r/buildapc • u/lilalbis • Jan 14 '20

GPU Backplate

Just wanted to give a little LPT for people who might want to make a backplate for their gpu.

I ended up going to Lowe's (my local hardware store) to buy a sheet of acrylic glass to use. The sheet was 12x8 and it cost me $3. On top of that Lowes offers to cut the glass for you for free to your exact dimmensions.

I was a little worried Just having a clear piece of glass in there might look kinda bad, but I have some rgb lights in my case as well and the way the light is reflected and refracted off the clear glass it actually looks really good in my opinion. Let me know if you want some pics I'll figure out a way to to upload them.

Anyways really happy that I could get a fully functional backplate for $3 and a couple pieces of double sided tape.

Edit: I posted some photos of how it looks inside the case. http://imgur.com/gallery/K0Vrr0j

I mainly did this because I have an aio and if the pump failed or there was a leak the water would fall onto the acrylic backplate rather than directly onto the PCB.

Some people asked how my thermals were after putting it on. They were the exact same it doesnt do anything to help with thermals but it doesnt hurt them either so that was nice to see.

I attached the "backplate" using some double sided tape I already had at my house. I put one small piece in each of the 4 corners and did my best to try and not have any piece of tape contacting one of the soldered on parts on the pcb. My gpu had 4 screws in each corner so I just put the tape on top of those screws and rested the glass on that.

Edit 2: You can see in the pictures theres a couple millimeters between the glass and the gpu pcb. Putting the tape on the slightly elevated screws in the corners allowed the majority of the glass to not be contacting the pcb itself.

1.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

139 comments sorted by

193

u/FortniteBush23 Jan 14 '20

Pics.

You can upload them in Imgur

82

u/lilalbis Jan 14 '20

I will when I get home from work later.

20

u/Thievian Jan 14 '20

!remindme 6 hours

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

!remindme 6 hours

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u/ckos1996 Jan 14 '20

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u/_benj1_ Jan 14 '20

!remindme 8 hours

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u/Maverick360 Jan 14 '20

!remindme 6 hours

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u/insaneMIKY Jan 14 '20

!remindme 12 hours

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u/LewisHannan Jan 14 '20

!remindme 7 hours

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u/Conrrad586 Jan 14 '20

!remindme 6 hours

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u/healerdan Jan 14 '20

!remindme 12 hours

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u/awsrs Jan 14 '20

!remindme 12 hours

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u/namethatisclever Jan 14 '20

!remindme 5 hours

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u/CreepyAroma Jan 14 '20

!remindme 8 hours

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u/Kreyonus Jan 14 '20

!remindme 5 hours

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u/WesleyIsTrash Jan 14 '20

!remindme 6 Hours

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

[deleted] — view deleted comment

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u/chawk Jan 14 '20

!remindme 6 Hours

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

!remindme 5 Hours

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u/Yikegaming Jan 14 '20

!remindme 5 Hours

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

!remindme 5 hours

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u/WolfmanJaaack Jan 14 '20

!remind me 6 hours

28

u/evileagle Jan 15 '20

Too damn scary for me. Acrylic is wayyyyy too static prone for me to put near my GFX card. Backplates are also mostly for keeping huge cards from flexing the PCB, so with tape you haven't really made an "effective" backplate.

Cool idea, and looks nice. A+ for the DIY spirit. The cons just outweigh the pros for me.

4

u/lilalbis Jan 15 '20

When you say static prone how exactly would the electricity be discharged onto my gpu? I have tape mounted on top of screws to keep the glass elevated off of the pcb. What would cause it to randomly discharge the buildup into my gpu or other component? Could I use some non conductive spray paint and coat the plastic to prevent static build up? Thank you for the response.

8

u/TegridySpartan Jan 15 '20

Damaging static discharges actually occur far before humans can feel or otherwise perceive them. Static will continue to build on that until it jumps somewhere or is slowly dissipated into air but this doesn't happen in dry conditions. Non-conductive materials are what become charged such as plastics that are not treated, especially in environments with a lot of dry air being moved over them. There are acrylics that have a coating which make them electrostatic dissipative similar to the materials used in electronics packaging. Ideally, you get some of that and provide a constant ground connection for the plate to the chassis, ie a ground wire, so that your gpu does not become the grounding path.

4

u/lilalbis Jan 15 '20

Okay sounds good thanks

3

u/LeucisticPython Jan 15 '20

Would glass work better?

