1080 Ti FE VRM/VRAM cooling plate available anywhere?

[eddieck]

I'm replacing my 1080 Ti FE cooler with an Accelero and trying to find the best VRM/VRAM cooling solution. The Accelero includes basic RAM and VRM sinks, which will work but are going to be a pain to install properly, and there's the additional failure mode of thermal tape failure.

The FE cooler uses a large metal plate with affixed thermal pads for VRM and VRAM cooling (see http://www.startlr.com/wp-content/u...-gtx-1080-ti-the-road-to-the-new-flagship.jpg). This seems like the best solution in terms of relative simplicity (no need to affix tiny individual heatsinks to specific chips) and reliability (screwed to the board, so no possibility of adhesive failure). However, while some have been able to use the FE cooler's metal plate and blower assembly along with an AIO cooler, it's impossible to do this with the Accelero because the blower and shroud frame are part of the same metal piece.

Some non-reference designs seem to have a similar plate but not attached to the rest of the heatsink assembly, e.g. https://cms-images.idgesg.net/images/article/2016/06/evga-gtx-1080-ftw-acx-3-100668058-orig.png (and I've seen similar images from other brands). Even if it was possible to obtain one of these plates individually (which it isn't), they may not work on an FE. Does anyone know of a similar cooling plate available standalone, or really any other VRM cooling solution more robust than thermal tape + tiny individual heatsinks?

 

[Nenu]

You are looking at the Xtreme III.
The Xtreme IV comes with the backplate but isnt quite as effective at cooling ram and VRMs.

The backplate on the standard FE card is in 2 sections.
The first backplate covering the GPUs rear doesnt cool anything.
The second backplate only cools one component and this backplate gets pretty hot when clocked so cooling is needed.
There are no other thermal pads underneath the backplate, only for that one component.
The image you posted is of the main heatsink which is not fitted to the rear of the card.

I fitted the Xtreme III to my 1080ti FE.
To keep that one component on the rear cool I kept its rear plate.
The screws holding the plate mount into the screws that hold the main heatsink on which no longer have anything to screw into.
So you need to get some nuts to hold those screws in place.
I created my own.

See here for more info.
https://hardforum.com/threads/geforce-gtx-1080-ti-discussion-thread.1926115/page-13#post-1042926908
https://hardforum.com/threads/geforce-gtx-1080-ti-discussion-thread.1926115/page-13#post-1042928843

Net result is a huge drop in temps and silence.
Its mid Summer with 30C room temp and it runs at 65C max with a good overclock, temps are generally lower.
I dont have the best card so it gets pushed quite hard.

ps
Do not use thermal tape. Glue the heatsinks on. The glue comes with the heatsink kit.
If you want a removable heatsink get the Xtreme IV.

 

[eclypse]

The whole reason why i always end up going with a full face water block.

Also wont kill your warranty doing permanent heatsinks.. youll also have a hard time on resale down the line.

 

[Nenu]

I've not had a problem selling mine.
I had to mod a case with a dremel to get the length in but the good cooling and quiet operation without needing water self sell.
I water cool my CPU and dont want extra large expense (GPU block) or problems with my loop. Its run almost maintenance free for 13 years.
The Accelero Xtreme coolers are trouble free. They only need an occasional dust blow.

I have previously sold the following with Accelero coolers.
8800GT (S1), 290x (Xtreme III), 980ti (Xtreme IV)

 

[eclypse]

I've not had a problem selling mine.
I had to mod a case with a dremel to get the length in but the good cooling and quiet operation without needing water self sell.
I water cool my CPU and dont want extra large expense (GPU block) or problems with my loop. Its run almost maintenance free for 13 years.
The Accelero Xtreme coolers are trouble free. They only need an occasional dust blow.

I have previously sold the following with Accelero coolers.
8800GT (S1), 290x (Xtreme III), 980ti (Xtreme IV)

Im talking about the extra cooling for the mosfets just to use a aio on the card.

