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░▒▓│ Ghetto Cool Tech™ │▓▒░
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Improve your existing GPU cooling for cheap!
( ͡o ͜ʖ ͡o)
This is NOT for the "average user"... This is for those who like to overclock to the limits and every little bit counts.
¯\(°_o)/¯
OK so what is this?
A GPU "Life-hack". Adding a simple fan re-purposes your back plate (or bare PCB) and adds active cooling to the back of your GPU, VRMs and in some cases MEMORY chips.
![wink.gif]( "wink.gif")
It is simply taking advantage of common sense. If the GPU back-plate is extremely hot to the touch after a considerable amount of time under load + the fact that a back-plate does NOT provide thermal reduction on its own = The idea... why not make better use of that back plate? Let's make the back-plate/PCB have ACTIVE COOLING.
![coolsmiley02.gif]( "coolsmiley02.gif")
The results are easily measurable (try it!) but we can only easily measure the GPU. The gains on average are anywhere from 1-5C under load (share your results!). It would be great for someone to do some before and after pics with a thermal camera
![wink.gif]( "wink.gif")
Sorry, I don't have one.
Size of the fan:
The largest fan size you'll want to use is an 80mm fan however 60mm fans are another excellent choice. 40mm is too small and 120mm+ is simply too big.
Adding a fan changes everything
![wink.gif]( "wink.gif")
Get creative! Don't worry about looks worry about heat
![thumb.gif]( "thumb.gif")
What you need:
(1) Tie Wraps / Zip ties whatever you call them in your area. The "standard" size I guess not too small and not too large. They have to fit SNUG in the corner holes of the fan used. Use colored ones if you want, they have all kinds of colors.
(2) 80mm fan (ball bearing preferred). You want a high quality fan designed for static pressure. You don't need a high rpm fan that will make a lot of noise but you also don't want a "junk fan" either. If you want to get fancy, use a PWM fan that you can control the RPM to "dial it in" but in a 60mm size the "full speed" is really not audible with a quality fan.
You ALWAYS want the fan BLOWING DOWN on the back-plate/PCB.
This allows the air to SPREAD OVER the entire surface of the back-place/PCB.
Blowing the air UP doesn't work it will only cool that one spot.
You can also adjust the length of the zip ties/tie wraps to adjust the amount of open space between the fan and the GPU.
Give it a try, it is cheap and it may help with stability or possibly even a higher O/C. If nothing else your GPU will thank you
![post-flame-small.gif]( "post-flame-small.gif")
![cool.gif]( "cool.gif")
Please share your Ghetto Cool Tech pics and results (be sure to test accurately, under load over and extended period)!
![thumb.gif]( "thumb.gif")
░▒▓│ Ghetto Cool Tech™ │▓▒░
══════════════════════════════════════════════
Improve your existing GPU cooling for cheap!
( ͡o ͜ʖ ͡o)
First of all yes it works and I'm not selling anything lol..
![thumb.gif]( "thumb.gif")
I was bored and much of this content was recycled from my other thread
![wink.gif]( "wink.gif")
. I've been doing this for years and so have many others but I never dedicated a thread to sharing it with the community. I'm not claiming to be the first (could care less who is first but never heard of anyone else) just want to share it if it can help you as it has helped me and many others.
It is almost free and it helps a couple degrees..If that doesn't interest you this would not be the thread for you. Most STOCK GPU BIOS' will throttle based on thermal conditions so keeping everything as cool as possible is the name of the game right? This hack will not magically transform your GPU however it will address two very important areas that will provide you with some benefit (every little bit sometimes counts). The primary benefit is stability and the second benefit of this "GPU life-hack" (IF you are lucky) might be overclocking (theory is improved stability may allow more headroom/less throttling). To be clear, overclocking headroom is really NOT what this is about it is about stability more than anything. This is a great hack for those pushing benchmark scores too as it can help you "get through the test"! Some people just don't like to let their GPU sit there and bake either..
After applying this hack your back-plates under heavy load will no longer be hot to the touch (warm). This is obviously helping to "DRAW" heat away from the back of the PCB (where the GPU, memory and VRMs are all exposed). Whether there is direct contact with the back-plate or not, heat rises and this hack will turn any back-plate into an "Active cooler" (including some of the air that may blow into the gpu itself if the back plate has any openings). If you don't have a back-plate you can still use this hack! The obvious thing would be to ensure that the "feet" to create the air gap on your fan isn't (of course) conductive.
It is almost free and it helps a couple degrees..If that doesn't interest you this would not be the thread for you. Most STOCK GPU BIOS' will throttle based on thermal conditions so keeping everything as cool as possible is the name of the game right? This hack will not magically transform your GPU however it will address two very important areas that will provide you with some benefit (every little bit sometimes counts). The primary benefit is stability and the second benefit of this "GPU life-hack" (IF you are lucky) might be overclocking (theory is improved stability may allow more headroom/less throttling). To be clear, overclocking headroom is really NOT what this is about it is about stability more than anything. This is a great hack for those pushing benchmark scores too as it can help you "get through the test"! Some people just don't like to let their GPU sit there and bake either..
After applying this hack your back-plates under heavy load will no longer be hot to the touch (warm). This is obviously helping to "DRAW" heat away from the back of the PCB (where the GPU, memory and VRMs are all exposed). Whether there is direct contact with the back-plate or not, heat rises and this hack will turn any back-plate into an "Active cooler" (including some of the air that may blow into the gpu itself if the back plate has any openings). If you don't have a back-plate you can still use this hack! The obvious thing would be to ensure that the "feet" to create the air gap on your fan isn't (of course) conductive.
