asus strix 980ti waterblock and backplate question

[grassy]

Before fitting my waterblock to the above mentioned card do i have to take this bracket off also as in the instructions it does not point to the 4 screws that is holding this on. The 980 does not have this but my 980ti strix does and i dont know if i should remove it or not.

[Nate152]

Hey grassy

I was just wondering how things were coming along, I haven't heard from you in a while.

That looks like the back of the gpu, if you removed the strix backplate and are going to install the EK backplate I would think the red bracket would stay on there as you're just swapping them out. If I'm not mistaken a thermal pad gets placed on or inside the red bracket to cover those three little chips. There may be other thermal pads to install on the back with the backplate so take a look at the instructions.

Install the waterblock first then install the backplate. Be sure to do a good job cleaning off the old thermal paste and applying the new. 🙂

[grassy]

Hi Nate, its been awhile as i have had to wait on parts which were not in stock, but its all starting to move ahead now and its looking good.I am just stuck at the moment on this bracket on the back of the heat sink as in this video on youtube he takes the screws out but he has no red bracket wher on my 980ti there is one.I am really confused and dont know if i should take this off as in the instructions it dont tell you to take it off. I dunno what this bracket is even for or what it is called as there is no info on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSLchlT1aOA

[Nate152]

Hey grassy I edited my post because I told you wrong.

I was wondering how things were coming along, I haven't heard from you in a while.

If you're installing the EK back plate that gets removed.

Here's a video of the 980 and it shows him removing those screws and there is no bracket on the backside.

Fast forward to 9:50

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=strix+980+backplate+installation&&view=detail&mid=5C6D3F496DCD79...

[Nate152]

LOL we were watching the same video, yeah that red bracket gets removed.

[grassy]

Yea its the same video as i posted above but the ti might need the bracket on there as i dont know for sure. The guy in the vide is using the 980 where as i have the ti and the backplate might me a little different. I really dont know why the red bracket is even there.

[Nate152]

Yeah the video is for the strix 980.

When you removed the strix backplate is there anything on the backplate that fits in or around that red bracket? If there is it must be how asus designed it for their backplate and you will need to remove it, otherwise the EK backplate won't make contact with those chips.

[grassy]

Yep i see, i removed it anyway.What got me thinking was the fact that in the instructions that came from EK, they state to remove all screws that are attaching the stock back plate but this bracket has nothing to do with holding the back plate to the card as i see it. The back plate came off without having to move them screws so i naturally thought they did not need to be removed.I noticed too that the EK back plate has a 2 to 3mm recessed area where the red bracket is so again i thought it might have to stay on.

[Nate152]

Ok that looks to be the strix backplate, does the ek backplate look like that, recessed with a square in the middle? If the EK backplate looks like that then you should leave it on.

If the EK backplate is smooth then remove the red bracket.

[Nate152]

I just looked on EK's site and the EK backplate does look like the strix backplate with the square for the red bracket so yes let the red bracket on, sorry for the confusion grassy.

What's even a little more confusing is the EK instructions doesn't show the red bracket on the backside of the gpu.