MSI GTX 980 Ti backplate removal?!

[Country Mac]

Hi there. I'm considering buying an MSI GTX 980 Ti but it'll be going into a Silverstone FT03 with a wide Noctua CPU cooler that leaves very little clearance between the edge of the cooler and the PCI-E 16x slot on my mobo.

I currently own a 970 which has no backplate, which only just fits without the back of the GPU's PCB making contact with the CPU cooler's fins, with only a few mm to spare!

So the only way I'm going to be able to fit a a 980ti is if I can remove the backplate. Hence the question:

Can the backplate be taken off the MSI 980 Ti without the heatsink falling off the other side? Do the screws travel all the way through the PCB to fasten the components on the other side? That would be a major spanner in the works!

Thanks, hope I made myself clear enough.

 

[kasakka]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the backplate holds the VRAM and VRM heatsinks so it might not be easily removable.

That little space combined with a hot GPU isn't a good idea either.

 

[Country Mac]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the backplate holds the VRAM and VRM heatsinks so it might not be easily removable.

That little space combined with a hot GPU isn't a good idea either.

Hey. Thanks for the info. I was expecting that to be the case Yeah it's a bit of a fact of life with the FT03 though. The only way around it would be to use a tiny air cooler or of course a waterblock.

 

[moonbogg]

Do you have to buy one with a back plate? There's a lot of 980ti's without a back plate.

 

[bigboxes]

Only one PCI-E x16 slot? And that's a bummer. You obviously don't want to spend major money to make one component fit. Is there a way you can return the video card and get one that will fit your parameters?

Personally, I wish my MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G would have had the back plate. There is a model now that has the back plate. However, that was after my purchase.

 

[Country Mac]

Do you have to buy one with a back plate? There's a lot of 980ti's without a back plate.

AFAIK, the better of the non-reference 980ti's (Asus, Gigabyte, MSI) all have backplates.

I'm not really interested in a reference card.

 

[Country Mac]

Only one PCI-E x16 slot?.

Sorry, I have two PCI-E slots but the other one will only run at 8x.

 

[kasakka]

Sorry, I have two PCI-E slots but the other one will only run at 8x.

If it runs at x8 and causes no spacing issues on the other side of the cooler then that might be a better choice. You lose a few frames but nothing that can't be recovered with a slight overclock.

 

[AntonioHG]

I have almost the same issue. I own the same case, ran an NH-D14 and now an Silver Arrow with GPU with no backplate. Save yourself the headache and run it in the second slot. Even if you get a card with no backplate, you're going to have a hell of a time getting the card out later.

 

[Xpage]

can always trim the CPU cooler, I did on my friends when i built him a PC. a file will do wonders vs thin Aluminum

 

[AntonioHG]

can always trim the CPU cooler, I did on my friends when i built him a PC. a file will do wonders vs thin Aluminum

True, but why alter a heatsink if you can move the card over? If OP has to fit in more cards, well, then, break out the file and get it done, lol.

 

[sam_816]

Just write to msi with your problem. I think they will be able to help you. Or may be buy one of those Silverstone pcie riser(I think that's what its called) thingy and move the card away from the heatsink and over 16x&8x slots.. 1st option is way too simple tho.

 

[sm625]

Take the cpu cooler off and take it to the belt sander?

 

[Schmide]

Rotate cooler 90deg?

 

[AntonioHG]

Rotate cooler 90deg?

Nvm. My bad. If it is a single tower, yeah, that would work.

 

[RaulF]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the backplate holds the VRAM and VRM heatsinks so it might not be easily removable.

That little space combined with a hot GPU isn't a good idea either.

Im pretty sure the 980 Ti does not have memory chips in the back, only the TX does.

 

[Country Mac]

Hey, thanks for all your replies. I think the most straight-forward solution is going to be what I was trying to avoid; to take a loss and sell the CPU cooler and go for a pre-assembled water block job like the H-whatever series that Corsair do.

This will however alleviate the issue that kasakka brought up about the hot GPU heating up the CPU cooler and vice versa. They shouldn't really dissipate heat into one-another. That isn't doing me any favours.

 

[guskline]

What are your specs? Since I'm into custom water cooling I have a used but good shape Corsair H100 or an older but good shape Thermaltake Extreme or even a Kraken X60.

If you buy new, look at the Kraken or Corsair units.

 

[Country Mac]

What are your specs? Since I'm into custom water cooling I have a used but good shape Corsair H100 or an older but good shape Thermaltake Extreme or even a Kraken X60.

If you buy new, look at the Kraken or Corsair units.

Hi there. Thanks for the offer but I'm all the way across the pond in the UK.

 

[bradly1101]

I fried a Radeon card in the exact same situation with a Noctua cooler. I was lucky with a second x16 slot, in your case I'd sadly use a different CPU cooler. :thumbsdown:

 

[kasakka]

Im pretty sure the 980 Ti does not have memory chips in the back, only the TX does.

It doesn't, but the same screws are used to hold the VRAM and VRM heatsinks in the front. So if you remove the backplate you might not have anything for those screws to hold.

 

[Country Mac]

I fried a Radeon card in the exact same situation with a Noctua cooler. I was lucky with a second x16 slot, in your case I'd sadly use a different CPU cooler. :thumbsdown:

I'm currently using a Noctua NH-U14S. I know this is a very specific question but do you know of an equally badass air cooler that is slightly less wide?

Cheers

 

[lehtv]

@ Country Mac

Be Quiet! Dark Rock 3 - 137mm wide - performance
Thermalright HR-02 Macho - 140mm wide - performance

Noctua U14S is 150mm wide.

 

[Country Mac]

@ Country Mac

Be Quiet! Dark Rock 3 - 137mm wide - performance
Thermalright HR-02 Macho - 140mm wide - performance

Noctua U14S is 150mm wide.

Ah! Thanks a lot for that. Annoyingly enough I was actually considering the Dark Rock cooler before I stupidly went for the Noctua.]

Brand loyalty...

EDIT: Oh wait, now I remember that I went for the U14S because of RAM clearance.

 

[lehtv]

Macho should have no issues with RAM clearance thanks to the offset base