This is NOT for the "average user"... This is for those who like to overclock to the limits and every little bit counts.
There are some very basic fundamentals that apply here.
HEAT RISES and GPUs are most often mounted upside-down. This problem is MUCH worse with SLI configurations. This heat (that rises) will usually end up radiating throughout the entire GPU. The main components that we are concerned with are the GPU, MEMORY chips and the VRMs that provide the voltage. We can only measure the GPU temps but don't forget that instability and lack of overclocking ability can be caused by overheating VRMs and/or memory chips also.
A quick benchmark / idle operation isn't going to expose the conditions this "GPU life hack" will address so let's be clear, this is for when the GPU is under LOAD and has been in operations for a considerable period of time (15+ minutes constant up to hours). During these conditions if you were to (Disclaimer: Don't do this, please be careful) touch the back of the GPU you would quickly realize that it is extremely hot... you could fry an egg...it will burn you... I'm not saying that your GPU is not working as intended or that there is a "problem" with that because GPUs are designed to handle very high temps, much hotter than we can tolerate to the touch so this is normal...
in addition, just to get this out of the way....It is has been proven that mot GPU back-plates alone do not provide cooling benefits. In fact some of them actually trap heat inside. Let's be sure that we contain this fact and testing of it to PASSIVE configurations only. Back plates alone are sometimes not even passive coolers at all, some of them are but neither are active.. Keep it simple
![smile.gif]( "smile.gif")
HEAT RISES and GPUs are most often mounted upside-down. This problem is MUCH worse with SLI configurations. This heat (that rises) will usually end up radiating throughout the entire GPU. The main components that we are concerned with are the GPU, MEMORY chips and the VRMs that provide the voltage. We can only measure the GPU temps but don't forget that instability and lack of overclocking ability can be caused by overheating VRMs and/or memory chips also.
A quick benchmark / idle operation isn't going to expose the conditions this "GPU life hack" will address so let's be clear, this is for when the GPU is under LOAD and has been in operations for a considerable period of time (15+ minutes constant up to hours). During these conditions if you were to (Disclaimer: Don't do this, please be careful) touch the back of the GPU you would quickly realize that it is extremely hot... you could fry an egg...it will burn you... I'm not saying that your GPU is not working as intended or that there is a "problem" with that because GPUs are designed to handle very high temps, much hotter than we can tolerate to the touch so this is normal...
in addition, just to get this out of the way....It is has been proven that mot GPU back-plates alone do not provide cooling benefits. In fact some of them actually trap heat inside. Let's be sure that we contain this fact and testing of it to PASSIVE configurations only. Back plates alone are sometimes not even passive coolers at all, some of them are but neither are active.. Keep it simple
¯\(°_o)/¯
OK so what is this?
A GPU "Life-hack". Adding a simple fan re-purposes your back plate (or bare PCB) and adds active cooling to the back of your GPU, VRMs and in some cases MEMORY chips.
It is simply taking advantage of common sense. If the GPU back-plate is extremely hot to the touch after a considerable amount of time under load + the fact that a back-plate does NOT provide thermal reduction on its own = The idea... why not make better use of that back plate? Let's make the back-plate/PCB have ACTIVE COOLING.
The results are easily measurable (try it!) but we can only easily measure the GPU. The gains on average are anywhere from 1-5C under load (share your results!). It would be great for someone to do some before and after pics with a thermal camera
This applies to GPUs on AIR and H2O! In my case I have an EK Full cover block for my 980Ti G1s and that back-plate actually makes DIRECT contact with both the VRMs and the GPU. A full cover water block's back plate acts as a passive heat sync and WILL get very hot to the touch also (heat still rises) and why this solution can also apply to those with water cooling solutions.
In this case I wanted to "get creative" and not only cool the PCI-e RAID card in-between the GPUs but the lower GPU in my SLI configuration as well. I used two fans for this. A single 40mm fan alone would not be sufficient.
In this case I wanted to "get creative" and not only cool the PCI-e RAID card in-between the GPUs but the lower GPU in my SLI configuration as well. I used two fans for this. A single 40mm fan alone would not be sufficient.
Size of the fan:
The largest fan size you'll want to use is an 80mm fan however 60mm fans are another excellent choice. 40mm is too small and 120mm+ is simply too big.
Adding a fan changes everything
Get creative! Don't worry about looks worry about heat
What you need:
(1) Tie Wraps / Zip ties whatever you call them in your area. The "standard" size I guess not too small and not too large. They have to fit SNUG in the corner holes of the fan used. Use colored ones if you want, they have all kinds of colors.
(2) 80mm fan (ball bearing preferred). You want a high quality fan designed for static pressure. You don't need a high rpm fan that will make a lot of noise but you also don't want a "junk fan" either. If you want to get fancy, use a PWM fan that you can control the RPM to "dial it in" but in a 60mm size the "full speed" is really not audible with a quality fan.
You ALWAYS want the fan BLOWING DOWN on the back-plate/PCB.
This allows the air to SPREAD OVER the entire surface of the back-place/PCB.
Blowing the air UP doesn't work it will only cool that one spot.
You can also adjust the length of the zip ties/tie wraps to adjust the amount of open space between the fan and the GPU.
Give it a try, it is cheap and it may help with stability or possibly even a higher O/C. If nothing else your GPU will thank you
Please share your Ghetto Cool Tech pics and results (be sure to test accurately, under load over and extended period)!
