H80i + GPU = profit

saytiger · September 21, 2016

Recently watch a video on NCIX about ghetto gpu cooling. So, i decided to try it myself. I bought a h80i to try on one of my gtx970 to test whether it will work.

This is my build before the mod featuring my patented GPU support brace.

A closer look at the super secure mounting.

Time to unbox my h80i

Time to remove the stock strix cooler from my GPU.

The beauty. P.S i tried to remove as much thermal paste residue as i could.

I met several problems. In the video, they used zip ties to tie around the cooler to act as a mounting bracket. However, i could not get the zip ties stay around the cooler as it was not tight. After much fumbling around, i decided to use the Intel bracket, even tho the holes did not allign.

I thread four zip ties into the holes and secured it with another four.

Looks good!

After mounting it to my case, i found two other problems. I dont have enough clearance to run push pull (not really an issue) and the tubes is blocking the second pcie 16x slot. This means i couldnt run sli.

The computer booted up just fine. Idle temperature is where it supposed to be. Idle at 35c which is normal cause my ambient is 30-33c

Ambient temps here for reference.

However, when i booted up into Gta V, temps sky-rocketed to 90c and it auto shut down. Fortunately for me, this was an easy fix. I used a flat nose pilers to tighten the zip ties. I booted up GTA v again and the load temps was about 48c at 100% gpu usage.

Overall, im pretty happy with this mod even though i cant run sli. But for anyone wanting to do this mod, i would suggest you to look at a different brand of cpu coolers. Some of the cooler master one has its tubes coming out from the side of the cooler, instead of the top, which prevents the tube from blocking the pci slots. But if you have only one card, and would like to liquid cool it at a relatively inexpensive price, this is the solution.