So i decided it's finally time to get back to this, after more or less taking a ccp beer's virus sabbatical of more than a year (you've seen some of the results of that in my "collage," as J7SC so aptly puts it; while Pook calls it a "sex dungeon," which has an interesting ring to it).
Anyway, :::: cough ::::, ...sure is a lot of dust in here.
As some of you know I've got a 3090 KPE here waiting on a waterblock, which I'm hoping will be on its way next week; and I'm down to no. 5 on the waiting list for one over at EVGA. In the meantime, since I can't really count on a 3rd party source like Optimus to get the block they've sort of promosied for the KPE out their door anytime soon, one of the things I've had to do is figure out how best to cool off the KPE's backplate once the EVGA Hydro Copper block is installed. Instead of simply adding heatsinks to the backplate with thermal tape and using fans to push/pull the heat away from the backplate like some of the others over at EVGA have done, the following is what I've decided to do and is the reason for some of my more recent purchases.
After doing a little digging, I pulled the following image out of the pdf instructions available for the Hydro Copper block (pardon the cr@ppy image, it's what EVGA embedded in their PDF):
(image deleted by forum crash ca. June 2021)
As you can see, the inside surface looks to be flat with the only raised areas the edges of the backplate itself. There is an exposed copper strip centered in the vertical on the left side of the backplate, and the need for that would negated by making a replacement backplate completely out of copper. I will also also chamfer any additional holes I might want/need to make which would allow me to mount whatever I want to the other side of the backplate using screws (dependent on the space available around the slot the card will be in; which in my case is kind of moot since the gpu is going in the SR-3). That will allow for a much tighter fit between those items and likely much better thermal transference in-turn.
Not having access to a mill proposes a bit of a minor problem because of the raised edges around the inside of the backplate, and will require a two piece backplate; hence, my work around includes using a high resolution waterjet cutter to make the backplate that two piece part: one piece would essentially be a shim with holes the inside height of the backplate's edges; while the main piece would be a full, flat plate with the same screw holes (and air holes, etc.) as the original plate.
Lastly, while I could press pemserts into the holes on the cut plate to provide for screw threads with the aid of a my two ton drill arbor press, nuts and washers should do just fine. I really don't see any need to overcomplicate such a project any further.
I'll take pix/make precision depth and other measurements of the oem backplate once the block arrives and create the required dxfs for waterjet cutter, then send them to him for production.
I have faith that it wall all work out.
P.S. Since this whole thing has sort of turned into something spiritual for me, I've asked a nun friend to join my crowd:
I'm sure she'll conjure up some great advice.
ta, ta!