MSI 980ti Gaming 6G heatsink upgrade

After waiting for and being disappointed by Vega, I managed to snag this 980ti in perfect used condition locally. This is my first Nvidia card in 10 years - the last was a 8800GTS 320mb. While the stock heatsink was perfectly adequate, I already had a Prolimatech MK-26 on my previous R9 290X, and I decided to transfer it to the new card. This was definitely worth the effort and I saw a considerable reduction in load temps and noise levels. There's now plenty of headroom to play with overclocking this card (although it is still plenty fast at stock clocks).

Stock heatsink


Left stock, right Prolimatech MK-26.


Retaining the frontplate and VRM sinks from MSI. Gotta love the massive 601 mm² Maxwell GM200 die.


Installed using Noctua NT-H1 thermal compound, with 2x Thermalright TY-143 140mm PWM fans (600-2500 RPM, 31-130CFM).


This is now a 5 slot card.


Air cooled madness.


10-12C reduction in load temps over stock, with a considerable reduction in noise as well.


Temps with power limit maxed and OC'd to 1450mhz/2000mhz/+87mV.


All in all, if you are looking for one of the best air cooled solutions for a GPU, the Prolimatech MK-26 is definitely worth considering - highly recommend it!

Nice setup but, I'm pretty spooked by the sheer amount of weight hanging off that PCI-E slot... I would definitely find a way to brace that GPU's front end.

cortexodus said:

Nice setup but, I'm pretty spooked by the sheer amount of weight hanging off that PCI-E slot... I would definitely find a way to brace that GPU's front end.

Click to expand...

Valid concern for sure, I actually have the weight of the front end supported with a small metal tire lever (not shown in photos).

[H] Nicely done!

Now THAT's what you call Sink City! Impressive!