RTX A2000 "KalmX Edition" - probably the fastest SFF friendly passive cooled GPU to date

[REVOCCASES]

It's been a while since PALIT released their passive cooled GTX 1650 KalmX and I haven't seen anything comparable with "next gen" performance. Of course you could put an RTX 3080 in a MONSTERLABO, HDPLEX or TUREMETAL case but if you prefer to have a standalone, passive cooled GPU for your custom build there aren't many options...

long story short, here is my DIY solution to turn the RTX A2000 into a passive cooled "KalmX Edition"

Specs:

• GPU: RTX A2000 6GB
• Cooler: ACCELERO S1 R2 & CNC machined copper plate
• Dimensions: ca. 2 Slots, 135mm height, 220mm long

performing the mod:



besides the A2K and the ACCELERO S1 cooler, we need a 3mm copper plate for mounting and covering the VRAM...



the copper plate will be soldered with 138C solder paste to the heat sink...



I am using a small, cheap "Pizza Oven" for this job and controlling the temperature via a temp probe... the process is a little bit tricky because if you heat it up too much, the heatpipes will come loose from the cooler itself...



as soon as the solder paste melts you're good and can stop the oven...



last but not least I painted the modded heatsink with some temperature resistant spray paint...



mounted to the A2K with two M2.5x8mm screws and done...



next up, some benchmarks...

 

[REVOCCASES]

now let's see how it performs...

stock settings, horizontal fin orientation:



stock settings, vertical fin orientation:



custom V/C curve, horizontal fin orientation:



custom V/C curve, vertical fin orientation:



Benchmark results, custom V/C curve, vertical fin orientation:



summarizing: it works great! even at stock settings it does not throttle and performs just as good as with the noisy stock cooler. For best (passive-) cooling and performance however, it would be ideal to place the GPU in a traditional layout case to support natural airflow trough the fins and adjust the V/C curve in afterburner to something like 1500 Mhz @ 750mV

 

[msystems]

Amazing work fabricating your own base plate and figuring how to solder it! Looks very clean and no harm to the original heatpipes.

 

[Arboreal]

That is amazing @REVOCCASES!
The A2000 is getting a serious passive makeover.
This is a new level mod

 

[explorerofallworlds]

Would it be possible to get the files to CNC the plate ?

 

[REVOCCASES]

Would it be possible to get the files to CNC the plate ?

It's just a slightly modified (smaller) version of this one:

Other - RTX A2000 - DIY Single Slot Copper Cooler Mod

DXF files to make your own 1-slot cooler and backplate for the A2000 coldplate can be laser cut or CNC machined from >= 3.0 copper (3.2mm recommended), mounting holes designed for M2.5 1-slot bracket / backplate can be laser cut and bend from...

smallformfactor.net

 

[explorerofallworlds]

Thanks

 

[REVOCCASES]

NVIDIA RTX A2000 SFF Graphics Card Modded With Passive Heatsink, Runs Just As Good Minus The Noisy Stock Cooler (wccftech.com)

Enthusiast Builds Fanless RTX A2000 Graphics Card | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

 

[Neathdrawls]

NVIDIA RTX A2000 SFF Graphics Card Modded With Passive Heatsink, Runs Just As Good Minus The Noisy Stock Cooler (wccftech.com)

Enthusiast Builds Fanless RTX A2000 Graphics Card | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

Congratulations on getting on the tech news!

This is indeed a very interesting mod.