Your referring to a 3rd party air cooler.. yeah people would buy that if they dont intend on water cooling.

I've always water cooled since sli came about. Custom water blocks, even danger den universal blocks which was a pain cause one would need to add heatsinks for the mem and mosfets.. sucked using double sided thermal tape.

I'd say single card and want great cooling get a great non reference to start with like a evga ftw3 and be done with it.

Though being stuck with a fe card and wanted quiet air cooling yeah look into what your talking about.

 

[Nenu]

Im talking about the extra cooling for the mosfets just to use a aio on the card.

Your referring to a 3rd party air cooler.. yeah people would buy that if they dont intend on water cooling.

I've always water cooled since sli came about. Custom water blocks, even danger den universal blocks which was a pain cause one would need to add heatsinks for the mem and mosfets.. sucked using double sided thermal tape.

I'd say single card and want great cooling get a great non reference to start with like a evga ftw3 and be done with it.

Though being stuck with a fe card and wanted quiet air cooling yeah look into what your talking about.

OK, didnt realise we were on different channels
For sure water blocks on SLI, I would too.
If the full face blocks didnt cost so much and would fit a few generations I would probably run another loop for the gfx card.

 

[eddieck]

Thanks for all the responses!

You are looking at the Xtreme III.
The Xtreme IV comes with the backplate but isnt quite as effective at cooling ram and VRMs.

Yep, I bought the III. The IV's backside VRM cooling solution looked more like a gimmick than an effective cooling solution.

The backplate on the standard FE card is in 2 sections.
The first backplate covering the GPUs rear doesnt cool anything.
The second backplate only cools one component and this backplate gets pretty hot when clocked so cooling is needed.
There are no other thermal pads underneath the backplate, only for that one component.
The image you posted is of the main heatsink which is not fitted to the rear of the card.

I was referring to the main (front) heatsink assembly on the FE cooler. While the entire FE cooler frame is a single piece of metal (with a cutout for the GPU heatsink), some third-party designs appear to have a separate front plate for VRM and RAM cooling, e.g. the "Memory/MOSFET Cooling Plate" on http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2016/06/evga-gtx-1080-ftw-acx-3-100668058-orig.png. Using the Accelero would likely be possible with a low-profile plate like that.

I fitted the Xtreme III to my 1080ti FE.
To keep that one component on the rear cool I kept its rear plate.
The screws holding the plate mount into the screws that hold the main heatsink on which no longer have anything to screw into.
So you need to get some nuts to hold those screws in place.
I created my own.
[removed images from quote]
See here for more info.
https://hardforum.com/threads/geforce-gtx-1080-ti-discussion-thread.1926115/page-13#post-1042926908
https://hardforum.com/threads/geforce-gtx-1080-ti-discussion-thread.1926115/page-13#post-1042928843

Thanks, these pictures are helpful. The small VRM/RAM sinks included with the Xtreme III seem like the best available option, even if it's a bit of a pain to do.

BTW, I found that Arctic sells additional heatsinks of the same type included with the Xtreme III at https://www.arctic.ac/us_en/accelero-twin-turbo-ii.html. The heatsink kit isn't available on the Xtreme III spare parts page, but the Twin Turbo II shapes are identical.

Do not use thermal tape. Glue the heatsinks on. The glue comes with the heatsink kit.
If you want a removable heatsink get the Xtreme IV.

I've got some Sekisui thermal tape, which I bought separately. Have you had a bad experience using tapes (whether Sekisui, 3M, or some other brand) with these RAM/VRM sinks? The advantage for me is that the tape is removable, in case I ever need to reinstall the stock cooler and RMA the card.

 

[Nenu]

I was referring to the main (front) heatsink assembly on the FE cooler. While the entire FE cooler frame is a single piece of metal (with a cutout for the GPU heatsink), some third-party designs appear to have a separate front plate for VRM and RAM cooling, e.g. the "Memory/MOSFET Cooling Plate" on http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2016/06/evga-gtx-1080-ftw-acx-3-100668058-orig.png. Using the Accelero would likely be possible with a low-profile plate like that.

