Asus TUF 30 Series Shroud MOD in NCASE M1

[AlionX]

Heya All!

Well, what a fun time I have had with my first SFF build! To be honest most of it was great, the power supply a bit to big being a Silverstone 1000w SFX-L. Ohh and the NOISE that a ASUS TUF 3080TI makes when your pushing it!!! DAM #firstworldproblems

Below is my hardware!

• N-Case M1 (V6.1)
• Intel 11700k (20 lanes of PCI Gen4.0)
  • EK Basic AIO 240mm running Artic P12 Fans
    • Stock fans loud inefficient rubbish!
    • Noctua fans cost lots
    • Artic P12 are almost as good as the Noctua but are about 60-70% cheaper
• Gigabite Z590I (wish I got a mother board with Thunder Bolt 3) EDIT I do now - I actually have 2 X Thunderbolt 4
• Asus TUF 3080TI (She Hot and Loud. Need to fix that!)
• 2TB NVME PCIE Gen 4.0
• 32G (2 x 16) DDR4 @ 3600mhz
• 1000w SFX-L Silverstone power supply (it’s a pain to fit in the case)

(yes that is a spare Noctua 200mm fan I have that I use as a desk fan for my comfort!)


So as we know there where is one main problem to having all this power in a SFF case… Heat, and getting this heat out requires fans. The Fans on the ASUS TUF are very noisy and as this is a SFF case it appears that the GPU was re-ingesting some of its hot air adding to the problem.

I have seen quite a few options that people had taken from 3 smaller fans to chopping off the TABs that the shroud mounts to install 2 x 120mm fans. While these are all viable options, they have their own pros and cons.

3 Small Fans
PRO’s
Don’t cut tabs (can return GPU to Stock)

CON’s

• Not all the surface area of the heat sink is used
• The middle fan blows in the gap of the heat sink making a lot of the fan unused
• Smaller fans spin faster and can make more noise

2 larger fans - https://i.redd.it/cqmxdae3qes51.jpg or

PRO’s

• Thicker fans so they move more air
• Quite - Larger fan so less RPM

CON’s

• Not all the surface area of the heat sink is used
• A lot of air will go between the edge of the fan and head sink.
• The fan blows in the gap of the heat sink making some of the fans unused
• Can not return GFX to stock/resell value of the card is reduced!

I wanted a Solution that would STOP the CON’s. What I came up with is a custom performance shroud.

• Keep tabs so GFX Card can be returned to stock (and sold when the 40 series comes) *turns out these may be to big for an N-Case M1*
• Use larger diameter fans to have lower RPM and keep noise down as much as possible.
• Get better performance by -
  • Sucking in fresh air and not recirculate hot air from the case.
  • Only let air go over heatsinks and block out parts where there are gaps in the heat sinks.

While all the above is good due to the limitation of the case size, 15mm fans had to be used. This has the drawback of not moving as much air as a 25mm thick fan, but I hoped the other pros would allow me to achieve better thermals and noise.

The project took me most of a weekend starting Friday night. I have 2 kids, wife, house and lots of other things that need to get done so this will not take some of you as long as it took me!

• Pull apart “tinyGOD” nickname for the computer!
• De-shroud the GPU
• Semi install the 2 X Noctua A12x15 Fans in the bottom on the case set to intake from the bottom
• Reinstall the GFX into the case and start measuring.

The design process was very time consuming, while there are some issues with my design, however 98% is fine. Some of the concerns are below.

• The stroud is tight on the heat sink, I didn’t want air escaping around the fins/shroud and reducing performance.
• The stock mounting tab holes are a millimeter or so out but close enough that there is movement in the tabs that allow them to line up.
• One small bit of the shroud needs to be cut as I missed clearance for the HDMI port on the lower part of the card (nothing side cutters didn’t fix in 30 seconds).
• The wedges that hold the print together don’t have enough clearance and needed sanding to get them to fit together (with the help of a hammer). They are not coming apart!
• Lastly, I measured a gap of 2.3mm from the tabs that held the stock shroud on the GPU to the top of the Noctua A12 x 15 fans. I think this gap is smaller. It was hard to get the card back in the PCIE slot on the mother board.
  • If you’re doing this maybe mod the STL file to make the base have a thickness of around 1.5mm
  • NB: I pulled the sound deadening pads off the fans to increase clearance without doing this it will NOT FIT!

From here the part was printed in 2 sections as it was too large for my Ender3. The wedges that join the print needed sanding to get the parts to fit with the help of a hammer. They are not coming apart…. Ever! From here it was time to reassemble the GPU.

• Install the Noctua Fans onto the new shroud
  • Drawing fresh air from the bottom
  • Cables of the fans for me went towards the PCIE connector and middle of the GFX
• Cut the print where I missed the clearance for the 2nd HDMI port
• Slip the shroud over the GPU (its tight)
  • Install the screws that hold the standard shroud on.

