giannakos23
New member
really like what you did with the gpu's...keep it up!
Parallel In The Black
- Thread starter Mysterae
- Start date
Mysterae
New member
Hopefully you'll like the end result, in fact I hope I like it too!
Really wish I could win thisHype hype #oc3dgoesred
Do you know something I don't
Who are you calling old
. Yeah, okay I've been dragging it on a bit but life gets in the way sometimes. If I have some time tonight I'll post a little update 
.
Mysterae
New member
Update
Work on the 980Ti advanced cooling mod continues.
The stock heatsinks of the Titan X coolers have been stripped of their vapour chambers (dremelled off) and then cut up in to individually shaped pieces. Then a little bit of time on my bench sander to get their edges straight and the copper bottoms flattish.
I'm not too concerned with the bottoms not being perfectly flat, this will help the thermal adhesive to bond.
The fins of the heatsink parts were a bit rough to say the least, so a lot of filing was required with the needle file. This took ages.....! Then a good few blasts of air from the compressor to make sure there is no swarf left. The smallest piece could short out the PCB of the graphics card.
To make them look good again they needed painted. All the parts lined up ready for their many coats of gloss black paint.
I think they came out very well.
What's all this for? To improve the transfer of the heat from the graphics card's chassis plate, as I reckon at stock it may soak up the heat from the VRMs and memory IC's very well, but it does a poor job of dissipating it - this mod aims to fix that.
The air from the the stock fan will (I hope!) pass through the fins, over and around the GPU water block and out the back of the card, taking the heat from the VRMs and memory ICs with it.
The acrylic window will of course be put back on once I've drilled the holes required for the pipes to go through. Thankfully the release ring of the push-fittings I'm using will be proud of the window meaning that I can still release the tubing when required.
Looking forward to getting the window back on, the LEDs in position and the other little mod I have intended.
Thanks for reading, 'til next time...
Work on the 980Ti advanced cooling mod continues.
The stock heatsinks of the Titan X coolers have been stripped of their vapour chambers (dremelled off) and then cut up in to individually shaped pieces. Then a little bit of time on my bench sander to get their edges straight and the copper bottoms flattish.
I'm not too concerned with the bottoms not being perfectly flat, this will help the thermal adhesive to bond.
The fins of the heatsink parts were a bit rough to say the least, so a lot of filing was required with the needle file. This took ages.....! Then a good few blasts of air from the compressor to make sure there is no swarf left. The smallest piece could short out the PCB of the graphics card.
To make them look good again they needed painted. All the parts lined up ready for their many coats of gloss black paint.
I think they came out very well
.
What's all this for? To improve the transfer of the heat from the graphics card's chassis plate, as I reckon at stock it may soak up the heat from the VRMs and memory IC's very well, but it does a poor job of dissipating it - this mod aims to fix that
.
The air from the the stock fan will (I hope!) pass through the fins, over and around the GPU water block and out the back of the card, taking the heat from the VRMs and memory ICs with it.
The acrylic window will of course be put back on once I've drilled the holes required for the pipes to go through. Thankfully the release ring of the push-fittings I'm using will be proud of the window meaning that I can still release the tubing when required.
Looking forward to getting the window back on, the LEDs in position and the other little mod I have intended
.
Thanks for reading, 'til next time...
Mysterae
New member
Update
Cheers mate, most of the parts from the Titan X coolers are being used with only the fan and silver shroud parts being retained. It'll still look like a reference Nvidia cooler but it more than a little twist.
Modification number 5 to the 980Ti's was to paint, anodise or chrome the black part that surrounds the fan. At first I looked in to getting this part anodised, perhaps dyeing it green during the anodising process. However, a company that specialises in anodising told me that the finish may not be acceptable as the part is cast aluminium and not billet aluminium. Cast aluminium has a number of additional alloys that don't play ball with the anodising process so the results could be unpredictable. I even thought about buying the chemicals myself and having a go, but if a specialist wouldn't consider it worthwhile then I shouldn't either.
I then thought about getting the parts chromed and one company would do the job, but it was costly and would have been about a 2 - 3 weeks turnaround. So I settled on painting them myself and experiment with different paint finishes and colours.
