PC-Fan Silencer & Guard

Modify a GeForce 2 to make it cooler

This is not really a electronic design - this one requires more mechanical skills than experience with a soldering iron.
What I wanted to do was to improve the cooling of my newly bought graphic card - a ASUS V7700 DeLuxe. This board is based on the GeForce 2 GTS GPU together with 32MB DDR-SDRAM. The original cooling consists of a small orb-like aluminium cooler together with a tiny, high-rpm fan. The RAM-chips aren't cooled at all. Not a good start for a overclocker... so my plan was simply to replace the original cooler with something bigger and to add the missing RAM-heatsinks. And to do this with scrap-parts and cheap surplus to minimize the cost of it (the board was expensive enough).

IMPORTANT: This modification will void Your guarantee! Also, risking damage to the board is high if this mod is done wrong! Don't rush anything - be careful when buildning this!
If something are destroyed due to this mod - don't blame me - this is done at Your own risk!

Now, time for the fun...

First, we need to get some material to work with:

* Heatsinks of suitable type - for the GPU, I used a scrapped Pentium-Pro heatsink. The height of the sink will decide how many PCI-slots You will loose - a sink of 25mm height will loose one PCI. For the RAM-sinks, I found a heatsink in a large piece, normally used for amplifiers and power supplys. Even here - check the height of it.
* A flat piece of copper that is little bit bigger that the GPU - You should be able to put a screw in each corner and still have space for the GPU. The copper piece should be about 3mm thick - it will act as a riser for the heatsink to avoid some components on the board that are thicker than the GPU.
* Arctic Silver 2 thermal paste and Arctic Silver adhensive (or epoxy + AS2).
* Some screws - four for the copper plate and two to fix the heatsink to the board.
* Two nylon washers for the two board screws (to protect the back side of the board).
* A suitable fan setup to be put on top of the graphic board - here is plenty of room for ideas and fantasies!
* Nescessary tools to perform this mod...

Follow the steps below to perform the actual mod - I hope the pictures will help...

The original ASUS V7700 DeLuxe GeForce 2 GTS board. It is equipped with 32MB DDR-SDRAM placed on one side of the board. The cooling fan is the original one - a casted aluminium piece of orb-design with a tiny fan with rather high RPM. The RAM-chips are without cooling,

Time for some modding...

First - we take the simple part first. This mod can be done even if You plan to keep the original GPU cooler.
The leftmost object is the original cooler piece found in a electronic store. Out from this I have cut out two pieces that covers the RAM's. I have choosen to put a heatsink over each pair of RAM. Notice the orientation of the fins of the coolers - due to the design of the heatsink, I had to put the in the direction of the planned airflow. If heatsinks made out of pins instead of fins are used, it is not that important. The orientation show at the picture is set for a fan blowing downwards the board (like a CardCooler module).

A close up of the completed RAM-heatsinks before they are mounted at the board. The bottom sides of the sinks have been lapped to remove the black color and to make the smooth to improve thermal contact with the RAM's.

To fix the heatsinks at the board, You can do it in two ways:

1. Arctic Adhensive: mix equal of the two components on a peice of plastic - use the included stick. Don't use more than You need - this is rather expensive stuff. When mixed, gently smear the mixture at the top of each RAM-chip. Do one pair at time to avoid it to dry before the sink is put in place. Be carefully to avoid the glue to end up at the leads of the RAM-chips. Smear it out very thin - if too much are used, it will ooze out and end up where it shouldn't be. Finally, put the heatsink at the top of the RAM and press it down with gentle force. Within 20 minutes, they will be well fixed at the board.

2. Thermal paste & Epoxy: first, put the thermal paste at each RAM-chip, leaving out some space at the ends of each chip. Put on a thin layer - it works best when it is thin. Then, mix some epoxy (not much are needed), following the instruction for the type you have (normally 50/50). Put this stuff at the clean ends of each RAM-chip. Don't use too much, otherwise You will have it on the board too - not nice... Finally, put the heatsinks in place and gently press them down. Even here, they will permanently be fixed after 20 minutes.

This is the part that will void the varranty - even if it is possible to remove the heatsinks from the RAM-chips, it is impossible to hide the traces from it...

Next out is the GPU.
The start is a P-Pro heatsink, but any type of heatsink should work. This sink has a height of 25mm, making the neighbour PCI-slot useless. Higher sinks will take over more PCI-slots.
This heatsink does not fit directly at the GPU, so I had to bring the saw up again...

When done, this is what is left. The cut-out is for some capacitators that are in the way. The exact shape for this heatsink varies with the type of graphic card and no general measures can be given. The idea is to put as much metal as possible at the board without damaging it.
Here are also the holes for the copper plate visible.

Even here, note the orientation of the fins! They have to be turned to get most air flowing through the heatsink. If You plan to put the fan directly at the sink, this doesn't matter.

The copper plate - it is placed at the bottom side of the GPU heatsink. It is performing two tasks: 1. it raises the heatsink above the PCB to avoid some components that are thicker than the GPU. 2. It improves the heat transfer from the chip to the heatsink.
To fix it at the heatsink, I drilled four holes in the copper - one in each corner. Choose screws with heads that can be put flat with the copper. Also, the copper had to be lapped to make it clean and smooth.

The copper plate mounted at the heatsink. Arctic Silver 2 have been put in between. Note the lapped base of the heatsink - it have been done to remove the black oxide and to smoothen the surface.
The screws have to be placed outside the GPU area - a copper piece with size 40x40 mm will be enough. This piece is 3mm thick. Use self-tapping screws - it makes it much easier to build (no threading are needed).

