Flex Atx Overhaul: Staying Cool Under High Load

Hi everyone!

I’m back with an update on the Hivemind eGPU design. My highest priority for this update was to reduce heat transfer between the GPU and PSU to prevent overheating and noise generated by the power supplies.

During these summer months I realized that the original design for the Flex ATX power supply module was flawed, with the main issue being that the power supply was exposed to too much of the hot air generated by the Graphics card. This was extreme during the summer months leading to some shutdowns mid gaming sessions! Something extremely frustrating as an abrupt end a long session of gaming or work is the last thing anyone wants.

Because of this i had to come up with a new design that separates the power supply from the heat of the graphics card, without changing its position, increasing the size of the enclosure itself, or sacrificing the part’s modularity.

Here are the changes i made

in the original design, the power supply was facing upwards. this meant that it was directly intaking the hot air from the graphics card. To prevent this i inverted the power supply and designed its own dedicated air intake. With some design changes to the rear shell and the power supply module, The PSU now has access to its own air supply, making it run quieter under load for longer and preventing the overheating issue i noticed earlier.

2. A dedicated vent underneath the PSU

A dedicated vent was added to the bottom of the design to make use of this new airflow path. This meant that air could pass directly from the removable mesh vent to the power supply to quickly cool it.

3. Raising the GPU so it no longer sits directly on the PSU module

To try and keep the GPU and PSU as separate as possible, a 2.5mm gap was integrated between the PSU module and the GPU Backplate.

For those worried that this gap could introduce GPU sag, I added some rubber padding for the GPU backplate to rest on as a way to keep the parts separated and supported, preventing sag and general movement during travel.

4. PSU Bleed-air Intake

The major challenge with preventing hot air from getting to the to graphics card is that they share the same enclosure. in order to fix this i shrouded the PSU to separate it from the hot air from the GPU, but as the 120mm fan in the front would still be providing air, i designed a bleed-air intake especially for the power supply, which will provide an isolated source of cool air rather than taking in heated air from the rest of the enclosure. This intake will be smaller in size as it mainly only serves the power supply.

5. Sweeping PSU shroud with cable management-

The PSU Shroud was redesigned to create clearance below bottom facing GPU fans, whilst giving direct pathways for cables (such as the 24 pin cable for the board and a slot directly for the power supply cables). This will be especially helpful with organizing long cables within the compact size of this case.

All of these changes have not affected the installation process, just slide in the power supply and feed through the cables through the available slots and screw the power supply into the rear bracket and installation is complete.

Alot of major changes have happened over the last few months that i will share over the next few weeks. for now i hope you all enjoyed and stay tuned for another update soon. Thanks for reading.

Onward and upward,

Barimah

Founder, HivemindEGPU