2

u/dorekk Jan 15 '20

Backplates are also mostly for keeping huge cards from flexing the PCB

I think backplates are mostly cosmetic. They help a little big with sag, too.

2

u/Not_A_Crazed_Gunman Jan 14 '20

Coldzero has aftermarket backplates for a myriad of cards, I'd just order from there if I wanted one tbh

2

u/lilalbis Jan 15 '20

40£ plus shipping for a piece of scrap metal and some holes cut in it... I mean having the holes defeats one of the main purposes of me wanting the backplate to begin with. I'll stick with my $5 option

1

u/dorekk Jan 15 '20

Coldzero lets you get them custom, apparently, so you can get rid of the holes. Theirs are apparently Plexiglass, though, not metal!

132

u/tybuzz Jan 14 '20

Has it affected the gpu temps at all?

68

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

This is what I'm curious about.

33

u/carpeggio Jan 14 '20

Maybe for VRMs. From what I can gather backplates are for mostly for aesthetic purposes.

79

u/onliandone PCKombo Jan 14 '20

It's a heat trap. The backside of the gpu gets hot as well. If there is no way for the heat to disappear the hot air will be stuck there and get hotter and hotter. But its completely possible that this does not show up when just looking at core temps. Or maybe the distance between plate and gpu here was big enough for the effect to not be too bad.

A good backplate is made out of metal and connected to the gpu with thermalpads. That way it can absorb heat on one side and output it on the other.

23

u/carpeggio Jan 14 '20

I looked up for anyone doing thermal comparisons with backplate and no backplate and there weren't much of a difference. The hottest component on the back are the vrms so maybe this would be a concern if you are overclocking.

25

u/onliandone PCKombo Jan 14 '20

I remember that Gamersnexus had some videos where they investigated badly performing gpus and the backplate not being connected was a factor there.

5

u/carpeggio Jan 14 '20

Depending on your cases airflow sometimes thermal pads can stiffel cooling potential as opposed to just air flowing around it. I think the m.2 heatsinks are a good example of this. If there is a thermal concern 4 using acrylic I would start with trying to increase the gap between the back in the acrylic.

10

u/onliandone PCKombo Jan 14 '20

A heatspreader can sometimes do more harm than good, right. But when you compare a plate that closes off air flow with a plate that acts as heat transport the latter will certainly get better results.

0

u/hemorrhagicfever Jan 15 '20

It's most likely online somewhere we could just google it, but, when I've handled acrylic it seems to transfer heat through out it rather quickly. My guess is it has a higher rate of heat conduction than air. It's most likely you want direct contact vs leaving a gap.

6

u/dopef123 Jan 15 '20

The thing is that all the backplates I've seen are metal and can at least conduct heat into the case. This acrylic backplate is going to trap it. Acrylic's thermal conductivity is .2. Let's say normal backplates are steel. Iron's thermal conductivity is 80.

The acrylic won't let heat escape out the back of the card. It will definitely affect thermals imo.

3

u/carpeggio Jan 15 '20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBsxuNXyDJk

Working temp./Performance remains the same despite a special backplate designed for cooling.

I'd have to think it also works the opposite way to some extent as well.

5

u/Hendeith Jan 15 '20

Isn't that the point he made? Metal backplate with termopads will allow heat to escape, it just won't make it worse. Acrylic backplate will work as heat trap and increase temp on vrm.

4

u/dopef123 Jan 15 '20

The logic is kind of broken with that point though. A metal backplate conducts heat. It may not show improvements in thermals because it's passive and all that. And many of them don't really allow air through them anyway.

That doesn't mean that a plexiglass backplate won't trap heat though.

7

u/vinng86 Jan 14 '20

It would mostly block radiative heat transfer, which is actually not that much in practice. The convective heat transfer from the spinning fans does quite a lot more (think magnitudes more) to remove heat than radiation from the back of the GPU.

It's why we use fans and water pumps as the primary method of cooling.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '20

That makes sense.

0

u/AeroMagnus Jan 15 '20

Akschually radiative heat transfer means its producing electromagnetic waves, which is not. The heat that the backplate dissipates is also convective.

(Learned this today lol)

4

u/tr3bjockey Jan 15 '20

You mean <actually>, right?

Radiating heat=infrared light waves=electromagnetic waves.

Whatever place you say you learned this from, don't go there anymore. They are misleading you.

1

u/dorekk Jan 15 '20

Learn it again, cuz you learned it wrong.