1080ti probably gives too much heat for a flat plate to deal with, the surface area in contact with moving air is not very big compared to sinks.
I'm not sure I'd like one on a 1080 tbh.
I realised after my post that you were aware of the plate location, my bad.

Thanks, these pictures are helpful. The small VRM/RAM sinks included with the Xtreme III seem like the best available option, even if it's a bit of a pain to do.

Its possible some components dont need sinks on them when nearby components are not so hot but my kit didnt have instructions for the 1080ti so I did my duty and covered everything that had a white pad.
I had 1 spare heatsink from my last Xtreme III cooler so you cannot do it exactly as I have with the standard kit.
It was a half width medium length sink.
I recall having to saw one of the larger sinks to make the needed size when I got desperate to complete it.
There are enough sinks to do the job (of covering everything) if you have a saw, with the kit I had
The alternative is to get what you posted below which I would have preferred.

BTW, I found that Arctic sells additional heatsinks of the same type included with the Xtreme III at https://www.arctic.ac/us_en/accelero-twin-turbo-ii.html. The heatsink kit isn't available on the Xtreme III spare parts page, but the Twin Turbo II shapes are identical.

I searched their site for ages trying to find those, thanks for the headsup.
Plain daft, they could be making money instead of pissing off their customers.
Although... I cant locate them on that page. Can you describe exactly where you found them please?

I've got some Sekisui thermal tape, which I bought separately. Have you had a bad experience using tapes (whether Sekisui, 3M, or some other brand) with these RAM/VRM sinks? The advantage for me is that the tape is removable, in case I ever need to reinstall the stock cooler and RMA the card.

I will never trust tape unless the sink is vertical and sat on top.
It only takes one sink falling off to wreck a gfx card and there is no warranty.
Best do it right imo.
Thermal cement gives a better thermal contact.
Squidge the sinks down to push as much glue out as possible. You cant do that with a thermal pad.

And yes I have had pads fall off despite taking great care.
Around the time of my 8800GT I bought some Akasa tape which is pretty good.
I cleaned each component carefully before fitting but a few it didnt work so well and they fell off after a few months.
Luckily the card didnt have ramsinks by default so didnt need them. it survived without loss of overclock.

Anything with a small contact point you are taking a great risk using tape.
If you are going to glue some, you may as well get the full benefit and glue them all.

ps
Dont try to bend-break bigger sinks if you need more smaller sinks because they wont sit flat after.
They must be clean cut all the way through.

 

[eddieck]

1080ti probably gives too much heat for a flat plate to deal with, the surface area in contact with moving air is not very big compared to sinks.
I'm not sure I'd like one on a 1080 tbh.

That's true. The FE cooler uses the same concept, but the entire frame (including blower assembly) is one piece, so there's more metal area on that.

I searched their site for ages trying to find those, thanks for the headsup.
Plain daft, they could be making money instead of pissing off their customers.
Although... I cant locate them on that page. Can you describe exactly where you found them please?

Sorry! They're under the "Spare parts" tab, listed as "Accelero Twin Turbo II - Heatsink." I should have noticed that the URL doesn't change when clicking on those tabs.

It took me a long time to find them too. The Xtreme III documentation says extra VRM/RAM heatsinks are available and provides a URL, but they're not listed at the given URL or on the Xtreme III "Spare parts" page. Arctic told me the product was discontinued and suggested searching for similar heatsinks elsewhere, but failed to point out that the Twin Turbo II heatsinks were identical and still available. I had to figure that out myself. I'm not sure how "go buy them from another company" is a better business strategy than "we've got an identical product you can buy," but OK.

I will never trust tape unless the sink is vertical and sat on top.
It only takes one sink falling off to wreck a gfx card and there is no warranty.
Best do it right imo.
Thermal cement gives a better thermal contact.
Squidge the sinks down to push as much glue out as possible. You cant do that with a thermal pad.

