Modding GTX 10 series to fit in 3u rackmount case

[Chris_Hercules]

I have a 3u rackcase and want to install a GTX 10 series card in it other than my current 1050. Obvious issue here is case clearance and the supplemental power connector. Other than the obvious do this at your own risk and voiding the warranty on the card what other things should I consider?

 

If I know Im using the original power connectors and just relocating them, desoldering them from the board and straightening the pins and resoldering them so it changes the orientation of the plug by 90 degrees that the pinout will effectively change and I will need either a custom set of power cBLES (GOING TO MODULAR psu) OR A SET OF CUSTOM MADE AND PINNED ADAPTER CABLES (HOPEFULLY CABLEMOD WILL BUILD TO MY SPEC). OTHER THAN Cutting a backplate to fit where the new power connectors are, is there any other considerations I need to look at?

 

 

***EDIT***

I have neglected to make it clear that I will be taking the power connector of the front side of the PCB and moving it to the back of the card,  I will not just change the orientation by straightening the pins and reinstalling on the front. This is the reason for the need of custom PSU connectors because the pinout will change when I move the connector to the back of the card;

[NumLock21]

EVGA has right angle power connectors. don't know if they will work with all GeForce 10 GPUs or just their own.

[pwn_intended]

1070s exist in mini-itx form now - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125893

If the problem is the actual power connectors from the card, EVGA makes a product called the power link, here is a video jays2cents made about it:

If that doesn't solve the problem, then I'm out of ideas besides soldering etc. Wouldn't recommend that but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Chris_Hercules]

1 minute ago, NumLock21 said:

EVGA has right angle power connectors. don't know if they will work with all GeForce 10 GPUs or just their own.

pe. people are already missing what I am desribing here. Ill do another post and try to eexplain more clearly

 

[NumLock21]

2 minutes ago, Chris_Hercules said:

pe. people are already missing what I am desribing here. Ill do another post and try to eexplain more clearly

 

the plug adapter does what you want isn't it. GTX 1080 and 1070 has the plug located at the very top, so that adapter changes it and brings it to the right, like what Nvidia does with their Teslas. You will have to show a pic of your 3u chassis, so we know exactly what your talking about.

[Chris_Hercules]

3 minutes ago, pwn_intended said:

1070s exist in mini-itx form now - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125893

If the problem is the actual power connectors from the card, EVGA makes a product called the power link, here is a video jays2cents made about it:

If that doesn't solve the problem, then I'm out of ideas besides soldering etc. Wouldn't recommend that but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

seen this and the issue with a u casis my cards go in vertically and not horizonatl. this leaves no room above the card for this adapter... As Ive stated, I know the risk Im taking doing this mod to make it fit and Im good with that, just wondering if others have any other thoughts Ive not considered and I give a 10 series card the full Linus Sebastion treatment?

 

[pwn_intended]

2 minutes ago, Chris_Hercules said:

give a 10 series card the full Linus Sebastion treatment?

This made me smile. I have faith that you will do a better job of it than linus would.

I guess de-soldering the connector from the mobo, and soldering wire leads that go back into the connector would be your best bet, so that you can still unplug the card and use standard PSU cables. So essentially your card would have a pigtail hanging off of it with 6/8 pin power connector. Some modification to the cooling solution may be required in order to route said cables, depending on which flavour card you go with.

[SCHISCHKA]

I have seen 10 series with the power socket on side of the graphics card that you are trying to mod to. I cannot remember the brand but i think it was a 1060 or it might have been the mini version

[SCHISCHKA]

I cannot find the card that has the 90 degree power socket but this one is bus powered:

https://www.zotac.com/product/graphics_card/zotac-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-mini

[Chris_Hercules]

1 minute ago, pwn_intended said:

This made me smile. I have faith that you will do a better job of it than linus would.

I guess de-soldering the connector from the mobo, and soldering wire leads that go back into the connector would be your best bet, so that you can still unplug the card and use standard PSU cables. So essentially your card would have a pigtail hanging off of it with 6/8 pin power connector. Some modification to the cooling solution may be required in order to route said cables, depending on which flavour card you go with.