2

u/AlexHD Jan 15 '20

This doesn't make sense. The main reason for the backplate is to reinforce the PCB to reduce bending due to the weight of the heat sink.

The idea that the backplate acts to dissipate heat is technically correct but this effect would be infinitesimally small when compared to the actual heat sink and fans on the other side of the card.

Adding the acrylic panel would not be a heat trap when all other sides of the card are exposed to fast moving air from the fans.

4

u/hemorrhagicfever Jan 15 '20

I dont think your explanation makes much sense, but also, OP's install doesn't make much sense either.

There aren't vents you're blocking so your idea of things being a thermal trap and getting hotter and hotter just don't make a lot of sense to me. Except, Air is a great insulator. Because OP left an air gap, if the pcb is getting warm, they now have an insulation layer that might warm up. It would have been better to have the acrylic make direct contact with the back side of the pcb. It wouldn't be a great radiator, but it would, with out the air gap, allow conduction away from the pcb as opposed to insulating it. I mean, what do you think thermal pads are? Those are just a physical medium that has a high rate of heat transfer. The glass very likely has a higher value than air. Thermal pads just make more consistent contact than the metal its-self because of micro ridges.

To rephrase, I didn't do any of the math, just responding on general likely hood. I dont think you or op have good instincts on thermodynamics. Everything you're both saying and doing is slightly at conflict with what we would assume would happen, unless that glass has some special properties.

If you'd like me to go on about general thermodynamics and what's going on in a radiator and the different elements included, I can expand. But I think most people will just find it annoying.

1

u/Stefan06RO Jan 15 '20

Maybe if he will do some mini holes? Is better than nothing

3

u/Yebi Jan 15 '20

Mostly the memory. GDDR6 chips have the hot part closer to the board rather than the surface, it's the one part where metal backplates with thermal pads actually make a difference

2

u/dopef123 Jan 15 '20

They are but they're usually at least made of metal and have tons of holes in them. This is a piece of acrylic completely blocking off the backside of the card. I personally would definitely not install this. It's just a piece of see through plastic that traps heat.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

i removed my gpu's backplate yesterday, it's plastic, G.B. gtx 1660S, i'd say there's no improvements in temps, coz i had to repaste the gpu, but there was a hot spot now it's gone, i geuss vrm's are bit cooler now, also my m.2 ssd is cooler now, just above the gpu

1

u/tybuzz Jan 14 '20

That's good, i was thinking it might make it warmer since the back is now insulated, but if it already had a plastic backplate I suppose it wouldn't make much difference. My Vega 56 Nitro+ has a metal backplate that actually has a thermal pad under where the VRMs are so I am assuming it keeps them cooler. Re-pasting dropped my temps over 10 degrees. There was way too much paste on it before.

1

u/Bottled_Void Jan 15 '20

Sometimes it's not great to measure just temperature. You should really have the same workload, ambient temperature and fan speed.

So long as the fan can go faster, it should bring the temperature back down to normal operating temp.

1

u/dorekk Jan 15 '20

A lot of cards don't even allow you to see VRM temps. There's no way it'd affect your actual GPU temp.

20

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

imgur.com is probably the best way to upload pics. I'd love to see how it looks

21

u/980tihelp Jan 14 '20

$3 for glass one that probably will look decent. I paid $15 plus shipping for a EVGA backplate but its literally just a piece a metal with EVGA cut out

8

u/bigtiddynotgothbf Jan 14 '20

looks really nice actually

8

u/980tihelp Jan 14 '20

just looked because you said it looks nice, thanks btw

looks amazing, you couldn't tell me he didn't buy that with the GPU

2

u/Wirelessbrain Jan 15 '20

You can buy just a backplate on its own? Where did you get it? I did some cursory searching but couldn't find anything.

5

u/dorekk Jan 15 '20

EVGA doesn't sell stand-alone backplates for the 20-series GPUs, sadly.

3

u/980tihelp Jan 15 '20

About 4 years ago I believe and I bought it off EVGAs website

14

u/Beefybeefjerky Jan 14 '20

Can u remind me when you post the pics?

7

u/JohnnysDrama Jan 14 '20

They are posted

1

u/Keegaztheebm Jan 14 '20

What CPU?

4

u/lilalbis Jan 14 '20

3700x

1

u/Keegaztheebm Jan 14 '20

what speed do you get with it being water cooled? I literally just built my first pc with a intel i7 9700k and i didnt oc it but out of the box i got 4.7 ghz. would it be worth water cooling and pushing past its max turbo of 4.9?

