Hey everyone, hope you are all having a wonderful day so far!
This will just be a quick project log, where I prototype and finalize a fairly basic (yet hopefully useful!) bracket that allows you to mount an AIO cooler to a GPU. Two main goals of mine for this project are for it to be as simplistic as possible, and thus affordable and easy to make!
Furthermore, this bracket should make it much easier to integrate AIOs into SFF cases, and thus combat the high temps that many people see as intrinsic to SFF builds. It also allows case makers to design and integrate VRM cooling into the case itself that will hopefully cool itx cards effectively.
Inspiration
Of course, brackets that allow you to mount an AIO to a GPU are not a new idea - you probably have seen or heard of one of the following: NZXT Kraken G10/G12, the Corsair HG10, Arctic Accelero Hybrid, etc...
These are all great products with some incredible engineering behind them, but I feel that they are inherently limiting in their design. They seem more optimized for cards with long PCB lengths (reference or longer.) However, what happens if you have an itx card with an extremely short PCB? The VRM cooling modules on these AIO brackets will just overhang the actual PCB of your card, and won't really effectively cool anything. Having just bought a 970 itx card (from someone on this forum!), I realized that these pre-existing brackets would not work.
I then stumbled upon the exact thing I was looking for:
This awesome little bracket made by an OCN member
This seemed like the best solution to me. However, since all of the people who made these brackets had either closed shop or gone MIA, I set about making my own.
Solution
I decided to create a similar, semi-universal bracket like the one I saw. The bracket is designed for Asetek coolers, and should support all of the coolers that the Kraken G10 does. Unfortunately, the design of this bracket prevents it from using newer Asetek AIO's due to space conflicts (I'll explain later.)
As for GPU support, this bracket should work with Nvidia Cards newer or better than the GTX 570 (the 560 had weird mounting holes), and the 5830 or newer on the AMD side. Apparently on some R9 280(x) models, the GPU die varies in height, and some existing brackets like the G10 recommend the use of a copper shim. I don't really know how to address this yet, so I'll try to find a solution!
Because this bracket forgoes any vrm/memory cooling, you can more effectively integrate GPU cooling into a custom designed case!
All my bracket consists of is: A backplate that mounts on the back of the GPU pcb (to provide support to the AIO's pump block), 4 30mm M3 screws, 4 M3 Nuts, 4 M3 Washers, and the AIO pump bracket. This should make it cheap to buy/build, and also source additional parts if something you have isn't working.
Here is what the AIO pump bracket looks like:
As you can see, the bracket has little teeth. These "bite" into little tabs on the AIO pump block, and will allow it to be secured on the GPU. You can expand the spoiler to get a more visual representation of this.
Here, you can easily see the little teeth, or tabs that are on the pump block of the AIO. The teeth on the pump bracket will bite into these little pockets, and use them for leverage to cinch the block down on the PCB.
Here you can see the thin teeth on a pump bracket for mounting the pump block onto a motherboard. These are what bites into the pump head's tabs/pockets.
Here you can see how the teeth and pockets mesh together, allowing the pump block to be tightened to the PCB.
Here is what the bracket's backplate looks like:
The pump bracket has chamfered slots that the screws will mount into. The chamfer is designed for 90 degree flat head M3 screws, so that they can sit flush with the bracket's surface. Additionally, the bracket has a little square cutout in the bottom. This is where I will mount some foam. Although 3d printed stuff shouldn't cause any shorts on the card, the foam will provide a little dampening and prevent the bracket from exerting too much pressure on a single spot.
Cost
I have no idea how many people are interested in this, so can't really give an accurate estimate on larger scale pricing (it could very well be that I'm the only one interested in this!) However, for example, I am getting my first prototype of this bracket printed on an Ultimaker 3 for a little over $5 with free shipping, thanks to 3d hubs. It would be very cheap to put together a little screw/nut/washer kit for this mount, so I'd expect the total cost for a bracket (purchased on an individual level) to be around $7.
Wrapping Up
To address what I mentioned earlier about the bracket not supporting newer AIO's, the pump head seems to be enlarged on Gen 5 Asetek pumps (I'll try to get pictures later), and thus means that a bracket that is designed like mine would have to made out of thin sheet metal (way more $$$!)
Once I can ensure this bracket works great, I'll upload everything to Thingiverse, and of course the resource section if anyone is interested. Thanks!