Before doing anything to the fan surrounds I removed the brushed aluminium ring that is around the fan aperture. This is stuck on with light adhesive and I found the best method is to get your nail under it and gently work around it, lifting it more with each rotation. See image 1 below:
With reference to the image above:
1. Ring removed
2. The aluminium disc fan hub cover, stuck on with adhesive tape. This tape is really strong and difficult to remove with damaging the metal disc. I won't bother removing the others, just use the original fans from the 980Tis.
3. The fan housing - this surprised me as the heat sink at the back of the reference cooler (image 4) is totally closed off - there is no air flow over it. So positioning an additional fan at the rear of the card will give little benefit imo.
One beneficial difference between the reference coolers of the Titan and Titan X is that on the original Titan the fan is stuck down with strong adhesive tape and screws, whereas it's only fixed to the Titan X (and 980Ti) with screws.
The parts of the shroud around the fan are powder coated black which can be a pain to remove. I thought about sanding them down but chose the most aggressive method - Sodium Hydroxide (caustic soda). A few words of caution here - wear every part of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) - gloves, 2-filter mask, goggles, long sleeves and do it in a well ventilated area as the exothermic reaction with water produces hydrogen gas and the chemical will burn your skin! Add the caustic soda to the water, not water to the soda, this way you will reduce the splashing. Also, don't leave aluminium in sodium hydroxide for long and you must keep checking it - it eats aluminium quite aggressively! If in doubt about it, research it or don't do it.
I lightly sanded the parts to take the shine off the powder coating to give the chemicals
something to bite in to and dipped them in the sodium hydroxide. Fizzing.
After a short while:
After a few thorough rinses with clean water and a bit of wet sanding with 1200 grit sandpaper the parts where ready for painting.
As you can see there are three of them - 2 from the Titan X and one from the original Titan I got before. The one from the non-X Titan is my test piece as it has a broken tab on it.
My initial thoughts on a colour/finish for these parts was chrome and in my research the ideal way to achieve a perfect chrome finish is to paint them gloss black first. Sounds counter-intuitive but the smooth reflective finish of black is ideal for the chrome paint. After the first few coats of gloss black had dried I wasn't happy with the finish, sanding marks could still be seen through.
So a bit of wet sanding to flatten them out.
Much better:
The silver one in the image above is actually unpainted, I wasn't happy with the finish (it had a few runs) so I stripped it back down using cellulose thinners to start again.
So, colours. First, my wildcard - metallic green:
Looks quite good, and that's before the clear coat is applied. The clear coat will definitely give it more "pop" and help in its durability.
Not sure if this will be too much green with the green LEDs as well. Definitely unique though.
Next, the chrome:
Looks good, quite industrial. The chrome paint polishes up well and that is without the clear coat as well, so it should shine even more. Will there be too much chrome in my build, with the chrome tubing and fittings?
However the chrome paint is a pain! Perhaps I put too many coats on (3), the paint is quite heavy and takes ages to dry. Even after 3 days drying the paint was still soft enough for me to leave finger prints, damn!
So what do you reckon is the best - metallic green or chrome?
Cheers mate, most of the parts from the Titan X coolers are being used with only the fan and silver shroud parts being retained. It'll still look like a reference Nvidia cooler but it more than a little twist
.Modification number 5 to the 980Ti's was to paint, anodise or chrome the black part that surrounds the fan. At first I looked in to getting this part anodised, perhaps dyeing it green during the anodising process. However, a company that specialises in anodising told me that the finish may not be acceptable as the part is cast aluminium and not billet aluminium. Cast aluminium has a number of additional alloys that don't play ball with the anodising process so the results could be unpredictable. I even thought about buying the chemicals myself and having a go, but if a specialist wouldn't consider it worthwhile then I shouldn't either.
I then thought about getting the parts chromed and one company would do the job, but it was costly and would have been about a 2 - 3 weeks turnaround. So I settled on painting them myself and experiment with different paint finishes and colours.
Before doing anything to the fan surrounds I removed the brushed aluminium ring that is around the fan aperture. This is stuck on with light adhesive and I found the best method is to get your nail under it and gently work around it, lifting it more with each rotation. See image 1 below:
With reference to the image above:
1. Ring removed
2. The aluminium disc fan hub cover, stuck on with adhesive tape. This tape is really strong and difficult to remove with damaging the metal disc. I won't bother removing the others, just use the original fans from the 980Tis.
