A word about the HeatKiller 680 backplate and a 670 FTW - Page 2

I have a EVGA 670GTX FTW and use a HK 680 water block and backplate.

First the image is not a 670 FTW its a 680GTX and yes I understand you were at work. This is easily spotted as the EVGA 670 FTW doesn't have a full complement of caps across the bottom right side. Where you circled there are no caps.

The backplate comes with insulating spacers that are about 4mm wide with longer (12mm)screws. The two screw holes that you circled have to have spacers too so the pcb is isolated or separated from the backplate. The spacers provide so much space you can look there and see if anything is touching the backplate.

These two screws, as you mentioned, also require plastic washers on the other side as they are secured with nuts. The washers isolate the pcb from the nuts.

If you are not placing spacers in the backplate for these two shorter screws (8mm vs12mm for the rest) you are not isolating the pcb from the backplate in that location.

If the tails of some of the caps or other soldered parts are too long this should be clearly visible as being too long and the plate should not fit flat on the pcb. Or at least not feel correct when fitted.

Also note the the 5mm screw to hold the card's slot plate takes a nut and washer between the pcb and nut.

Please do not interpret my post as an attack or speaking down to you as that is not my intension. Hopefully this helps and you don't short out another card.

Does anyone else have a similar problem with the GTX 680 heatkiller backplate on the GTX 670 FTW?

Or is the only instance of the plate frying cards?

fried one zotac 670 4gb card myself because i screwed the heatkiller backplate too tight. The solderpoints hit the backplate and shorted it with a loud BANG! I got a new one and this time i used a flashlight and carefully inspected all angles so that the pins at no point made contact with the backplate. Heads up, take your time!

Yeah, you need to be sure to use the plastic (nylon?) washer on BOTH SIDES and on EVERY SCREW, which is a bit tedious/hard to keep track of. Also, if you're tightening the backplate on to the point that the screwdriver starts to "skip" when trying to twist it down further, you have it on TOO TIGHT! I would get it to where it is no longer spinning freely and make a good extra 1/4-1/2 of a turn and be done: anything more is unnecessary.

Here's a few pics of assembly:

Everything laid out and ready to go from "awesome" to "bad@ss"



One of my favorite photos, showing how PERFECT the copper machining is on the Heatkiller blocks!



The EVGA GTX670 FTW 2GB having just been taken out of the box and immediately had its stock HSF removed....



....and the stock HSF's replacement!



GPU Stock TIM and then the Bare GPU Die!




The HeatKiller GPUx^3 GTX680 "Hole Edition" Full-Coverage Waterblock installed! (Note: Directions that come with block were originally German and translated to English via software, NOT by a human, so keep this in mind before ordering if it's your first time installing a waterblock)




The HeatKiller GPUx^3 GTX680 Backplate is installed! Truly a beautiful piece of work, solid stainless steel polished to a mirror-finish; the center is raised higher than the rest and there are perfectly-machined holes throughout the top of the block, which allow for a significant amount of airflow under and through the backplate for even-better VRAM cooling!



AND THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR.....


This is the spacing between the backplate and the PCB, also showing some of the solder traces and whatnot. This spacing is what you should aim for, IMHO.