H70 on 7970 using custom Bracket results(PIC HEAVY, LONG)

[Puck]

***Wall of Text Warning*** Skip to bottom of Post #2 for TL;DR version!

First a little background. My 7970 runs in an open frame case, and even though it is a great clocker I kept it at 1125/1550 for 24/7 use since it runs hot. 84-85c in an open case at those speeds even with only 1.18v, and the stock cooler is terribly loud @ 100%. Hair dryer near your head loud.

I reseated the stock cooler with some TIM I had lying around and it dropped 6c, but 79c was still too hot and loud for me. I researched some coolers, but I had two requirements...best cooling performance I could get, but at decent noise levels since my GPU runs at 100% 24/7. I couldn't run a waterblock and add it to my loop, since I run a TEC waterblock setup and even with 3x120 and 2x140mm rad in series my water temps still are 5-6c over ambient at idle. Adding a GPU that runs 100% all the time will dump more heat into my loop, and I don't want that. I couldn't add a second loop, because my case has NO room at all for it. Two big radiators, pump, dual bay res, TEC Controller, two non-modular PSU's, long GPU (sometimes two), and lots of 1/2" tubing...no way could I get a second pump, res, and rad in there.

I researched some air coolers, and planned to mod a CPU cooler on my GPU like I did back in ~2004. That way I could run a single low RPM fan and get some nice temps, and while looking around at coolers I stumbled upon "The Mod". I ordered a Custom bracket from DWood right before he stopped taking orders, and in the mean time I purchased an H70 from Ebay, some tiny zip-ties from the local hardware store, and a shim from EK. I dremeled off the blower portion of the stock cooler to keep the hot VRMs cool and made my own temporary shroud. Lapped the H70, and stuck it on using some old left over Arctic Ceramique (V1, not even the improved V2). Used some scrap metal I had lying around to mount the rad to the horizontal bar on my case, and fired it up. This got me ~61c after the TIM cured. Huge improvement from 85c.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next post, some RAM sinks and the TripT bracket...

Edited May 10, 2013 by Puck

[Puck]

I ran it like that for a while, and things were much better but not perfect yet. Since I was still using the stock blower fan to cool the VRMs, albeit at 55% instead of the 100% roar, it was still the noisiest part of my system. I'm not a silent PC guy by any means, but the reference 7970 cooler is terribly annoying. I patiently awaited my custom bracket w/ fan mount, and was surprised to find it in my mailbox yesterday. I already had some zalman VGA heatsinks that I had ordered, so I spent today redoing the card with the proper hardware.

The bracket looks great, and the cool metallic sparkle gave me a good idea...

 

Hit it with some translucent red, which gave it a nice Candy Red that the cellphone camera and bad lighting doesn't do justice

 

I then pulled the stock blower off the bottom portion of the stock cooler (it's a 1.7A(!) beast of a motor on that blower) to replace it with a 92mm .30A case fan. I also had to cut the metal hoop that runs over the power connectors off so the bracket will fit. Zalman heatsinks applied, with a tiny fin style one on the stray MOSFET up top.

 

After cutting off the metal loop over the connectors, the bracket now clears.

All done and ready to install - I hate the stiff crappy tubing on the H70, and eventually will replace it with some normal tubing and throw a micro res in the loop to lower temps even further.

 

-----------------------------------TL;DR:--------------------------------------------
Final results with everything else identical and the same ambient:

GPU:
85C->58C before curing. I expect 56c in a few days.

VRM #1:
82C->71C

VRM #2:
71C->60C

Noise:
From a hair dryer, to a quiet low whir .

Thanks a ton to DWood for making these killer brackets!

Edited May 10, 2013 by Puck

[BluePanda]

Hey -- this looks pretty awesome. Pretty cool that you were willing to try it...surprised it worked out so well.

[ccokeman]

Pretty cool!

[Andrewr05]

Awesome job!

 

[cjloki]

Hey -- this looks pretty awesome. Pretty cool that you were willing to try it...surprised it worked out so well.

yea puck, friggin ingenious ! :thumbsup:

[bishop245]

Sweet mod and love the bracket with your nick on it

[Prunes]

Awesome to see some mods. Getting rarer and rarer these days.

[My_Inner_Fred]

That's a pretty cool mod, custom made bracket adds to the awesomeness!

[IVIYTH0S]

Awesome man, I love the personal insignia

[Fogel]

I don't just like the idea I think you did a great job on that bracket!  Cool points bro. ++

[Puck]

I don't just like the idea I think you did a great job on that bracket!  Cool points bro. ++

Oh I didn't make the bracket, all I did was paint it! It is from a member on another forum with access to a laser cutter. He has templates for both the round(H50/70/90) and square (H60/80/100) AIO coolers, and was doing custom work until he got swamped and shut down the custom portion. You can still order a generic bracket from him, but it won't have the hanging lip with text on it.

 

Temps dropped to 56c with the same 21c ambient after a few heat cycles as the TIM sets.