The heatsink mounted at the board. I have used the two holes for the old heatsink. Aim through the holes to mark out the position of the holes. Drill the appropiate holes in the heatsink and use longer, self-tapping screws to fix the heatsink over the GPU. Use Arctic Silver 2 at the GPU. To prevent short-circuit at the back side of the board, put a nylon washer under each screw-head. Don't screw it too hard - the board shouldn't bend!

The final result.

Now, there is one part missing...

The fans - here are two 92mm put into the wall of the PC, just above the AGP-slot. They are mounted so fresh air is blown over the graphics card (remember the importance of the orientation of the heatsinks?). The fans have been equipped with my own RPM-monitors and 7V-regulators to make the fans more quiet. This area, I leave free for everyone to experiment with.

The modified ASUS V7700 in position. The board went much heavier after this mod - if bigger heatsinks are used or if a fan is mounted at the heatsink, extra support may be needed, specially if the PC is moved around much.

Note - the motherboard and CPU shown at the pictures are old. They have been replaced with more powerfull stuff (a AMD T-Bird 1.33 at a Epox 8K7A+).

Back to Electronics

	The original ASUS V7700 DeLuxe GeForce 2 GTS board. It is equipped with 32MB DDR-SDRAM placed on one side of the board. The cooling fan is the original one - a casted aluminium piece of orb-design with a tiny fan with rather high RPM. The RAM-chips are without cooling, Time for some modding...
	First - we take the simple part first. This mod can be done even if You plan to keep the original GPU cooler. The leftmost object is the original cooler piece found in a electronic store. Out from this I have cut out two pieces that covers the RAM's. I have choosen to put a heatsink over each pair of RAM. Notice the orientation of the fins of the coolers - due to the design of the heatsink, I had to put the in the direction of the planned airflow. If heatsinks made out of pins instead of fins are used, it is not that important. The orientation show at the picture is set for a fan blowing downwards the board (like a CardCooler module).
	A close up of the completed RAM-heatsinks before they are mounted at the board. The bottom sides of the sinks have been lapped to remove the black color and to make the smooth to improve thermal contact with the RAM's. To fix the heatsinks at the board, You can do it in two ways: 1. Arctic Adhensive: mix equal of the two components on a peice of plastic - use the included stick. Don't use more than You need - this is rather expensive stuff. When mixed, gently smear the mixture at the top of each RAM-chip. Do one pair at time to avoid it to dry before the sink is put in place. Be carefully to avoid the glue to end up at the leads of the RAM-chips. Smear it out very thin - if too much are used, it will ooze out and end up where it shouldn't be. Finally, put the heatsink at the top of the RAM and press it down with gentle force. Within 20 minutes, they will be well fixed at the board. 2. Thermal paste & Epoxy: first, put the thermal paste at each RAM-chip, leaving out some space at the ends of each chip. Put on a thin layer - it works best when it is thin. Then, mix some epoxy (not much are needed), following the instruction for the type you have (normally 50/50). Put this stuff at the clean ends of each RAM-chip. Don't use too much, otherwise You will have it on the board too - not nice... Finally, put the heatsinks in place and gently press them down. Even here, they will permanently be fixed after 20 minutes. This is the part that will void the varranty - even if it is possible to remove the heatsinks from the RAM-chips, it is impossible to hide the traces from it...
	Next out is the GPU. The start is a P-Pro heatsink, but any type of heatsink should work. This sink has a height of 25mm, making the neighbour PCI-slot useless. Higher sinks will take over more PCI-slots. This heatsink does not fit directly at the GPU, so I had to bring the saw up again...
	When done, this is what is left. The cut-out is for some capacitators that are in the way. The exact shape for this heatsink varies with the type of graphic card and no general measures can be given. The idea is to put as much metal as possible at the board without damaging it. Here are also the holes for the copper plate visible. Even here, note the orientation of the fins! They have to be turned to get most air flowing through the heatsink. If You plan to put the fan directly at the sink, this doesn't matter.
	The copper plate - it is placed at the bottom side of the GPU heatsink. It is performing two tasks: 1. it raises the heatsink above the PCB to avoid some components that are thicker than the GPU. 2. It improves the heat transfer from the chip to the heatsink. To fix it at the heatsink, I drilled four holes in the copper - one in each corner. Choose screws with heads that can be put flat with the copper. Also, the copper had to be lapped to make it clean and smooth.
	The copper plate mounted at the heatsink. Arctic Silver 2 have been put in between. Note the lapped base of the heatsink - it have been done to remove the black oxide and to smoothen the surface. The screws have to be placed outside the GPU area - a copper piece with size 40x40 mm will be enough. This piece is 3mm thick. Use self-tapping screws - it makes it much easier to build (no threading are needed).
	The heatsink mounted at the board. I have used the two holes for the old heatsink. Aim through the holes to mark out the position of the holes. Drill the appropiate holes in the heatsink and use longer, self-tapping screws to fix the heatsink over the GPU. Use Arctic Silver 2 at the GPU. To prevent short-circuit at the back side of the board, put a nylon washer under each screw-head. Don't screw it too hard - the board shouldn't bend!
	The final result. Now, there is one part missing...
	The fans - here are two 92mm put into the wall of the PC, just above the AGP-slot. They are mounted so fresh air is blown over the graphics card (remember the importance of the orientation of the heatsinks?). The fans have been equipped with my own RPM-monitors and 7V-regulators to make the fans more quiet. This area, I leave free for everyone to experiment with.
	The modified ASUS V7700 in position. The board went much heavier after this mod - if bigger heatsinks are used or if a fan is mounted at the heatsink, extra support may be needed, specially if the PC is moved around much. Note - the motherboard and CPU shown at the pictures are old. They have been replaced with more powerfull stuff (a AMD T-Bird 1.33 at a Epox 8K7A+).