Cutting through GPU heat sink for custom liquid cooling?

[Thaid]

Hi everyone. I'm new here and I had this question for a while. Someone recommended me to check out this forum and was sure someone here could answer this.

The question is, is it possible to cut an opening in your GPU's heat sink? I have no idea what a heatsink is composed of.. should just be a chunk of metal right? Reason I'm asking is because I wan't to drill through this GPU heatsink and expose the chipset for liquid cooling. My GPU doesn't come with a full cover water block and I would like to keep the original 'box' of my GPU for the looks.

From these images, it looks like it is possible by cutting a piece out of the heat sink and maybe drill some holes through the case (if needed) for the cooling lines.

What do you guys think? Is it possible or am I just crazy?

P.S. the card I plan to cut out is not the 7970 lol.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

What's the point of watercooling when you keep the heat sink in tact?

 

[Thaid]

The VGA water block only cools the processor.. so you will have to cool off the VRAM by means of buying VRAM sinks or an aftermarket custom heat sink that goes around the water block.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

That's why they have those little passive heatsinks and full water blocks....

 

[Doougin]

so this would really only work with one that has a shroud on it. ud take the heatsink off put the water block on and any small heatsinks. put two holes in the shroud for the tubes and put the shroud back on. u could even run the fan to help cool the small heatsinks. itd look like this card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16814133398R

 

[Doougin]

as for one that really only has a heatsink on it itd be kinda hard as ud have to cut out a large chunk of the heatsink for the water block. plus ud have to fasten wats left to the block since itd require cutting out the mounting points.

wat card do u plan on doing this to. itd help us see if its possable for it.

 

[Thaid]

so this would really only work with one that has a shroud on it. ud take the heatsink off put the water block on and any small heatsinks. put two holes in the shroud for the tubes and put the shroud back on. u could even run the fan to help cool the small heatsinks. itd look like this card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16814133398R

as for one that really only has a heatsink on it itd be kinda hard as ud have to cut out a large chunk of the heatsink for the water block. plus ud have to fasten wats left to the block since itd require cutting out the mounting points.

wat card do u plan on doing this to. itd help us see if its possable for it.

Wow! First time seeing a card like that. Yes it would be similar to that but it'll be hooked up to my custom water cooled setup. Are the heat sinks removable from the shroud?

I haven't tried opening up my GPUs yet. I have two Asus 6870's and they're too close together on my motherboard to stay cool even with aftermarket/additional fans so I have to look for liquid cooling solutions.

 

[dawp]

What's the point of watercooling when you keep the heat sink in tact?

Not all card have a full cover option, and a universal block while retaining the heatsink for memory and the voltage regulation can make things easier. Most of the time the heatsink can be taken apart with little fuss by removing a few screws.

swiftech has a line of full cover heatsinks for their universal vga blocks. you can reuse the block and just replace the heatsink when you get a new card.

http://www.swiftech.com/gpu_heatsinks.aspx

 

[Doougin]

yes the heatsink is removable from the shroud. and those full cover heatsinks are nice and fairly cheap. tho look at this http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1445/5/ it shows the internals and it has a sort of full cover heatsink that the shroud clips to. so hed have to keep that on in order to keep the shroud. but its sorta a good thing cuz it covers the vrms and ram chips. ur not lookin to overclock, just to keep em cool right? if so itd be fine for it. if ur up for this kinda modding go for it. warrenties on em go out the window with it tho lol.

 

[Thaid]

swiftech has a line of full cover heatsinks for their universal vga blocks. you can reuse the block and just replace the heatsink when you get a new card.

http://www.swiftech.com/gpu_heatsinks.aspx

Can you put the shroud on after you apply these heatsinks? Unfortunately the 6900 series heatsinks don't fit my EAH 6870... ugh. I think those small Mosfet Heatsinks will fit though!

yes the heatsink is removable from the shroud. and those full cover heatsinks are nice and fairly cheap. tho look at this http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1445/5/ it shows the internals and it has a sort of full cover heatsink that the shroud clips to. so hed have to keep that on in order to keep the shroud. but its sorta a good thing cuz it covers the vrms and ram chips. ur not lookin to overclock, just to keep em cool right? if so itd be fine for it. if ur up for this kinda modding go for it. warrenties on em go out the window with it tho lol.

The GPUs are almost out of warranties, but it'll be a good excuse to upgrade if I mess up lol! But that is a lot of metal to drill through for the 6870 cards. Also I found a disassembled picture of the PNY XLR8 GTX 580 and I don't think it's running on any heat sinks. However the VRAM is very close to the blower fan so it may still be able to cool off.

After a bit more research I think I'm going to go ahead with this mod. It seems very possible!

 

[Kenmitch]

Your cut and grind plan will not work at all.

If your card is the actual one you linked it looks like it is the ref design card.

You could always search for one of these: No longer in production it looks like possibly.

EK-FC6870 - Acetal+EN (Nickel) AMD GPU WATER BLOCK

The best way to go water on a gpu is full water block. Of course if your one of those gotta have the latest and greatest video card type of users it's not practical at all. For those who keep cards for years it makes more sense I guess.

 

[Thaid]

Your cut and grind plan will not work at all.

