Insulating a LN2 / DI unit and card preperation / mounting the right way

[k|ngp|n]

So you just got your shiny new gpu cooling unit and you want to start tearing up the orb with it right away right?? Well here is a little guide to insulating your cooling unit and getting the card prepped and installed in 10-15minutes.

Assuming you already have temp probe installed, here are the tools/ materials that you will use for this job, and also over and over again throughout your benching so dont be shy on stocking up. I have insulated all my vid cards this way for a long time with very few failures for the ammount of benching done:
Foil pipe wrap(lowes or homedepot), clear nail polish, 1/2 and 1/4 foam sheet insulation, foam or electrical tape, and scissors


Taking into account the total outer surface area of the gpu unit you are insulating, cut out a piece of 1/2 foam sheet insulation so when folded around the gpu unit, it will completley cover it. With the bigger spacing on 680i, 1/2 works great but 1/4 might work better on the older tighter spaced SLI and xfire mobos:


Fold all the sides and tape it off tightly with foam tape or elctrical tape. Just make sure that it is wrapped air tight and your golden:






Before you go any further take the card and apply a light coat of clear nail polish on ALL surface mount components on the back of the card on whole area between ram chips, and on font of card around the core and just above the slot area. You can use any clear polish really, but I find the one that works exceptionally well in protecting against corrosion is "out the door"

Now we need to make a gasket that will be sandwiched in between the unit and the card where it mounts. This is very important step, as if you can seal off the area around the gpu and make it airtight, you can virtually eliminate condensation in that area. We will also make a backing for the card using the foil wrap at the same time, that will potect the back of the card behind the core from condesation issues.
So cut out your card backing from the foil wrap and peel the foil off and stick it on the back of the card (after polish dries) like shown. Of course this guide applies to all vga's/units, but what the heck, we will use a G80 and one of my Tek's for this example :


Now here is why I love the foil wrap so much. You can use the foil backing to make an impression of the card core area and create templates for making gaskets out of the 1/2 inch or 1/4 inch foam so they fit perfectly.
Going back to last step, I will use the foil backing from the pad we just stuck on the back of the card for making the imprint of the core area so I can make a perfect fitting gasket. Cut it out of the foil than trace it to the foam:


Here is a pic of the gasket sandwiched between the card and unit for illustrational purposes. You dont want any part of the mounting bracketry to extend out past gasket outer diameter as to be exposed to air:


Unit insulated with the gasket ready to be mounted on G80:


Then all you need to do is apply your thermal grease to the IHS of the card and slide the card onto the unit, again sandwiching the gasket in between the unit and card tightly in the front. I am using uninsulated unit for illustrational purposes again:

To finish the installation, slide on the shoulder spacers, springs and nuts in that order and crank it down till you see the card flex just a tiny bit. This is how I know I have perfect contact pressure. Whatever container or mounting hardware you use, you will still crank it down that tight.
Before you bench, take some dielectric gease and rub it onto to "gold fingers" that go into the pci-ex slot on both sides of the card and your done.

[Extera]

a guide from the master
nice guide kingpin.

[Gautam]

That's pure genius, my cards always turn into a mess of vaseline, liquid electric tape and sticky neoprene/armaflex when I'm done with em. IMHO that legend title is well deserved just for being able to run such a clean setup. This'll certainly be extremely helpful to anyone that reads this.

[Ad Rock]

You have to love it when the top performers turn into true leaders and decide to help everyone else in the community by giving back like this.

Plus this just helps to give you some possible new competition Kingpin .

[Fr3ak]

Nice guide
Do you mind adding a short "How to prepare motherboards" guide aswell?
Then there would be basically all you have to know about insulating for Dry Ice/LN2 use.

[barzi]

nice guide, like it very much. Can help me with my container(first time)

[G H Z]

I've been through alot of nail polish myself

Nice guide KP, I'll use this

[k|ngp|n]

Originally Posted by G H Z

I've been through alot of nail polish myself

Nice guide KP, I'll use this

thnx G. Nail polish keeps the corrosion off from heavy benching and the clear stuff is easy to remove with some Q-tips, a little scrub brush, and some polish remover. I know some guys want to keep it even cleaner and dont want to even use polish around the mobo sockets or gpu dies but remember,
my guides will work great for everyone but are really meant for keeping your gear running strong through heavy long benching sessions from -90c to -195c, over and over again. If your going to push it that hard, why cut corners..

Also if there is any knowledge that others can contribute to this or any of the other prep/install threads please feel free to. It will only benefit those who need the information the most. Like I said, I know my way works and is relatively clean and easy , but there are many ways to do this and materials to use. Not everyone lives down the street from homedepot or lowes. I want the threads to be as informative as possible.