3. The fan housing - this surprised me as the heat sink at the back of the reference cooler (image 4) is totally closed off - there is no air flow over it. So positioning an additional fan at the rear of the card will give little benefit imo.
One beneficial difference between the reference coolers of the Titan and Titan X is that on the original Titan the fan is stuck down with strong adhesive tape and screws, whereas it's only fixed to the Titan X (and 980Ti) with screws.
The parts of the shroud around the fan are powder coated black which can be a pain to remove. I thought about sanding them down but chose the most aggressive method - Sodium Hydroxide (caustic soda)
. A few words of caution here - wear every part of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) - gloves, 2-filter mask, goggles, long sleeves and do it in a well ventilated area as the exothermic reaction with water produces hydrogen gas and the chemical will burn your skin! Add the caustic soda to the water, not water to the soda, this way you will reduce the splashing. Also, don't leave aluminium in sodium hydroxide for long and you must keep checking it - it eats aluminium quite aggressively! If in doubt about it, research it or don't do it.I lightly sanded the parts to take the shine off the powder coating to give the chemicals
something to bite in to and dipped them in the sodium hydroxide. Fizzing
.
After a short while:
After a few thorough rinses with clean water and a bit of wet sanding with 1200 grit sandpaper the parts where ready for painting.
As you can see there are three of them - 2 from the Titan X and one from the original Titan I got before. The one from the non-X Titan is my test piece as it has a broken tab on it.
My initial thoughts on a colour/finish for these parts was chrome and in my research the ideal way to achieve a perfect chrome finish is to paint them gloss black first. Sounds counter-intuitive but the smooth reflective finish of black is ideal for the chrome paint. After the first few coats of gloss black had dried I wasn't happy with the finish, sanding marks could still be seen through.
So a bit of wet sanding to flatten them out.
Much better:
The silver one in the image above is actually unpainted, I wasn't happy with the finish (it had a few runs) so I stripped it back down using cellulose thinners to start again.
So, colours. First, my wildcard - metallic green:
Looks quite good, and that's before the clear coat is applied. The clear coat will definitely give it more "pop" and help in its durability.
Not sure if this will be too much green with the green LEDs as well. Definitely unique though.
Next, the chrome:
Looks good, quite industrial. The chrome paint polishes up well and that is without the clear coat as well, so it should shine even more. Will there be too much chrome in my build, with the chrome tubing and fittings?
However the chrome paint is a pain! Perhaps I put too many coats on (3), the paint is quite heavy and takes ages to dry. Even after 3 days drying the paint was still soft enough for me to leave finger prints, damn!
So what do you reckon is the best - metallic green or chrome?
shambles1980
New member
i kinda like the green but without seeing it in a build id have to vote chrome as its a more neutral and less likely to clash with whatever you put it in.
AlienALX
Well-known member
Usually whenever I have had issues with paint drying it was because I had not shaken the can for long enough. Never used chrome paint myself (though I have some here for model car windows that I've never used) but it looks better.
IMO? the entire cooler painted in chrome would look good.
IMO? the entire cooler painted in chrome would look good.
RizeAllard
New member
Really like this mod. Nice work with the pipes and the GPU coolers 
crap-at-games
New member
Mysterae couldnt you have them powder coated i had some parts done on my bike and it looks like chrome so many people said where did you get chroming done and are really surprised when i tell them its powdercoated
Mysterae
New member
So many comments, thanks for the feedback guys
Chrome 1, green 0. I've been thinking about the quality finish, if it's worth doing ...
Chrome 2, green 1. It is difficult to visualise I know, I've been trying myself and it's in front of me!
That could be true, I'm sure I gave it 2 minutes worth and even shook it between sprays. I even put the spray cans in a bucket of warm water to heat them up before spraying. Worked wonders with the gloss black and metallic green. Nice idea for the entire cooler being chrome, hmmm ....
Chrome 3, green 1.
Chrome 3, green 2.
Chrome 3, green 3, ooh, equaliser!
