I've been looking at cooling solutions over the last week for a reference 290 I picked up off ebay for $214 shipped. The H55+G10 looked like a perfect fit however the one big issue is high VRM temps since there are no heat sinks. One fix is to get one of the aftermarket kits and attach it. The other solution I came across was for I believe a custom WC loop and involved removing the stock GPU heat sink from the cooler and using the base plate to cool the VRM and memory. Since I was unable to find anyone who tried this mod themselves combined with the G10 I decided to give it a go and document the important steps. Worst case scenario I ruin my stock cooler to where I can't use it and have to go with option 1 (apply heat sinks myself). Turns out it was a lot easier than it looks and gave great results.
Build materials, Corsair H55 and Kraken G10.
First step is to remove the stock cooler, just as you would normally.
Next remove the shroud and fan from the stock cooler leaving just the aluminum base plate. An important step here that I did not document is to make sure to only attempt to remove the memory thermal pads, do not try to remove the VRM pads as you will tear them. If you'd like you can remove any thermal pads from the base plate and place them on the PCB to avoid ruining them or getting metal filings on them in later steps.
The next step is to remove the copper and aluminum heat sink from the base plate. This is documented in more details here (http://imgur.com/a/F2bBr). I found that it was very quick to fall off when you preheat the oven to 450* first then place it in the oven. If you gradually heat the heat sink you risk expanding the copper bit, its best to apply heat as quickly as possible.
Top of base plate.
This next step is specific to the G10 but can be applied to other shapes. I measured my H55 cooler to be larger diameter than the square hole so I rounded out the hole enough for the heatsink to fit. This was done with a rounded file but a dremel will also work as aluminum is very soft. With the right tools this should be very easy to do (in my apartment is was a little more difficult).
Also a G10 specific step is to remove the circled bracket above where the PSU connectors are. This will block the G10 bracket from sitting flush and can easily be removed with a hack saw.
Clean up the base plate, remove an metal filings (important!!!) and reattach to the GPU PCB with the original screws. If you would really like to clean it up it would be pretty easy to sand down the top and apply a few coats of black spray paint (or whatever color you want). I don't really care about aesthetics so I left it as is.
The final step is to install the G10 + H55 on the card and you're done (sorry I forgot to take pics).
I found that using stock GPU settings running Unigine Valley benchmark the GPU temps never went above 52* C and the VRM temps were max 61* and 58* (VRM1 and VRM2 respectively). Compared to the stock GPU settings where my GPU temps were hitting 94* and VRM temps were 68* and 80* respectively.
GPU and VRM temps running Unigine Valley loops with my beginner overclock. This is the best I could achieve with stock voltage, I might bump it up higher but right now I'm pretty happy with the results (2700 score). If anyone has a good guide for reference 290 overclocking I'd love to give it a try and push things a little further (more voltage should be easy now with low VRM temps).
Overall I would highly recommend this setup for anyone who isn't afraid of doing a little bit of modification as it fixes the biggest issue with the G10, VRM temps. I was surprised when my VRM temps ended up better than stock but when you think about it, the 92mm fan on the G10 will give better airflow than the stock cooler fan. In total this setup can be done for under $300 which is insane when you consider the performance and improved cooling. The nice thing is the G10 fixes the terrible stock cooling and you can use the stock cooler to fix the terrible G10 VRM cooling. This is a huge performance boost over my GTX670 and one that was desperately needed to drive my new display (3440x1440 res at 60 FPS). Hopefully this guide can encourage others to pick up a cheap reference 290 used for mining and make a pretty kick ass card on the cheap.
Build materials, Corsair H55 and Kraken G10.
First step is to remove the stock cooler, just as you would normally.
Next remove the shroud and fan from the stock cooler leaving just the aluminum base plate. An important step here that I did not document is to make sure to only attempt to remove the memory thermal pads, do not try to remove the VRM pads as you will tear them. If you'd like you can remove any thermal pads from the base plate and place them on the PCB to avoid ruining them or getting metal filings on them in later steps.
The next step is to remove the copper and aluminum heat sink from the base plate. This is documented in more details here (http://imgur.com/a/F2bBr). I found that it was very quick to fall off when you preheat the oven to 450* first then place it in the oven. If you gradually heat the heat sink you risk expanding the copper bit, its best to apply heat as quickly as possible.
Top of base plate.
This next step is specific to the G10 but can be applied to other shapes. I measured my H55 cooler to be larger diameter than the square hole so I rounded out the hole enough for the heatsink to fit. This was done with a rounded file but a dremel will also work as aluminum is very soft. With the right tools this should be very easy to do (in my apartment is was a little more difficult).
Also a G10 specific step is to remove the circled bracket above where the PSU connectors are. This will block the G10 bracket from sitting flush and can easily be removed with a hack saw.
Clean up the base plate, remove an metal filings (important!!!) and reattach to the GPU PCB with the original screws. If you would really like to clean it up it would be pretty easy to sand down the top and apply a few coats of black spray paint (or whatever color you want). I don't really care about aesthetics so I left it as is.
The final step is to install the G10 + H55 on the card and you're done (sorry I forgot to take pics).
I found that using stock GPU settings running Unigine Valley benchmark the GPU temps never went above 52* C and the VRM temps were max 61* and 58* (VRM1 and VRM2 respectively). Compared to the stock GPU settings where my GPU temps were hitting 94* and VRM temps were 68* and 80* respectively.
GPU and VRM temps running Unigine Valley loops with my beginner overclock. This is the best I could achieve with stock voltage, I might bump it up higher but right now I'm pretty happy with the results (2700 score). If anyone has a good guide for reference 290 overclocking I'd love to give it a try and push things a little further (more voltage should be easy now with low VRM temps).
Overall I would highly recommend this setup for anyone who isn't afraid of doing a little bit of modification as it fixes the biggest issue with the G10, VRM temps. I was surprised when my VRM temps ended up better than stock but when you think about it, the 92mm fan on the G10 will give better airflow than the stock cooler fan. In total this setup can be done for under $300 which is insane when you consider the performance and improved cooling. The nice thing is the G10 fixes the terrible stock cooling and you can use the stock cooler to fix the terrible G10 VRM cooling. This is a huge performance boost over my GTX670 and one that was desperately needed to drive my new display (3440x1440 res at 60 FPS). Hopefully this guide can encourage others to pick up a cheap reference 290 used for mining and make a pretty kick ass card on the cheap.
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