[kiwi]

I've tried Silicone, LET, nail polish and luberex


Now I wanna try Vaseline. Would the one from sex shops work?

I heard industrial vaseline is too smelly and messy

Is there any technical difference between industrial and cosmetic vaseline?

[skylinepower]

crazy! do you do thet agenst overklokk?
hi must kill your HW!
he is a friens so i want him to be best!

[TheKarmakazi]

great guide i cant wait to get my vga and cpu pots

[k|ngp|n]

Alright got some updates to add to the guide...first off started using a brush on conformal coating made by MG chemicals which rocks pretty good, it's flexible when it hardens so it keeps the card sealed nicely and protects against thermal shock. Breaks down and cleans up nicely with acetone as well. I have done about 6 cards with this stuff already and run 5 of them below -100c for extended periods of time with 0 failures yet.


Also the grey insulation tape is great stuff because most batches of it dont tear when you pull it off the card like armaflex or other brands. That black tape usually sucks directly on the card as it is a to clean off. Now instead of 2 layers of grey pipe wrap foam on the card, I do the inner layer grey foam and outer layer closed cell foam tape as it doesnt sweat as much and just two layers done like this seems to be perfect for down to -130c as you can see in the pic, it doesnt really freeze. through. Two layers on both front and back is perfect seal for 3.0 tek or prolly most other units out there

Prep the card(s) up with the conformal and let it completely dry/cure for a few hours before you start foaming it. This stuff will give migraines if not used in a well ventilated area so be careful as it is quite strong. I DONT apply it to mosfets, tops of memory chips or anything else that gets hot on the card...usually I wont even go anyhwere near the vreg areas on the cards. For sure do whole area inside mem chips usually and I will also hit the memory chips around near the unit sealing off the gaps between the chip and the card to keep run off from getting there.


Do grey layer first, black layer second. I like working with this grey foam tape a littel better than the sheet roll for GPU. No need to go outside the mem chip area



Poke the mounting holes through the front from the back, than repeat on the back side one grey layer first. Poke the holes through the back from the front
Then add black layer and repeat. You jsut dont want to be sitting there with both sides foamed up forgetting to poke the holes through, simple stuff but easily forgotten . When you do the second black layer on the front, make the opening a little larger to ensure foam won't pinch between the unit button and die on the card when mounting.


Now after I add the second layer on the back, I will peel it off gently and mount the card first with thumbnuts or screws than stick it back on over the nuts/screws to seal it off. You couldn't do that with black tape believe me . Wrap the top of the unit to where it meets the card in some absorbent paper towel, and it will catch any run-off coming from the unit.





All ready to go and as you can see in the second pic, I can run at those temps for long time usually before I see any frost on the pad. Does a great job. Wipe a little dielectric grease on all the gold fingers of the card to protect against corrosion, and your ready to fly. Before installing card(s), ALWAYS lay down paper towel on both sides of the pci-ex slot(s) you are using that will prevent moisture from the units sweating from ever reaching the motherboard. "Shop towels" are the best.



12oz styro cups are great for not only being the perfectly insulated funnel for an irregularly shaped container, but also when you jam it into the top of the container before you bench, it will seal out the ice that forms on the top of the unit from falling back into the unit and screwing up your loaded temps . USE THEM!
Also dont forget to put a nice high powered fan on the vreg of the card to keep it nice and cool. Heatsinks on mosfets are even better. At minimum you need a fan there right on mosfet/vreg area. Even on LN2, these areas of the card get VERY HOT and can limit the overclock if not cooled properly.

Hope this helps someone...

[dinos22]

thanks for the update

excellent guide

[Revv23]

Ive got this frostking stuff and i cant seem to get the foil off it..

it just rips..

[dinos22]

are you serious


are you saying foil rips or the actual pipe wrap
cause that's really off if your wrap rips...surely you can peel it off without ripping

[Revv23]

Originally Posted by dinos22

are you serious


are you saying foil rips or the actual pipe wrap
cause that's really off if your wrap rips...surely you can peel it off without ripping

The wrap rips...

If im really careful i can get parts of it off cleanly but the foil still keeps part of the foam on it... I think it will still work buts its really a pita only 1 foot of 3 is usefull and it still doent look near as nice as kingpin's... Must have gotten a bad roll...

Anyway... off to the dice store.

[eligray]

thanks kingpin

[Mpetrosino]

Awesome guide Kingpin!

[Patch]

Is the recommendation for clear nail polish because of ease of cleanup?

Or do the dyes in colors sometimes conduct?

[skolapper]

You know, I wonder if thered be a benefit to having a copper sleeve inside the PE at least to about 1/3 or 1/2 the total height. Youd still get some minimal insulative value from the PE and transfer performance from the copper.