Chrome 4, green 3.
Cheers mate, as soon as I can get these graphic cards sorted I can continue with the rest.
I'll be honest and say that I didn't know you could powder coat in chrome. Read on ...
So the winner is, by the smallest of margins, is ... chrome.
I've also decided to stop messing about with the paint, as Wraith says, there's a trade off for a quality finish and in this case it's time a little extra money. I tried the painting, I failed, I admit defeat, so the fan shrouds are to be sent out for a good chroming. I hope they do a good job!
Chrome 1, green 0. I've been thinking about the quality finish, if it's worth doing ...
Chrome 2, green 1
. It is difficult to visualise I know, I've been trying myself and it's in front of me!That could be true, I'm sure I gave it 2 minutes worth and even shook it between sprays. I even put the spray cans in a bucket of warm water to heat them up before spraying. Worked wonders with the gloss black and metallic green. Nice idea for the entire cooler being chrome, hmmm ...
.Chrome 3, green 1.
Green always gets my vote but it seems I'm one of the few
Chrome 3, green 2.
Chrome 3, green 3, ooh, equaliser!
Chrome 4, green 3.
Really like this mod. Nice work with the pipes and the GPU coolers
Cheers mate, as soon as I can get these graphic cards sorted I can continue with the rest
.I'll be honest and say that I didn't know you could powder coat in chrome. Read on ...
So the winner is, by the smallest of margins, is ... chrome
.I've also decided to stop messing about with the paint, as Wraith says, there's a trade off for a quality finish and in this case it's time a little extra money. I tried the painting, I failed, I admit defeat, so the fan shrouds are to be sent out for a good chroming
. I hope they do a good job!
Mysterae
New member
Update
So the fan surrounds are away to be chromed as I couldn't get the finish I wanted with paint, but that doesn't stop progress! I used the spare fan surround that I'd test painted metallic green which is in the images later.
The next job was the acrylic window of the 980Ti's. I first tired drilling one, first at 4mm then increasing up to 18mm but that ended in disaster. That part became my test piece and more care taken with the remaining two. In the image below to the top right, you can see my test piece - I also experimented with flame polishing the cut edge. Yeah, not so good, it melted a bit too much. Oops.
So I made a number of cardboard templates (5 to be exact!) so that the positioning of the holes for the tubing was perfect. The acrylic plates were marked up and chain drilled in a circle with a 3mm drill bit and then cleaned up with a tungsten carbide tool in the Dremel - if you have a Dremel you need a set of tungsten carbide bits!
The edges were then sanded smooth with wet 1200 grit sandpaper then buffed clear with acrylic polish and the polishing/buff tool in the Dremel. A lot of work but well worth it.
Now with some lighting:
I also painted the Geforce GTX logo in preparation for the chromed fan surround.
The more I see the metallic green the more I like it, but I'm sure the chrome will look just as good.
So the fan surrounds are away to be chromed as I couldn't get the finish I wanted with paint, but that doesn't stop progress! I used the spare fan surround that I'd test painted metallic green which is in the images later.
The next job was the acrylic window of the 980Ti's. I first tired drilling one, first at 4mm then increasing up to 18mm but that ended in disaster. That part became my test piece and more care taken with the remaining two. In the image below to the top right, you can see my test piece - I also experimented with flame polishing the cut edge. Yeah, not so good, it melted a bit too much. Oops.
So I made a number of cardboard templates (5 to be exact!) so that the positioning of the holes for the tubing was perfect. The acrylic plates were marked up and chain drilled in a circle with a 3mm drill bit and then cleaned up with a tungsten carbide tool in the Dremel - if you have a Dremel you need a set of tungsten carbide bits!
The edges were then sanded smooth with wet 1200 grit sandpaper then buffed clear with acrylic polish and the polishing/buff tool in the Dremel. A lot of work but well worth it.
Now with some lighting:
I also painted the Geforce GTX logo in preparation for the chromed fan surround.
The more I see the metallic green the more I like it, but I'm sure the chrome will look just as good
.
shambles1980
New member
i would have to paint between the letters lol.. i could not leave the gaps silver.
Mysterae
New member
I know what you mean, they are silver so that it blends in when the surrounds are chromed.
