I have an Eisblock GPX Acetal Nvidia Geforce TITAN X Pascal 1080Ti M02 (model #11569) for an Nvidia Titan Xp Star Wars Collector's Edition graphics card. The only difference between this card and the regular Titan Xp is that the Star Wars version has an additional LED header next to the one for the Geforce LED header. I have carefully studied the PCB and photos in the manual and online and there are no other differences that have any effect at all regarding fitting a water cooler.
To work around the LED header issue, I simply modified the Alphacool water block to provide clearance for the extra LED header. Some people remove the LED header from the PCB, but that seems too drastic considering how simple it is to enlarge the existing opening in the water block. The water block seems to fit just fine after enlarging the LED header opening.
However, the back plate mounting holes are a total mess and the water block has missing and mis-aligned holes as well!
1) The Alphacool instructions, page 17 calls out 7x M3x6 screws and 1x M3 nut but the drawing shows either 1x, 2x, 6x, 7x, or 8x screws and 1x or 2x M3 nuts depending on how the instructions are interpreted. There are 2x M3 nuts included, so the slot cover can be attached using 2x M3x6 screws and 2x M3 nuts. However, if both screws and nuts are installed, the back plate hole at the top of the slot cover cannot be used and the back plate doesn't properly contact the PCB due to interference with the screw head below. I decided to use 1x M3 nut and 1x M3x12 screw at the top and 1x M3 nut and 1x M3x6 screw at the bottom. How is this actually supposed to be assembled?
2) There are two holes in the PCB between the slot cover and the GPU. The instructions don't show screws in these holes but why do they line up with threaded holes in the water block? The Nvidia cooler uses them so they must be important! However, the holes in the water block are misaligned by about 0.5 mm, which doesn't sound like much, but it makes screwing the PCB to the water block very difficult. I tried and it caused nickel metal fragments to go all over. I decided to not put screws in these holes. Should these holes indeed be left empty?
3) The back plate has a hole that matches a hole in the PCB but there is no matching threaded hole in the water block! The screw is in the middle of the VRM area. Again, Nvidia placed this hole in the PCB for a good reason, probably to keep even pressure on the VRM area thermal pads. Since the water block has no matching threaded hole, this leaves yet another empty hole in the back plate! Is my water block or back plate made incorrectly? What can I do to fix this?
4) The thermal pads for the back plate are too thick! If I install the 3 mm thick (yellow bag) pads on the back of the PCB as shown in the Alphacool manual, it is impossible to tighten the back plate properly. The pads are too thick and so hard to compress that the back plate bends badly in many places and still remains about 1 mm from the PCB along the top edge. The back plate has built in "2 mm stand-offs" that contact the PCB properly if no thermal pads are installed. It may work with 2 mm thick thermal pads but none are included. The included 1.5 mm thermal pads are all used for the front and I have no spares. The back plate is important to maintain the card rigidity and helps with heat dissipation so I really want to use it. I don't think the Nividia back plate can be made to fit with any of the remaining screws or thermal pads that I have. What should I do to fix this?
To work around the LED header issue, I simply modified the Alphacool water block to provide clearance for the extra LED header. Some people remove the LED header from the PCB, but that seems too drastic considering how simple it is to enlarge the existing opening in the water block. The water block seems to fit just fine after enlarging the LED header opening.
However, the back plate mounting holes are a total mess and the water block has missing and mis-aligned holes as well!
1) The Alphacool instructions, page 17 calls out 7x M3x6 screws and 1x M3 nut but the drawing shows either 1x, 2x, 6x, 7x, or 8x screws and 1x or 2x M3 nuts depending on how the instructions are interpreted. There are 2x M3 nuts included, so the slot cover can be attached using 2x M3x6 screws and 2x M3 nuts. However, if both screws and nuts are installed, the back plate hole at the top of the slot cover cannot be used and the back plate doesn't properly contact the PCB due to interference with the screw head below. I decided to use 1x M3 nut and 1x M3x12 screw at the top and 1x M3 nut and 1x M3x6 screw at the bottom. How is this actually supposed to be assembled?
2) There are two holes in the PCB between the slot cover and the GPU. The instructions don't show screws in these holes but why do they line up with threaded holes in the water block? The Nvidia cooler uses them so they must be important! However, the holes in the water block are misaligned by about 0.5 mm, which doesn't sound like much, but it makes screwing the PCB to the water block very difficult. I tried and it caused nickel metal fragments to go all over. I decided to not put screws in these holes. Should these holes indeed be left empty?
3) The back plate has a hole that matches a hole in the PCB but there is no matching threaded hole in the water block! The screw is in the middle of the VRM area. Again, Nvidia placed this hole in the PCB for a good reason, probably to keep even pressure on the VRM area thermal pads. Since the water block has no matching threaded hole, this leaves yet another empty hole in the back plate! Is my water block or back plate made incorrectly? What can I do to fix this?
4) The thermal pads for the back plate are too thick! If I install the 3 mm thick (yellow bag) pads on the back of the PCB as shown in the Alphacool manual, it is impossible to tighten the back plate properly. The pads are too thick and so hard to compress that the back plate bends badly in many places and still remains about 1 mm from the PCB along the top edge. The back plate has built in "2 mm stand-offs" that contact the PCB properly if no thermal pads are installed. It may work with 2 mm thick thermal pads but none are included. The included 1.5 mm thermal pads are all used for the front and I have no spares. The back plate is important to maintain the card rigidity and helps with heat dissipation so I really want to use it. I don't think the Nividia back plate can be made to fit with any of the remaining screws or thermal pads that I have. What should I do to fix this?
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