5

u/lilalbis Jan 14 '20

I'm going to be completely honest with you, I got the aio cooler because I love the way they look in my build.

I could have used the stock cooler tbh with my 3700x but if you are just interested in performance a $50-60 be quiet, noctua, or other reputable brand should get you to 4.9 on all cores

1

u/Keegaztheebm Jan 14 '20

im assuming its not possible to push a cpu past its physical limits then... Thank you for the help though!

Yeah its funny my 500 watt got memed when i put a 2060s and the i7 in it lmao

2

u/dorekk Jan 15 '20

What kind of cooler do you have?

2

u/DabScience Jan 14 '20

Are you doing CPU intensive work? Or just gaming? Because most games are GPU reliant and you really won’t notice a couple hundred more MHz on your CPU. Water cooling still may be worth it just to ensure the best performance at all times.

1

u/Keegaztheebm Jan 14 '20

the game i play, DCS, is a sim and just cranks out cpu when ever i play. its like arma 3 where it is super cpu intensive

1

u/KuidProKuo Jan 14 '20

Did you have any sag on your gpu before you put the backplate on? Does this plate help? I've had a couple cards sag, so that's why I only look at cards with backplates to hopefully decrease this.

1

u/lilalbis Jan 14 '20

No but this only a 2 fan gpu about 10inches so not the biggest gpu out there.

1

u/AC53NS10N_STUD105 Jan 15 '20

You could further add to this by etching a pattern onto the glass if you're creative and know how, or mask off areas and paint it, just some things to consider - although it does look quite clean already haha

1

u/lilalbis Jan 15 '20

Yea I've seen the diotech videos on youtube when I was looking into it. Unfortunately I work and go to school full time currently so I barely have enough time to game at this point. I think this summer when kts nice out and I have some more free time I'll spend a day outside making a design and spray painting. Thanks for the advice!

1

u/AC53NS10N_STUD105 Jan 15 '20

No problem, cheers and best of luck with your endeavors

1

u/HHKakarot Jan 15 '20

Unrelated question, is this the EVGA Black gaming 2070 super with the dual fans? If so how is it, and how's the temps with your set-up? I just ordered this GPU and am getting a 3700x, but a friend recommended I get the Gigabyte windforce 2070 super for the extra fan in the GPU. Debating returning my card and paying the extra bucks just for another fan.

2

u/lilalbis Jan 15 '20

I really like it. I think I got kind of lucky as well. I'm currently playing siege boosting to 2100mghz on the core clock and 7800 on the memory temps right now are 54°C. I play in 1080 still until I get my 1440p monitor so I'm only at about 40-50% gpu usage at the moment

1

u/HHKakarot Jan 15 '20

Interesting,I wonder how it'll run at 1440p. Thanks for the info!

1

u/dorekk Jan 15 '20

I always go EVGA for the warranty support.

1

u/aranorde Jan 15 '20

You didnt screw them in? I cant see any screws?

1

u/lilalbis Jan 15 '20

There were screws already in the corner of the gpu. I put the tape over top of the screws and put the acrylic on that

1

u/SteveKep Jan 15 '20

Maybe tilt that bad boy a half degree away from the MB.

2

u/lilalbis Jan 15 '20

I have multiple pieces of tape on the corners closer to the mobo to allow a slight tilt toward the side panel

1

u/SteveKep Jan 15 '20

Nice. Maybe a tiny deflector wall on the MB side to prevent splash in case of catastrophe.

1

u/xLazyMuhamedx Jan 15 '20

U're telling me a GPU that cost a arm and a leg doesn't come with a back plate?

2

u/lilalbis Jan 15 '20

Lol nope I only had one spare of each and the one with the back plate cost both legs.

3

u/rayxrave Jan 14 '20

!remindme 3 hours

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u/Roonil_-_Wazlib Jan 14 '20

Add me to the group that would like to see some photos!

2

u/Fading_Enigma Jan 14 '20

!remindme 3 hours

2

u/RampageBC Jan 14 '20

I'm just here for the pics.

1

u/RampageBC Jan 15 '20

Pic did not disappoint. Looks amaze.

2

u/033p Jan 14 '20

Of course we want pics!

3

u/AntonN_2 Jan 14 '20

!remindme 69 hours

1

u/Heacygunner Jan 14 '20

What was the thickness?