Ive considered the pigtail route and strongly decided against it due to the fact that the through holes on the cards for the connector are quite a small american wire guage... This has lead me to consider current loss and heating and potential fire inside my machine.  The best solution I can come up with for this to ork is to move the power connector to the other side and go straight through istead of having it bent up 90 degrees. This will actually make the through pins shorter, leave me with a detachable cable and look much better than some wires danglingling all willy nilly of the card with a plug attached.. only downfall I see is the custom power cabling really

 

[Clanscorpia]

Just now, Chris_Hercules said:

Ive considered the pigtail route and strongly decided against it due to the fact that the through holes on the cards for the connector are quite a small american wire guage... This has lead me to consider current loss and heating and potential fire inside my machine.  The best solution I can come up with for this to ork is to move the power connector to the other side and go straight through istead of having it bent up 90 degrees. This will actually make the through pins shorter, leave me with a detachable cable and look much better than some wires danglingling all willy nilly of the card with a plug attached.. only downfall I see is the custom power cabling really

 

If you are willing to use an RX card the Sapphire 480 has a back mounted 480

[Chris_Hercules]

4 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

I cannot find the card that has the 90 degree power socket but this one is bus powered:

https://www.zotac.com/product/graphics_card/zotac-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-mini

why would I swap a 1050 for another 1050, I like EVGA more than ZOTAC, both are good, personal preference is all.

[Chris_Hercules]

3 minutes ago, Clanscorpia said:

If you are willing to use an RX card the Sapphire 480 has a back mounted 480

Nope,PREFER nVidia. Had an ASUS R9 Nano in it to start with, hated it.

[SCHISCHKA]

1 minute ago, Chris_Hercules said:

why would I swap a 1050 for another 1050, I like EVGA more than ZOTAC, both are good, personal preference is all.

in that case you wont be able to rotate the socket 90 degrees; solder a cable extension to the board

[Clanscorpia]

10 minutes ago, Chris_Hercules said:

Nope,PREFER nVidia. Had an ASUS R9 Nano in it to start with, hated it.

The Nano is a hot and loud card. The 480 is not

[Chris_Hercules]

Just now, SCHISCHKA said:

in that case you wont be able to rotate the socket 90 degrees; solder a cable extension to the board

I dont think a lot of people are getting what i am going to do... I will remove the power connector from the front (heatsink) side of the board and will then staraigten the pins out so they are not but up 90 degees, then I will put it back on from the other side (back plate side). This WILL CHANGE THE PINOUT OF THE PLUG. i WILL THEN MAVE A SET OF CUSTOM psu 12V pciE CABLES MADE. this will make the plug face upwards (towards the CPU and give me clearance to install that hanking new 1070 or 1080 card I want in a case with no room. I will have to use a card with a reference style cooler anythin bigger will not fit plus there are several pounds worth of sound deadening material in my case so a little more noise is no big deal.

 

[Chris_Hercules]

2 minutes ago, Clanscorpia said:

The Nano is a hot and loud card. The 480 is not

entirely too tall for my machine... it creates the same proble with no solution I already  have . Thats why Im modding a 10 series. but for the price, in a different build, this would be an awesome card Im sure and the I would consider it. I cguess I can cut the heatsink and shroud and put smaller fans on it to fit... and maybe even have to cut the PCB too.....

[Clanscorpia]

3 minutes ago, Chris_Hercules said:

entirely too tall for my machine... it creates the same proble with no solution I already  have . Thats why Im modding a 10 series. but for the price, in a different build, this would be an awesome card Im sure and the I would consider it. I cguess I can cut the heatsink and shroud and put smaller fans on it to fit... and maybe even have to cut the PCB too.....

You cant cut the PCB. If my tiny 480 doenst fit a 1060+ wont

[Chris_Hercules]

1 minute ago, Clanscorpia said:

You cant cut the PCB. If my tiny 480 doenst fit a 1060+ wont

es it will... let me try to explain, A reference cooled 10 series is shorter than the link to the Sapphire you sent me from the PCIe x16 edge connector to the top of the shroud. The Sapphire is physically too tall to fit inside my case. The 10 series fits with about a cpl mm of space. my issue is the power connector coming above that when the power cables are plugged in. Does this make the picture a little clearer? i move the power connector to the other side of the board to the back and instead of running the plug at 90 degrees i straighten the pins and put it facing straight up nothing will protrude beyond the edge of the card thus solving my clearance issue and allowing me to install a 10 series card in it. I will need a custom power cable(s) is al to match the new plug pinout.

