Cpu gpu combined heat sink: does it exist?

[Alex Peterson]

Hey all, I looked around a decent bit but was never able to find anything resembling a combined cooler for gpu and cpu - basically a heat sink with 2 places to attach processors, preferably at 90 degrees from each other.

 

I'm relatively new to building computers trying to figure out a good mini ITX build, and it's not hard to see from my first computer that most of the space inside the computer is simply empty or large heatsinks.  After Apple came out with their Mac Pro with a single "thermal core" I was wondering if anything similar existed for PC builders?  Naturally it would involve some decent modification to my graphics card, which I would be willing to put in the time to learn.

 

Alternatively, I was thinking about slotting together 2 dual tower heatsinks perpendicular to each other (all these would involve some form of PCI extension and custom case) with a pusher fan in front of whichever ended up in front, a puller fan behind whichever ended up in the back, and some form of shroud to keep the air flowing through the now gridded channel.

 

The ultimate goal is to make everything as compact as possible, with simplicity and rigidity as a hopeful consequence.  In the spirit of that, it would also be nice as a bonus if the PSU cover could be removed and passively cooled by the now single airflow channel through the center of the case, but I may be asking too much.

 

Any reply welcome, thanks!

[Matt_Twinkletoes]

You could just leave the original heatsink on it

[AHaskin14]

concerning the psu cover. safety wise it is best to leave them on, as the capacitors are essentially a "potentially" lethal shock charge.

[WoodenMarker]

Are you just going for compactness but not small size?

If you want a small system, multiple dual tower heatsinks isn't the answer.

[Alex Peterson]

Matt - I was hoping for a single flow of air from the front to the back, through a single area of cooling, like the Mac Pro thermal core.

 

AHaskin - so I've heard. I was just wondering and am by no means qualified to handle much in terms of that, but if it was possible to reduce space and fans, I would try to make the effort to learn

[Alex Peterson]

WoodenMarker - I was hoping to fit them together so they wouldn't take up much more room than a single large heat sink.  As long as the space is being used up for cooling and there's little empty space in the case, I don't mind that amount of bulk

[thekeemo]

You could always go this route 

 

[WoodenMarker]

2 minutes ago, Alex Peterson said:

WoodenMarker - I was hoping to fit them together so they wouldn't take up much more room than a single large heat sink.  As long as the space is being used up for cooling and there's little empty space in the case, I don't mind that amount of bulk

Even with optimal placement, two dual tower heatsinks won't fit in a case smaller than the usual matx or atx mid tower. 

If you want a small system, use small components. 

 

You need to quote a post or tag a member or else they won't get a notification you replied to them.

[Alex Peterson]

TheKeemo - thanks for the link!  I'll read it over

 

WoodenMarker - would you have any other suggestions then as to how to combine cpu and gpu cooling into one relatively compact air flow, again like the Mac Pro?  

[WoodenMarker]

7 minutes ago, Alex Peterson said:

WoodenMarker - would you have any other suggestions then as to how to combine cpu and gpu cooling into one relatively compact air flow, again like the Mac Pro?  

Either rack-style and blower-style 'passive' heatsinks on the graphics card and cpu with powerful fans or custom heatsinks.

[Alex Peterson]

6 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Either rack-style and blower-style 'passive' heatsinks on the graphics card and cpu with powerful fans or custom heatsinks.

Thanks.  That's kind of what I have now, but there's a lot of empty space in my computer and I was hoping to reduce that, or at least make some use out of all the empty space, preferably for better cooling

[WoodenMarker]

5 minutes ago, Alex Peterson said:

Thanks.  That's kind of what I have now, but there's a lot of empty space in my computer and I was hoping to reduce that, or at least make some use out of all the empty space, preferably for better cooling

What do you have now?

[Alex Peterson]

2 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

What do you have now?

An evo 212 on my cpu and a 960.  I have the thermaltake v21 which was much larger than I hoped, but I couldn't justify the extra price for a mITX on my first build which was kind of an intro to PC building for me and wasn't 100% sure it would work, so I opted for a micro ATX

[Alex Peterson]

My next build I hope to do mITX though, and even though it's all just an idea right now, I would be prepared for a lot more research and building a custom case.

 

I had a picture in my mind of a motherboard and CPU, a GPU with the heat block removed and flipped over so the face is on the same side as the CPU, and some simple heatsinks attached to both that could keep the whole thing rigid and relatively compact.  From the sounds of it tho it seems you think it's not a practical idea.

[WoodenMarker]

22 minutes ago, Alex Peterson said:

An evo 212 on my cpu and a 960.  I have the thermaltake v21 which was much larger than I hoped, but I couldn't justify the extra price for a mITX on my first build which was kind of an intro to PC building for me and wasn't 100% sure it would work, so I opted for a micro ATX

That.. isn't similar to what I was describing at all. The heatsinks I'm referring to would be like these: 

 

21 minutes ago, Alex Peterson said:

I had a picture in my mind of a motherboard and CPU, a GPU with the heat block removed and flipped over so the face is on the same side as the CPU, and some simple heatsinks attached to both that could keep the whole thing rigid and relatively compact.  From the sounds of it tho it seems you think it's not a practical idea.

It might help to model/measure out what you have in mind to better get an idea of where things would fit.

[Alex Peterson]

26 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

 

It might help to model/measure out what you have in mind to better get an idea of where things would fit.

Is there some good software for doing that that you would recommend?  Not having the parts on hand and having never owned a dual tower heatsink, I'm not even sure the spacing between the towers to know which could fit together and which are too wide / slot in the center too narrow.  I don't imagine pcpartpicker would cover something like this lol.

 

I was was half hoping someone on this forum had tried something similar before that could elaborate on specific parts that worked and overall results

[WoodenMarker]

7 minutes ago, Alex Peterson said:

Is there some good software for doing that that you would recommend?  Not having the parts on hand and having never owned a dual tower heatsink, I'm not even sure the spacing between the towers to know which could fit together and which are too wide / slot in the center too narrow.  I don't imagine pcpartpicker would cover something like this lol.

I was was half hoping someone on this forum had tried something similar before that could elaborate on specific parts that worked and overall results

Most manufacturers list detailed measurements of their products on their website. You could try Google SketchUp but pencil and paper also works. 

Also, there likely aren't any dual tower heatsinks that would fit together. Most dual tower heatsinks utilize the design for more cooling and making the gap wider than necessary for a fan and towers thin enough to fit in between would be poor design. 

[Alex Peterson]

4 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Most manufacturers list detailed measurements of their products on their website. You could try Google SketchUp but pencil and paper also works. 

Also, there likely aren't any dual tower heatsinks that would fit together. Most dual tower heatsinks utilize the design for more cooling and making the gap wider than necessary for a fan and towers thin enough to fit in between would be poor design. 

Thank you much for the reply and the info.  I'll look around but I guess it's not promising at this point.