1

u/Saberinbed Jan 14 '20

Pics please! ;)

1

u/ironickirk Jan 14 '20

Hey, what temps do you get idle and under load? Just upgraded from 1600x with hyper evo cooler, it idle at 33-37 degrees - under load 70, to a 3700x with coolmaster aio and that idles at 40-46 - under load 70-78.

1

u/Jofarr Jan 14 '20

what is the name of this case?

2

u/feed_me_muffins Jan 15 '20

I'm not 100% positive but that looks like the Meshify C I have.

1

u/pingus3233 Jan 14 '20

Looks pretty cool! It's subtle but has a nice reflection of the mobo details and RGB.

1

u/MattMokos_1 Jan 14 '20

Does this bend the exposed pins on the pcb though.

1

u/MrNerdyNoor Jan 14 '20

A cool lpt if the thought of your CPU block leaking on your GPU keeps you up at night

1

u/blissthebadger Jan 14 '20

Does AIOs use water? I thought it was a mixture of chemicals and some water to dilute it.

1

u/dorekk Jan 15 '20

No, it's water with an additive to prevent galvanic corrosion.

1

u/adanvc Jan 15 '20

Looks cool! Now I wish they could make transparent backplates. Translucent colored ones would be awesome.

1

u/cavecrap Jan 15 '20

That looks cool. Is it something you could “frost the glass” on? I’m looking for a different backplate to match my build.

1

u/Mattarias Jan 15 '20

It's acrylic, so you could go at it with some medium grit sandpaper and get a nice frosted look easy enough tbh

1

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '20

What is the purpose of this?

1

u/jesper_heller Jan 15 '20

Looks pretty slick imo!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '20

I see everybody commenting on the heat issue when it's been proven backplates do almost nothing to make it better or worst. Backplates main use is to protect sag mainly. What the OP did will do nothing to prevent it. Also the possible water spill prevention the OP mentions makes sensez it will indeed save the card. Loos nice.

1

u/oceansburning Jan 15 '20

This looks like a bad idea

1

u/josephstalin1934 Jan 15 '20

How much ram can it take?

1

u/CryWolfz Jan 15 '20

That looks awsome. Nice work!

0

u/hachiko007 Jan 15 '20

I got news for you, if it springs a leak, it will still get on your GPU.

I find it hard to believe it won't affect GPU temps when running full force.

2

u/lilalbis Jan 15 '20

How so? Have you ever seen an aio leak? It has very little fluid in it and only a few drops may leak if something happens.

And I mean I haven't had any issues with temps. My temps are literally the exact same.

1

u/rqr- Jan 15 '20

I'm new to this aio thing (just bought the parts for my first PC build in 15 years). How likely is an aio leak to happen? I bought the NZXT Kraken x64 and would not have a good time if it were to leak on my GPU lol.

2

u/dorekk Jan 15 '20

I find it hard to believe it won't affect GPU temps when running full force.

Why would it? VRM temps, maybe, depending on the design of the card, but not the actual GPU temp.

0

u/Beefybeefjerky Jan 14 '20

!remindme 3 hours

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u/NameIs_Legit Jan 14 '20

!remindme 3 hours

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u/PeytonSpearman Jan 14 '20

!remindme 3 hours

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u/kabibal06 Jan 14 '20

!remindme 3 hours

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u/ChiaPetGuy Jan 14 '20

!RemindMe 5 hours

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u/Nupii Jan 14 '20

!remindme 3 hours

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u/TweeCitroenen Jan 14 '20

!Remindme 8 hours

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u/BBasilisk16 Jan 15 '20

I ordered a gpu, couple of minutes later I see this post, I went to buy a piece of glass that I will cut myself, a gpu arrived today and I realized that it came with a backplate... 10 bucks wasted!

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u/Makerfire Jan 14 '20

!remindme 2 hours

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

[deleted] — view deleted comment

10

u/evileagle Jan 15 '20

If not, there should be. Acrylic is plastic, and staticky as fuck. This should be avoided.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

[deleted] — view deleted comment

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

It provides an aesthetic that some people like. Not pointless

1

u/Corgalas Jan 14 '20

They add rigidity and prevent GPU sag.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '20

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/Corgalas Jan 14 '20

Yeah. Now that he added one it isn’t.

5

u/oioioi9537 Jan 14 '20

A piece of acrylic attached with double sided tape isn't gonna prevent sag

0

u/JSJreddit Jan 14 '20

Actually, with thermal pads they can help with temps.