 

[maybethisnamewillwork]

Reference 1060? It has just bunch of wires soldered to the board and the actual connector is at end of the wires. Maybe you could modify the stock cooling shroud somehow, and then place the 6-pin connector to new location.



Also reference GTX 1080s and 1070s both have extra soldering points at the end of the card for 8-pin connector, don't know if it could be utilized to relocate the 8-pin.
I know it's actually used in some Quadro variants in the same circuit board, like M6000 shares board with Titan X/980 Ti.

[Chris_Hercules]

4 minutes ago, maybethisnamewillwork said:

Reference 1060? It has just bunch of wires soldered to the board and the actual connector is at end of the wires. Maybe you could modify the stock cooling shroud somehow, and then place the 6-pin connector to new location.



Also reference GTX 1080s and 1070s both have extra soldering points at the end of the card for 8-pin connector, don't know if it could be utilized to relocate the 8-pin.
I know it's actually used in some Quadro variants in the same circuit board, like M6000 shares board with Titan X/980 Ti.

Thank you. Its been a lively discussion but this is the most enlightening info I have seen so far. In the first case all I have to do is pull the pigtail and sleeve it so its pretty in the second... I guess all I need to do is test for continuity point to point to make sure the pads on the end are usable... Very, very intruiginging.

[Chris_Hercules]

2 hours ago, pwn_intended said:

This made me smile. I have faith that you will do a better job of it than linus would.

I guess de-soldering the connector from the mobo, and soldering wire leads that go back into the connector would be your best bet, so that you can still unplug the card and use standard PSU cables. So essentially your card would have a pigtail hanging off of it with 6/8 pin power connector. Some modification to the cooling solution may be required in order to route said cables, depending on which flavour card you go with.

ay the more and more I look the better the pigtail option on a 1060 is looking. fortunately I have an older Quadro card I can try it on first... Any suggestions as to what wire guage (AWG) Id use? Trust me I never planned on trying this without first doing it to a card I can completely sacrifice. I may be nuts, but Im not completely mad and out of my mind LMAO.

[pwn_intended]

14 hours ago, Chris_Hercules said:

ay the more and more I look the better the pigtail option on a 1060 is looking. fortunately I have an older Quadro card I can try it on first... Any suggestions as to what wire guage (AWG) Id use? Trust me I never planned on trying this without first doing it to a card I can completely sacrifice. I may be nuts, but Im not completely mad and out of my mind LMAO.

I would go with whatever gauge the power cable itself actually is. If I had to guess, id say its 16 or 14 gauge but I'm no electrician.

[Chris_Hercules]

Thank you to everyone who has had any thoughts or input in this matter. I have upgraded to an... EVGA 1060 6 GB card with the single fan ACX 2.0 cooler and it seems to be working very very well. As for Auxillary power connector,. I have found someone on eBay who is making ultra low profile PCIe power extension cords that JUST barely fit. The latching clip has been removed and the skirt around the power connector cables has been cut down as far as possible. The wires have been bent and shaped and reinforced with heatshrink to eliminate possible shorting and it is working incredibly well for my needs. Swnt an email to cable mods about them doing something cutom POSSIBLY, not even so much as a response say ing no from them, dead silence. Very sad for a company that people swear up and down is one of the best, Lousy as far as I am concerned. but thats my opinion and experience, surely not the majority.Once again thanks everyone  for participating with your two cents, very appreciated.

[techknot]

On 12/12/2016 at 8:17 AM, Chris_Hercules said:

Thank you to everyone who has had any thoughts or input in this matter. I have upgraded to an... EVGA 1060 6 GB card with the single fan ACX 2.0 cooler and it seems to be working very very well. As for Auxillary power connector,. I have found someone on eBay who is making ultra low profile PCIe power extension cords that JUST barely fit. The latching clip has been removed and the skirt around the power connector cables has been cut down as far as possible. The wires have been bent and shaped and reinforced with heatshrink to eliminate possible shorting and it is working incredibly well for my needs. Swnt an email to cable mods about them doing something cutom POSSIBLY, not even so much as a response say ing no from them, dead silence. Very sad for a company that people swear up and down is one of the best, Lousy as far as I am concerned. but thats my opinion and experience, surely not the majority.Once again thanks everyone  for participating with your two cents, very appreciated.

Do you have a link to the Ebay low profile PCIe power extension cords?   Could you provide some pics of your modification?

 

Thanks!