And yes I have had pads fall off despite taking great care.
Around the time of my 8800GT I bought some Akasa tape which is pretty good.
I cleaned each component carefully before fitting but a few it didnt work so well and they fell off after a few months.
Luckily the card didnt have ramsinks by default so didnt need them. it survived without loss of overclock.

Anything with a small contact point you are taking a great risk using tape.
If you are going to glue some, you may as well get the full benefit and glue them all.

I was worried about that. The Sekisui tape, based on other comments I've read, is probably one of the best for adhesive strength, but longevity is unclear without long-term testing. But I'm also concerned about the Arctic glue as it seems difficult to impossible to remove without leaving evidence or even pulling board components off with it. Have you had issues removing glued-on heatsinks?

 

[Nenu]

The FE cooler main plate has a finned heatsink attached at the power connector end which the blower pumps air through into the case.
In addition to the finned heatsink for the GPU which blows outside the PC.

Under spare parts for that heatsink it has:
4pin adapter
Bracket
Spare fan
Screw set
Thermal Glue

There isnt anything else, no coolers/heatsinks.


If you use the glue, dont plan on removing the sinks.
The Xtreme III is a permanent upgrade.
The non permanent version is the Xtreme IV but isnt as good.

 

[eddieck]

Under spare parts for that heatsink it has:
4pin adapter
Bracket
Spare fan
Screw set
Thermal Glue

There isnt anything else, no coolers/heatsinks.

Arctic's site is stupid. The heatsinks disappeared from the "spare parts" tab on one page load, then reappeared when I opened a new private browsing tab (Safari isolates every tab). Here's a direct link: https://www.arctic.ac/us_en/heatsink-accelero-twin-turbo-ii.html?___SID=U. (As with everything else on Arctic's site, it's not immediately obvious how to find a direct product link like that. I had to add it to my cart to get a direct link.)

 

[Nenu]

Haha, cheers.
Link saved!

Good luck deciding what to do with your Xtreme III kit.

edit
Still cant purchase them, theres no way to add to basket.
They really dont want to sell these.

 

[eddieck]

Ahhh, they're not available on the Europe store (just checked with a proxy, since Arctic's site uses geolocation and doesn't have an override option without registration). They're in stock on the US store.

 

[Nenu]

Ah righty, thanks for trying

 

[grumperfish]

When I used an Accelero XP on my old 6970 I used Sekesui thermal tape from eBay and it held up perfectly over several years. I didn't want to use thermal adhesive for resale and the standard 3M thermal tape is complete garbage, but I've never had a problem with Sekesui.

I found using a pencil eraser on the chips before taping helped alot with grip, and I used a hairdryer to heat up the copper sinks a bit so they'd bond faster. I used Thermaltake copper heatsinks for the RAM and Enzotech MOS-C1 heatsinks for the VRMs, cut down slightly with tin snips to fit under the Accelero:

 

[Nenu]

Thats impressive, preheating them must help.
I didnt have a hairdryer to try that.

Its still quite a risk on a £600 card though, especially on components with tiny surface area like VRMs where surface grip is limited
Also the cooling isnt quite as good as cement.

But each to their own, it may be proven that it can be done safely all the time.

ps the top heatsinks would have performed better if the fins radiated outwards.
They are feeding hot air toward each other as fitted.

 

[grumperfish]

I had thought of that later on, but since the memory heatsinks barely got warm with an IR gun I never bothered trying to reseat them.

 

[eclypse]

Haie dryer is how i always used the thermal tape for heavy copper heatsinks.

Also is how i put weather seal on the house windows to get good adhesion. Heat the tape after you apply the plastic seal.. heat the tape and smash it! Tape always holds till i remove it.

 

[Blindphleb]

This is a problem I'm trying to figure out as well. Have you seen this product: http://gelidsolutions.com/thermal-solutions/icy-vision-gtx10701080-enhancement-kit/

Apart from that, modding an old heatsink or even a thick piece of aluminum should work. Also, the EVGA ACX 3.0 SC features a flat midplate that should work. You just have to find one second hand.

