Machining Custom Mid Plate

[Flavian]

I'm planning on machining custom heatsinks and midplate for my 390x. I have access to a Bridgeport and material at work.

 

But I have some questions and concerns.

 

I've never owned a card with a mid plate, would it provide sufficient cooling to the vRAM? How thick are they usually? Are they flush on the back side?

Does anyone have any reference pictures of the back of a mid plate? (Going to attempt a rough approximation of the powercolor devil plate) 

 

The vrm cooler would be made from aluminum extrusion and hopefully be like the Gelid vrm kit for the 290 with longer fins. But would good thermal tape be enough to hold it in place or would I have to go with some kind of mounting solution?

 

And finally, is this something you guys would be interested in seeing as a "build log"? Or is this idea just awful?

[MagnusGrønstad]

14 minutes ago, Flavian said:

I'm planning on machining custom heatsinks and midplate for my 390x. I have access to a Bridgeport and material at work.

 

But I have some questions and concerns.

 

I've never owned a card with a mid plate, would it provide sufficient cooling to the vRAM? How thick are they usually? Are they flush on the back side?

Does anyone have any reference pictures of the back of a mid plate? (Going to attempt a rough approximation of the powercolor devil plate) 

 

The vrm cooler would be made from aluminum extrusion and hopefully be like the Gelid vrm kit for the 290 with longer fins. But would good thermal tape be enough to hold it in place or would I have to go with some kind of mounting solution?

 

And finally, is this something you guys would be interested in seeing as a "build log"? Or is this idea just awful?

I can't really offer any help at all in the technical dept. but a "build vlog" would be awesome!

[alexjt11]

Firstly this is a really cool idea! I think its always super cool to see people make their own parts and DIY things. If you find its a really good solution, definitely look at manufacturing a limited batch and selling it. People will always look for something unique, that you cant buy anywhere else.

 

I don't believe people can really tell you if the plate will be sufficient enough to cool the VRMs. I found a super old article where they cooled the VRMs by putting on heatfins rather than relying on the plate. Much the way the ' Powercolor Devil Plate ' does.

 

I think in terms of all of this build you should look at the way Powercooler does the midplate, as you are realistically trying to copy theirs.

[Flavian]

23 minutes ago, alexjt11 said:

Firstly this is a really cool idea! I think its always super cool to see people make their own parts and DIY things. If you find its a really good solution, definitely look at manufacturing a limited batch and selling it. People will always look for something unique, that you cant buy anywhere else.

 

I don't believe people can really tell you if the plate will be sufficient enough to cool the VRMs. I found a super old article where they cooled the VRMs by putting on heatfins rather than relying on the plate. Much the way the 'Devil' does.

 

I think in terms of all of this build you should look at the way Devil does the midplate, as you are realistically trying to copy theirs.

Yeah I'm thinking of rubber o-rings thermal tape and zip tie to secure the plate, it's really up in the air on making the plate until I can hunt down some good reference material for the mating surface. That and we don't have swiveling vice for the machine so I'll be limited to 90° cuts (unless I employ witchcraft)

The rear half for the vrms, it would be a separate piece, and probably the easier of the two to make lol.

 

BTW this would be going with an nzxt kraken g10 and probably corsair h100

 

I need to tear down my card and get to measuring regardless lol

 

If this does turn out good I may be able to convince my boss to let me make a batch using CNC 

 

 

[Flavian]

For anyone interested this would be the process I plan on using for making the midplate/heatsink (assuming it's flat), the scribbled in black spots are clamps. Excuse my handwriting.

 

 

 

[alexjt11]

Have you not drawn this up in CAD?

BTW,

You have inspired me to make do the same for my old GTX 660! Thankyou

[Flavian]

27 minutes ago, alexjt11 said:

Have you not drawn this up in CAD?

BTW,

You have inspired me to make do the same for my old GTX 660! Thankyou

Awesome I hope to see it!

And I may draw it up in CAD (Haven't gotten my card torn down to take measurements yet) but I will doing the work manually on a Bridgeport mill, we have CNC at work but the machines are always loaded up for work for customers.

I really want to get a cnc router but I live in an apartment ;(

[W-L]

Looks cool can't wait to see more.  

 

For midplate it really depends on how much room your have between the heatsink and PCB but usually they can either be a thick extrusion or just a thin metal plate. 

[Flavian]

Update:

Liberated some scrap aluminum stock at work.

Plenty more where that came from so if I goof it I have another go.

 

 Now I just have to wait until I can find a compatible 240mm AIO on the cheap, do a test fitting to figure out what kind of tolerances I'll be working with then I can get to the goody machining part!