Cold Gpu Preparation

[ChanceCoats123]

The memory should've have been too cold. It didn't frost over until about a half hour after I powered down the system. Who knows.

 

[bennoculus]

Damn, I totally missed it. We need to have a bench sesh soon Chance!

Anyways, great pics. Sorry it didn't go over well, but it never always goes perfect. Right?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Nice work and nice thread Chance, I have a better idea of how I'm going to insulate my 4890 and 5870 now. Just got my MIVE last week, finally testing my 2600K tonight, then will start insulation, and hope to get LN2 and a few odds and ends tomorrow.

 

[Brolloks]

Do post some pics and stuff Matt

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Nice work and nice thread Chance, I have a better idea of how I'm going to insulate my 4890 and 5870 now. Just got my MIVE last week, finally testing my 2600K tonight, then will start insulation, and hope to get LN2 and a few odds and ends tomorrow.

Insulation!?!?! Conformal the vid cards, and then conformal your MIVE. You could run the whole damn setup with no insulation. Kidding about the no insulation part, but do conformal. It was a dream not having to worry about the video card drying from ice/water.

Do post some pics and stuff Matt

This guy know's what he's talking about

 

[El<(')>Maxi]

Edit: Here's the updated picture after I cleaned up the edges with an exacto knife.

What edges are you talking about?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

He means the edges of the masking tape.

I tried to do similar, but my masking tape didn't cut easily or stick well... So when I used liquid electrical tape on one card and vaseline on another, I simply went free hand and cleaned off the memory and die as necessary.

 

[Bobnova]

I conformal the ram chips and do not scrape them.

 

[El<(')>Maxi]

Oh gotcha, that's an impressive tape job

 

[ChanceCoats123]

I conformal the ram chips and do not scrape them.

I just wanted them taped so they could make good contact with the air cooler back on. probably not necessary, but also not a huge inconvenience.

Oh gotcha, that's an impressive tape job

Thanks. Only took like 15 minutes too, I was surprised.

 

[Janus67]

Quick bump for this thread as I plan to get prepared for the party. How much time did you wait between coats? Any additional tips that you have found since your experience? I plan to conformal (thanks Benny!) a couple cards and my motherboards as well.

-- do most companies care about conformalling in terms of RMA?

 

[Bobnova]

Most will deny RMA if they notice it.

I just do what the can says: light coat then immediately a heavy coat. Let dry. Bench.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Bob hit it on the head about RMA'ing and conformal. Some companies will deny, most won't notice (if it's done well.) and a few will accept even if they see it.

As for new tips, nothing more than take your time when taping. Thankfully, I didn't have any huge spots when I did mine, but make sure you get the tape set nicely and you won't even be able to tell the conformal is on.

 

[Janus67]

How did you do it exactly (the taping)? Did you put it on first and then cut around it (sounds scary like you could cut something) or did you measure them on the pieces of tape and cut it out and put it on?

 

[ChanceCoats123]

First off, I use painters tape because I know it gives straight paint lines and would come off without residue.

For the parts like the pci-e connectors and the X-fire connector, I just took a piece of tape and use the straight edge up to the part I wanted covered. For the memory and the gpu core, I put a roughly sized piece of tape over the part, then used a sharp exacto-knife to tidy up the edges.

 

[Bobnova]

I put a rough strip over PCIe and sli connectors. Tear some little bits for the fan connector and PCIe power connector and the DVI/HDMI/VGA connectors.
I put a rough piece on the core.

Memory I spray and leave the conformal on till after benching, then I lift the conformal off with a screwdriver, it lifts off quite easily if you do it right.
Mosfets I spray and carefully lift the conformal off with a little screwdriver.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

I just left my mosfets with it on. Ram the tops were uncovered though. I definitely made sure I got the sides/under the ram though. Didn't want any ice creeping down there.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Thread moved to the public section for anyone who might want to get into cold gpu's.

 

[cold.nut]

sweet stuff Chance ! did you plan on vmodding it or anything? maybe some volts would help improve your performance issues?

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Well it's a reference card, so Afterburner Extreme gives me up to 1.6 volts in the core, and I don't recall ever seeing a vmem mod or CBB, or Coldslow fix.