 

[grumperfish]

Haie dryer is how i always used the thermal tape for heavy copper heatsinks.

Also is how i put weather seal on the house windows to get good adhesion. Heat the tape after you apply the plastic seal.. heat the tape and smash it! Tape always holds till i remove it.

I'll have to remember that for the next time I need to use weather sealant for doors or windows. Last time I did it I just used the attached adhesive and the bond was worse than I liked.

I haven't used thermal adhesive for computer heatsinks since I killed a 4870 when trying to remove a bonded VRM heatsink. Accidentally removed some surface-mount component along with it, which is what pushed me to use the tape on the 6970.

Wonder if that gelid kit only works on reference cards...

 

[eddieck]

This is a problem I'm trying to figure out as well. Have you seen this product: http://gelidsolutions.com/thermal-solutions/icy-vision-gtx10701080-enhancement-kit/

Apart from that, modding an old heatsink or even a thick piece of aluminum should work. Also, the EVGA ACX 3.0 SC features a flat midplate that should work. You just have to find one second hand.

I hadn't, but nice find! I haven't verified, but from the image it looks like it should fit the 1080 Ti FE, not just 1080/1070. I'll order one and test.

 

[kalston]

I hadn't, but nice find! I haven't verified, but from the image it looks like it should fit the 1080 Ti FE, not just 1080/1070. I'll order one and test.

If it fits, let us know The heatsinks are holding for now (tape, after cleaning with alcohol) but I'd much prefer something like this.

 

[eddieck]

It almost fits. See the attached image. The red boxes are the part where the heatsink overlaps board components (chokes in this case), presumably because the 1080 Ti has more of these than the 1080. Other than that, the mounting looks like it'll fit perfectly. I'm inclined to try cutting the heatsink to make it fit, just not sure what I'll use to do it.

 

[eclypse]

It almost fits. See the attached image. The red boxes are the part where the heatsink overlaps board components (chokes in this case), presumably because the 1080 Ti has more of these than the 1080. Other than that, the mounting looks like it'll fit perfectly. I'm inclined to try cutting the heatsink to make it fit, just not sure what I'll use to do it.

Start with small drill bit dead center of the area you want gone. Then you can just keep moving up in drill bit sizes till you have the clearence you want and or use hack saw blade to sqaure it off.

Finish it off nice and clean with metal file on the edges.

 

[Nenu]

It almost fits. See the attached image. The red boxes are the part where the heatsink overlaps board components (chokes in this case), presumably because the 1080 Ti has more of these than the 1080. Other than that, the mounting looks like it'll fit perfectly. I'm inclined to try cutting the heatsink to make it fit, just not sure what I'll use to do it.

Luckily the bottom LR22 doesnt need cooling. The original cooler doesnt make contact with that point.
Or is it that the cooler is prevented from fitting because that component is in the way?

There is another issue I just thought of.
The heights of some of the components that need cooling are different.
This will either need a heat conductive filler or a pad to bridge the gap.
ie direct contact of the cooler with a thin layer of heatsink paste will leave some components uncooled.

Other than that, it looks as though it should work, how well is hard to predict.
I'm not sure it will give as good cooling as glued on heatsinks because the overall surface area exposed to moving air is less.
It doesnt have that many fins and they are not tall.
But the hotter components will spread their heat load over the whole sink, so it might even out.
If so, its a nice way to avoid using glue, as long as other components dont need it.
If there is room underneath the main cooler when fitted, you can glue more heatsinks to the large sink to improve the cooling surface area.

ps soz for the late reply, I vaguely remember putting my reply on hold until I had time but forgot.
Its a shame we cant manually label posts as unread.

pps I would use a dremel to cut it.
If not, carefully use a hacksaw with removable blade so it can be inserted through the gap.
Clean the edges up with a file so it is flat.