• Pull half of the M-1 Case apart as it is a very, very, very tight fit now.
• Install fan screws into the Noctua fans through the M1 case. (There could be a little rattle seeing the GPU now touches the bottom of the case. This will stop it)
• Put the rest of the computer back together.
  • Remember to plug in your new GPU fans somewhere!

I used my motherboard system fans to run these fans as I am still waiting on my “custom cable” to use the GPU header. I found that.

• 100% on these fans are loud! But it is 8-10 deg C cooler then stock!
• 70% is great for gaming with the card running 2 deg C cooler then stock and much quitter then stock.

I set my Motherboard bios to 70% manual and while it was ok it was still too loud for when I was just doing standard workloads. After going through every “software fan controller” I could find, only “Argus Monitor” would work. *Sad face* This is a subscription software however while the other programs could see my fans and temps, they where unable to control the fan speeds of my motherboard system headers.

When at 105% PPD the GPU now reaches 82deg with the fans at 70%. This is about 2 deg C cooler then stock and much, much quieter!

Steps of the curve below

• 0-40 C – 0% (Off)
• 41-59 C – 30% (helps bring the cards temp down very quietly)
• 60-78 C – Ramp from 50% to 70%
• 78-90 C – 70% (audible but now where near as bad as stock)
• 90C-120C – 100% (very audible)

Overall, there is a HUGE drop in noise – and about 2deg C lower temps while running Furmark stress test. I am very pleased with the results as the stock noise levels were making me slightly regret going SFF. However, I now have a much quitter “tinyGOD” and loving it more then ever! I Just wish I thought to put “tinyGOD” on the shroud rather than RTX3080TI *face palm*


*Links to STL files coming soon*

Thanks for reading!

Allan,
Sydney, Australia
Data Center Nerd!

 

[AlionX]

STL files for 3d printing are here please like

ASUS TUF Shrod Mod by AllansTechBuilds

These are some of the files I used to mod my ASUS TUF 3080TI to give it better performance and thermals. For the full story please go to https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/asus-tuf-30-series-shroud-mod-in-ncase-m1.17381/

www.thingiverse.com

 

[Mr Whippy]

Those tabs are a pain for SFF builds.
My GPU was worth about £200 at the time, so off they came.

Is it mainly ASUS who use them, or does everyone have tabs to mount the fan shrouds?

I can't remember on mine, but how is the shroud plate attached to the heatsink? Rivets, tack welded? Screws?


Your solution is nice... but those 15mm fans are in my experience utterly horrible vs 25mm or 140x25mm etc... they're by far the noisiest part of my system and the part I'd ditch in a moment and accept a 10mm taller case over haha!


I'd be very tempted to chop off the bottom of the case, add 10mm taller feet, and then mount 25mm thick fans (in black so you can't see them)... but again you're into the realms of cutting up things of value.


Great job though. It's nice to see people doing new stuff with cases rather than just sticking to the well trodden paths. In my experience there are big and often great thermal gains to be had by just making tweaks to stuff.

 

[AlionX]

Those tabs are a pain for SFF builds.
My GPU was worth about £200 at the time, so off they came.

Is it mainly ASUS who use them, or does everyone have tabs to mount the fan shrouds?

I can't remember on mine, but how is the shroud plate attached to the heatsink? Rivets, tack welded? Screws?


Your solution is nice... but those 15mm fans are in my experience utterly horrible vs 25mm or 140x25mm etc... they're by far the noisiest part of my system and the part I'd ditch in a moment and accept a 10mm taller case over haha!


I'd be very tempted to chop off the bottom of the case, add 10mm taller feet, and then mount 25mm thick fans (in black so you can't see them)... but again you're into the realms of cutting up things of value.


Great job though. It's nice to see people doing new stuff with cases rather than just sticking to the well trodden paths. In my experience there are big and often great thermal gains to be had by just making tweaks to stuff.

Thanks, I would have to aguree that the 15mm fan can be loud. I wish the case could of been 10mm taller too!

For the tabs I can not really speak of other brands, however most seem to follow the same paths until there is a good reason to change.

I am about to start looking at doing a few blocking plates to ensure only fresh air can come in and also try to direct as much of the hot air straight out the case.

For such an old design the M1 has so much right, but so many small improvements can be made!

 

[Mr Whippy]

Yeah I think ducts and air management are really important in SFF.

I'm about to do a Sliger HTPC build and plan to 3D print panels and ducts to get air where it needs to go.
It's even easier these days with things like iPhone/iPad Pros having the lidar scanner so you can get detailed enough models to work from, confirm measurements with calipers, and start prototyping really quickly!

 

[rahl07]

Good work on the fan, but more importantly - tell me about those cool hexagonal tile things on the walls.

 

[AlionX]

Good work on the fan, but more importantly - tell me about those cool hexagonal tile things on the walls.

*facepalm if you need to know Amazon - https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B08CYXYL47/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I was mostly doing it for the looks and texture but they do somewhat deaden the small office space!