearing what we were looking for though, his wife yells up from the front register that there were tiny zip ties in an assorted zip tie container on the other side of the store. We go over and find what we needed. A small container filled with zip ties of all shapes and colors, even red.

 

We rush back (per the speed limit of course) to try the zip ties. We simply feeded them through the block like this.

 

and tightened the backside like this.

 

Damn that was easy.

 

So however it may be, It worked, we were getting idle temps in the cold basement of about 24-26 and in short stress tests getting temperatures in the 50's.

 

I then moved on to install my heatsinks. Not sure what made me pick these considereing how off brand they are by my opinion, but they're what I got.

 

Now as you may have seen in other pictures, There was a black heatsink like piece of metal on the gpu that was under the main heatsink to begin with. It was securely fastened with thermal pads/compound to all the pieces I had concern for, so I figured that rather than take it off, I would just add to it. While the VRAM was easy, they VRM modules took a bit of meticulous work to place.

 

Here it is all done, not too bad.

 

My case (lights off)

 

My case (lights on)

 

The After: I used MSI Kombusters GPU Core Burner (Furry MSI) at 1920x1080 with 8x MSAA and Intel Extreme Tuning Utility CPU Stress Test together for 15 minutes. At the end of that time the cpu would range from 58-69 Degrees Celsius and the GPU from 50-51 Degrees Celsius. This proves that by not dissipating the GPU's heat into the case, you can reduce the heat on your CPU.

 

The Conclusion: Well in the end it was a fun adventure. There is no single way of doing this but this is how "I" did it so thats what counts. If you're looking to do this yourself and wants some advice or have questions on a specific part feel free to message me. Peace out LTT community.

 

The Epilogue: Heeding the warnings and concerns from other forum members (it's not like I wasn't aware, I simply trusted the system I had made and still do to an extent) I decided to place a fan directly over the VRM modules. I had looked at ways of doing this earlier, but nothing seemed professional enough. Well I just went to Lowes and browsed the cabinet hardware aisle for a bracket and came across this nifty piece of aluminum. What kind of modder would I be if I didn't grab the obligatory can of spray paint though, so I grabbed a can for the bracket and my hard drive cages.

 

The metal was incredibly easy to bend. I held a screw driver in the corner and used my hands.

 

All painted, I'll get it together after work tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ian Schmid]

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_314&products_id=26116

so pretty much this ??????

[VolkA]

Looks awesome man. I like how the light effect are kind of spread evenly in the whole case. Unlike mine.

[AHaskin14]

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_314&products_id=26116

so pretty much this ??????

yes, minus the cost of buying the bracket, but with the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

[Ian Schmid]

yes, minus the cost of buying the bracket, but with the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

okay cool i think i would just go for like a proper water cool if it was me

[Stefan1024]

The mod looks neat, but I'm a bit worried about your VRM. Your GPU rad bows the air out of the case, does it? So you have no direct airflow onto your VRM section. But your heat sinks are to smal to funtion passive, they relay on airflow. Have you ever had a look on the VRM temp reading? AIDA64 is able the read it for example.

[1Scotty1]

Good mod, but when I saw the excess thermal paste AROUND the chip, I was like :blink:

[Guest Generallee]

There is a reason the Kraken G10 is a bracket with a fan included

 

Open AIDA64 and check your VRM temps on load, they might be in the 100's

[AHaskin14]

The mod looks neat, but I'm a bit worried about your VRM. Your GPU rad bows the air out of the case, does it? So you have no direct airflow onto your VRM section. But your heat sinks are to smal to funtion passive, they relay on airflow. Have you ever had a look on the VRM temp reading? AIDA64 is able the read it for example.

The stock cooler was not a blower design so no it did not exhaust air out of the case. I dont believe the card has sensors for them because neither aida 64 or gpu z list readings for them.

 

Good mod, but when I saw the excess thermal paste AROUND the chip, I was like :blink:

I think that was in the process of my 3 twist tie attempts so I started getting lazy about the cleaning.

 

There is a reason the Kraken G10 is a bracket with a fan included

 

Open AIDA64 and check your VRM temps on load, they might be in the 100's

I am aware that the Kraken exists but I wanted to do this myself. I have been unable to get readings from aida 64 and gpu z so I dont think the card has sensors for the VRM.

 

 

I had looked into different methods of installing a fan to help cool but had no good way to mount it that didnt look bad. So I make look into ways that would allow me to have a flexible mount for the fan to hang it off of the hard drive cage.

[AHaskin14]

I had to touch up the paint so it will be another night.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Nice stuff, I had also done the kraken G10 on my 290x and read around the net like you did coming across many of those threads myself,..,

 

The KrakenG10 does a good enough job, much like the seidon it seems...but the vrm fan that comes with it did a decent enough job, without it the vrms would skyrocket though...into the very low 100's,.. even with the fan there it gets a little high (80-90), so my front panel case fans, I have 2x 120 fronts, and I added another 120mm between them and the gpu (just under the 5.25" bay bottom panel) aimed down 45*degrees under the end of my gpu, a nice tunnel effect from front>gpu vrms, hooked up to my case fan controller with adapters, low for silence and high for gaming or to aid my vrm cooling when using downscaling 3200x1800 as that causes a higher vrm load than 1080p does.

 

290x VRM1 temps @ 1150/1250Mhz (1080p>1800p)

Without vrm cooling and just the front panel - 98-105*c

Vrm cooling fan (G10 fan) + front panel - 80-95*c

Vrm cooling fan (G10 fan) + front panel + 120mm 45*degree tunneling air - 76-91*c

My personal goal was to be under 100*c always on vrm1 no matter what,.. naked vrm1's will go past it (esp with extended gaming sessions)

[AHaskin14]

Nice stuff, I had also done the kraken G10 on my 290x and read around the net like you did coming across many of those threads myself,..,

The KrakenG10 does a good enough job, much like the seidon it seems...but the vrm fan that comes with it did a decent enough job, without it the vrms would skyrocket though...into the very low 100's,.. even with the fan there it gets a little high (80-90), so my front panel case fans, I have 2x 120 fronts, and I added another 120mm between them and the gpu (just under the 5.25" bay bottom panel) aimed down 45*degrees under the end of my gpu, a nice tunnel effect from front>gpu vrms, hooked up to my case fan controller with adapters, low for silence and high for gaming or to aid my vrm cooling when using downscaling 3200x1800 as that causes a higher vrm load than 1080p does.

290x VRM1 temps @ 1150/1250Mhz (1080p>1800p)

Without vrm cooling and just the front panel - 98-105*c

Vrm cooling fan (G10 fan) + front panel - 80-95*c

Vrm cooling fan (G10 fan) + front panel + 120mm 45*degree tunneling air - 76-91*c

My personal goal was to be under 100*c always on vrm1 no matter what,.. naked vrm1's will go past it (esp with extended gaming sessions)

Interesting, unfortunately I have no sensors on my VRM's so I won't know if my fan addition will fix any potential problems. So hopefully it will.

[Wingfan]

Looks good but the satisfaction of doing it yourself is awsome aint it

Kinda makes me wanna do something like that with my Lightning, but after i get a new GPU lol

[AHaskin14]

Looks good but the satisfaction of doing it yourself is awsome aint it

Kinda makes me wanna do something like that with my Lightning, but after i get a new GPU lol

Lol yes. Performance before looks. The bracket is done and installed but my Internet service is down so I can't post those pics.