Features 3D Printing GPU Support Brackets

60% "check out my sweet new kit" video about gpu brackets.
You might want to pull the Atlas model. It's not really very edited, and someone spent an insane amount of time shaping that. Imagine if something you did suddenly had a free Chinese knock-off posted.

 

It's really quite different to the point that for a larger print than this you would want the original, which is also linked. That said much of my work ends up having exactly that, or better yet, versions that others directly profit off.

 

I think you've given me a reason to buy a resin printer. I was looking at the filament type but for what I want to do (Smaller more intricate things) the resin type seems better although I'll end up having both like you i'm sure. How horrible is the smell from the resin printing process? Would you want to have it outside if your shop isn't well ventilated?

 

I was quite surprised by how few fumes there were, I still resin print in the workshop for obvious safety reasons but it's not as outwardly toxic as I was expecting. The acrylic cover does a good job of containing the majority of the fumes whilst printing, if you're able to have it outside in a ventilated space though I would recommend it.

 

these are fun ideas!

 

Here is the super adjustable one I made earlier, that doesn't fit in this case as the PCI slot is one slot different.
Whut?

 

The thing that bugs me about video card supports is they are a solution to a problem that shouldn't exist.
There should've been some form of support railing standardized back when video cards started getting too heavy for the slot. We shouldn't HAVE to make our own supports.

(Of course, the original IBM PC had supports at the back of the card, even though it was a horizontal case. But that only works if cards are a standard length, and the format didn't require them to be full-length so most didn't reach the supports and they were rapidly omitted from the format.)

 

There was... for full-length cards. Current PCIe cards are all half-length, and nobody considered that anyone would
a) Cram the better part of a kilo of copper onto a half-length card while at the same time
b) Not bother to use a backplate or edge-brace joined to the slot cover (that would cantilever and prevent sag without any sort of far-end support)
You can see with things like the NVTTM and RTX FE stock coolers how they don't sag even without a brace, because the cooler and backplate are tied into the slot bracket rather than just left to flop about on the PCB. As long as the rear slot area of the case isn't made out of flimsy tinfoil, that is, but hard to blame the card manufacturer for that choice.

 

I was thinking the same thing. I remember those front fan shrouds that doubled as the full length card supports. Not that I ever had a full length card.

Ignore that in this example image the full length card isn't actually in its slot....

 

Bolting all the weight onto the slot bracket is a dubious hack. Even if the back plate is sturdy enough to bear the weight, those little screws aren't meant to be load-bearing. If the full-length stabilizers still existed, I'm sure video cards would be standardized on full-length at this point. But the stabilizers disappeared completely in the Socket 7 era because no one needed a card that long for ... basically anything.



Personally, I'd LIKE to see an entirely new format for expansion cards, but acknowledge it will never happen(we were lucky enough to move from Baby AT to ATX). I think the expansion card standard IBM set was a mistake that we simply can't get away from. Even if it wasn't actually a bad design, it was meant for a horizontal case, and it only works in a vertical case for full-length cards(if the far-end stabilizer is present, which it isn't) and trivial cards.

(Of the expansion card formats I've seen, I'm rather fond of NEC's PC-98. Cards insert from the rear panel, so they can be changed without opening the case. And they are are secured on all four sides, as the edge connector width forces cards to be large enough to engage the guide rails on the sides. Design still allows multi-slot cards. In some regards, it is mechanically like a very large PCMCIA slot. http://www.retro-type.com/PC98/pc-98-computers.jpg )

 

Common myth with screws/bolts: if they're load-bearing in any manner other than axially, then the design is broken (and even axial loads are a bit suspect). The only task a screw/bolt should be performing is to clamp two surfaces together, the friction of the two clamped surfaces is what bears the mechanical load. The clamping force generated is immense: even the most chinesium 6-32 screw can achieve 1.8kN of clamping force (or the equivalent of sticking a 180kg weight onto the tab of the PCIe slot bracket).

Changing from the card-edge connector form factor would indeed be nice - and may be necessary for PCIe 5 and beyond due to signalling requirements - but like most things inside a PC case there's decades of legacy cruft clinging on. Basically every component runs on 12V, but there's all these 3v3, 5v, -5v etc wires hanging around doing nothing but taking up space. Even 12v itself could be dumped and replaced with 48VDC to allow operation at 1/4 the current draw (e.g. effective 300W slot power with no change in trace width or thickness). Add-in cards are stuck at 90° to the board, with coolers facing away from the CPU (making shared HFS units for flowpaths a pain). ATX PSUs are monstrously oversized. And not just the 'Molex' connectors are still stuck on PSU cabling, the thrice-be-damned Berg Connector still crops on! DIMM slots persist in being stuck at 90° to the sane airflow path for no good reason. There's no standardised unitary front-panel-connector. etc. etc.

 

Err yes, the need for GPU supports and the many other legacy designs features are crazy. But until a manufacture or more likely a consortium is willing to risk all and generate an new standard with the hopes of mass buy-in we are stuck. And if any thinks it is easy, just google for people complaining about trying to service/upgrade Apple computers.

On topic: Rather than a bust, one should give the GPU a set of legs so it can stand on it's own. Crap yet another mod/theme idea I don't have time to implement, mod the GPU out to look like The Luggage and the rest of the case in the style of Josh Kirby.

How are the resin print's thermal characteristics? Would it be suitable for high temperature applications, say around the CPU block?

 

Tbh I think even regular FDM prints are safe around a block unless things go rather catastrophically wrong haha. I believe the resins are more thermally stable, there are a bunch of different varieties available too in case one doesn't seem to fit the bill. Biggest thing for me is that some resins are far more brittle than others.

 

I recall making a GPU bracket back in 2004...



First to do so. Commercial plastic models didn't come out several years later.

 

@Nexxo Aluminium Cheesecake!

 

Yeah, hand-cut from 3mm aluminium. Nowadays I have a metal workshop (of sorts) so could do something much more elaborate and shiny.

 

I'll just assume that's a promise.

 

For Ada I don't need to: the GPU will hang vertically. May do something to stabilise it at the bottom, though.

 

With speedholes, to add lightness!