General Category > FAQ on games, gaming & IT
MXM graphics card upgrade (heatsink)
Polo:
Hi again,
I am pleased to see this thread is still alive. Nice to meet you. For now my solution is to use an old asus p4p800 se heat sink. It fits nicely inside the case and looks a bit like your first attempt (the black heat sink). I just have one problem and that is fifuring out how I will anchor it to the motherboard. I will have to go see a machinist to lathe custom screws with a special hook. I'll try to upload pics when I have everything together.
I tried to find copper plates like you, but here in Thailand some things are harder to come by than back home : (
I love this little computer and upgraded the cpu to a 4 ghz and it rocks. I figure once I get the vga sorted this comp will be good to go for quite a few years still.
I am curious and I know you must know the answer... once I upgrade the vga do I still keep the 3 monitor option?
I am very curious to see your cooling system and once again thanks. It is nice tk meet someone with like minded intetests.
Thankd
kat:
If you can't get copper try aluminium plate, that should be easier to get hold of in your locale especially if you have access to a machinist - they usually have billets of the stuff and/or lots of waste or offcuts they may shape down for you - aim for 1 mm thick as absolute minimum you don't want to go below (bends under pressure), 1.5 mm - 2 mm being optimal minimum.
When using unmodified screws make sure to place a silicon pad between chip and plate instead of paste as this provides some upward compression tension and tolerance for any uneven downward pressure from the mounting screws (2 mm dia. 10 mm long iirc) - you might be able to jury-rigged screws if they long enough to include springs, although this might mean using washers to 'cap' the screws against which the springs push. Will (again) post a pic next time the case is open.
You'll need to keep the onboard Intel graphics subsystem active when running multiple monitors as the Display Port outputs are split between the discreet card and onboard Intel. Don't know if it'll run three using VGA output at the same time.
Polo:
I got you about the machine shop. I went to a shop that sells metal last week... and they had brass plate about 2 mm thick. I checked the heat transfer index and it is about half of that of copper and about 1/3 that of aluminum. It is difficult here (in Thailand) to find what I could easily find back in Canada. Things here are REALLY backwards.
I accidentally dropped my vga card and one of the metal cooling chips 'chipped' so I tried to fasten it back with epoxy that resists up to 150 Celsius. Damn! I read that a GPU will go up to 37 celsius so I guess it might work... but still won't know until I get the power supply I ordered from Israel on ebay...
I ordered 2 other gpu's from aliexpress in case I get butter fingers again. I have 3 elite desk computers as I bought them for a good price and I am really looking forward to seeing if I can get the vga to work.
Cheers and thanks for keeping this thread alive... will update you as it goes and I will try to send photos as I progress.
BTW can I ask you what this website is about?
I was lucky to find your post and then I joined up and started reading what guys here are talking about. Seems like a 3D blog website... All I know is that it is interesting even if most of what the guys talk about here seems like alien talk... lol
Regards
kat:
Glues, cements, sticky stuff used directly on the cards or chips needs to resist high temperatures so the epoxy should work under normal conditions -keep in mind though that unprotected, the GPU chip will get hot enough to burnout in a few seconds, and by 'burn out' that's 'catch fire if you're not careful'! Make sure the part you stuck back on doesn't have any electrical conduits otherwise that card is likely shot.
As for brass ,yes its not ideal but it's good enough to prototype if it's all you can get, it will at least allow creation of the base plate to check fit and finish and act as a template when you can get hold of some copper or aluminium plate.
KatsBits is basically an educational community for creating custom content for games but other topics, such as this one on making custom MXM heat sinks, are sometimes discussed because it's computer or IT related and there's little to no information available anywhere else.
Polo:
Hi again,
I've been meaning to ask you how you got your fins to stick. I think, from what I can gather, that you used epoxy?.?.?
Or did you solder them? Thanks for the heads up about the epoxy... I was wondering about that. I won't be able to test until I get my power supply.
Cheers
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