If your card is the actual one you linked it looks like it is the ref design card.

You could always search for one of these: No longer in production it looks like possibly.

EK-FC6870 - Acetal+EN (Nickel) AMD GPU WATER BLOCK

The best way to go water on a gpu is full water block. Of course if your one of those gotta have the latest and greatest video card type of users it's not practical at all. For those who keep cards for years it makes more sense I guess.

I think my card is the 6870 DirectCU one listed at the top at CoolingConfig (Shrouds don't match but they have the same GPU code EAH6870) and the EK-FC6870 won't fit. And yes, these cards are still great so no need to upgrade just yet!

My other post didn't seem to go through. To cut it short, the disassembly of the PNY GTX 580 doesn't have heat sinks! Will the small Mosfet Heatsinks be enough if I build it similar to the PNY GTX 580 W/C card? I mean it worked for a GTX 580, it should work for a lower end card like the 6870 right?

 

[Kenmitch]

I think my card is the 6870 DirectCU one listed at the top at CoolingConfig (Shrouds don't match but they have the same GPU code EAH6870) and the EK-FC6870 won't fit. And yes, these cards are still great so no need to upgrade just yet!

My other post didn't seem to go through. To cut it short, the disassembly of the PNY GTX 580 doesn't have heat sinks! Will the small Mosfet Heatsinks be enough if I build it similar to the PNY GTX 580 W/C card? I mean it worked for a GTX 580, it should work for a lower end card like the 6870 right?

??? If your card is the one that you linked earlier it isn't a DirectCU. If the card has the AMD logo silkscreened above the pci-e connector it should be a ref design card....Pretty sure hold true to todays latest and greatest cards also.

It is this card in question?

 

[Thaid]

??? If your card is the one that you linked earlier it isn't a DirectCU. If the card has the AMD logo silkscreened above the pci-e connector it should be a ref design card....Pretty sure hold true to todays latest and greatest cards also.

It is this card in question?

Yep looks like it.. I think. Mine looks like this.

So if you're right about it being a ref card, I just need to find a place that has a full waterblock in stock. Are there any 'cheaper' ones?

Edit: This link suggest that it IS an EAH6870 Direct CU though.. same circuit board color and fan appearance. http://www.lostcircuits.com/mambo//...ask=view&id=94&Itemid=43&limit=1&limitstart=4
Ugh. I'm confused.

 

[Kenmitch]

Edit: This link suggest that it IS an EAH6870 Direct CU though.. same circuit board color and fan appearance. http://www.lostcircuits.com/mambo//i...1&limitstart=4

That is kinda confusing to me also. It does state the DirectCU version of the card has a aluminum shrowd instead of plastic. Is yours plastic or aluminum?

I think the article you link is not correct. If you look at the asus site they have two 6870's listed one is the in the image the other is the DirectCU version which looks nothing like the one in the image. It looks more like the 6850 DirectCU that is shown in the article you linked.

I think all full water blocks for the 6870's are no longer being made. It's down to supply and demand now. I think Koolance also made one.

 

[Thaid]

That is kinda confusing to me also. It does state the DirectCU version of the card has a aluminum shrowd instead of plastic. Is yours plastic or aluminum?

I think the article you link is not correct. If you look at the asus site they have two 6870's listed one is the in the image the other is the DirectCU version which looks nothing like the one in the image. It looks more like the 6850 DirectCU that is shown in the article you linked.

I think all full water blocks for the 6870's are no longer being made. It's down to supply and demand now. I think Koolance also made one.

Its an aluminium shroud. But you're right, full water blocks for any 6870 is almost impossible to find unless someone is selling it.. which makes me want to custom make this liquid cooling system even more. I'm pretty sure I can successfully do this. I won't remove the fan like how PNY did it for their GTX 580's.

 

[dawp]

even tho the swiftech heatsinks won't work, you should be able to take apart yours and use the aluminum part like those from swiftech. of course you will be voiding your warranty but you should be able to make it work. It may involve cutting some of the fins along the top so the hoses can be attached, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

there are probably screws or rivets attaching the copper and heatpipes to the rest of the assembly tho there is no way of knowing for sure until you take it off the card.

I know on my xfx hd4870x2 the part of the heatsink that sat on the chip was removable by taking out the screws and that left a large enough opening that a universal block could be used on both chipsets.

why do you want to reuse the shroud? it shouldn't be necessary once you go water.

 

[Thaid]

even tho the swiftech heatsinks won't work, you should be able to take apart yours and use the aluminum part like those from swiftech. of course you will be voiding your warranty but you should be able to make it work. It may involve cutting some of the fins along the top so the hoses can be attached, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

there are probably screws or rivets attaching the copper and heatpipes to the rest of the assembly tho there is no way of knowing for sure until you take it off the card.

I know on my xfx hd4870x2 the part of the heatsink that sat on the chip was removable by taking out the screws and that left a large enough opening that a universal block could be used on both chipsets.

why do you want to reuse the shroud? it shouldn't be necessary once you go water.

I think my cards are built similar. I haven't had time to take it apart yet but it's highly do-able. I want to reuse the shroud just for the looks because it doesn't look that great with a universal cooling block. It's just something I don't mind doing to keep the OEM look.