This will just be a quick project log, where I prototype and finalize a fairly basic (yet hopefully useful!) bracket that allows you to mount an AIO cooler to a GPU. Two main goals of mine for this project are for it to be as simplistic as possible, and thus affordable and easy to make!
Furthermore, this bracket should make it much easier to integrate AIOs into SFF cases, and thus combat the high temps that many people see as intrinsic to SFF builds. It also allows case makers to design and integrate VRM cooling into the case itself that will hopefully cool itx cards effectively.
Inspiration
Of course, brackets that allow you to mount an AIO to a GPU are not a new idea - you probably have seen or heard of one of the following: NZXT Kraken G10/G12, the Corsair HG10, Arctic Accelero Hybrid, etc...
These are all great products with some incredible engineering behind them, but I feel that they are inherently limiting in their design. They seem more optimized for cards with long PCB lengths (reference or longer.) However, what happens if you have an itx card with an extremely short PCB? The VRM cooling modules on these AIO brackets will just overhang the actual PCB of your card, and won't really effectively cool anything. Having just bought a 970 itx card (from someone on this forum!), I realized that these pre-existing brackets would not work.
I then stumbled upon the exact thing I was looking for:
This awesome little bracket made by an OCN member
This seemed like the best solution to me. However, since all of the people who made these brackets had either closed shop or gone MIA, I set about making my own.
Solution
I decided to create a similar, semi-universal bracket like the one I saw. The bracket is designed for Asetek coolers, and should support all of the coolers that the Kraken G10 does. Unfortunately, the design of this bracket prevents it from using newer Asetek AIO's due to space conflicts (I'll explain later.)
As for GPU support, this bracket should work with Nvidia Cards newer or better than the GTX 570 (the 560 had weird mounting holes), and the 5830 or newer on the AMD side. Apparently on some R9 280(x) models, the GPU die varies in height, and some existing brackets like the G10 recommend the use of a copper shim. I don't really know how to address this yet, so I'll try to find a solution!
Because this bracket forgoes any vrm/memory cooling, you can more effectively integrate GPU cooling into a custom designed case!
All my bracket consists of is: A backplate that mounts on the back of the GPU pcb (to provide support to the AIO's pump block), 4 30mm M3 screws, 4 M3 Nuts, 4 M3 Washers, and the AIO pump bracket. This should make it cheap to buy/build, and also source additional parts if something you have isn't working.
Here is what the AIO pump bracket looks like:
As you can see, the bracket has little teeth. These "bite" into little tabs on the AIO pump block, and will allow it to be secured on the GPU. You can expand the spoiler to get a more visual representation of this.
Here, you can easily see the little teeth, or tabs that are on the pump block of the AIO. The teeth on the pump bracket will bite into these little pockets, and use them for leverage to cinch the block down on the PCB.
Here you can see the thin teeth on a pump bracket for mounting the pump block onto a motherboard. These are what bites into the pump head's tabs/pockets.
Here you can see how the teeth and pockets mesh together, allowing the pump block to be tightened to the PCB.
Here is what the bracket's backplate looks like:
The pump bracket has chamfered slots that the screws will mount into. The chamfer is designed for 90 degree flat head M3 screws, so that they can sit flush with the bracket's surface. Additionally, the bracket has a little square cutout in the bottom. This is where I will mount some foam. Although 3d printed stuff shouldn't cause any shorts on the card, the foam will provide a little dampening and prevent the bracket from exerting too much pressure on a single spot.
Cost
I have no idea how many people are interested in this, so can't really give an accurate estimate on larger scale pricing (it could very well be that I'm the only one interested in this!) However, for example, I am getting my first prototype of this bracket printed on an Ultimaker 3 for a little over $5 with free shipping, thanks to 3d hubs. It would be very cheap to put together a little screw/nut/washer kit for this mount, so I'd expect the total cost for a bracket (purchased on an individual level) to be around $7.
Wrapping Up
To address what I mentioned earlier about the bracket not supporting newer AIO's, the pump head seems to be enlarged on Gen 5 Asetek pumps (I'll try to get pictures later), and thus means that a bracket that is designed like mine would have to made out of thin sheet metal (way more $$$!)
Once I can ensure this bracket works great, I'll upload everything to Thingiverse, and of course the resource section if anyone is interested. Thanks!
