Cooler Master Demos Prototype "Project VGA Cooler" at CES

[T0@st]

Cooler Master's research and design team seems to be up to all sorts of shenanigans lately—company representatives at CES 2024 had the joyful experience of hyping up a curiosity/prototype bearing the moniker "Project VGA Cooler." It certainly is a tough sell to explain to punters how an aftermarket part can usurp the performance offered by a manufacturer's standard fitting of triple-fan arrays on already pricey custom high-end GeForce RTX 40xx cards. The plucky Project VGA Cooler was showcased in white or dark silver forms, accompanied by twin Mobius 120 mm fans. The spec sheet states that these utilize special loop dynamic bearings, although we are not certain whether the special Mobius fans are customized for this project specifically.

TPU staff witnessed an ASUS GeForce RTX 4090 TUF graphics card getting the refit treatment—its original triple-fan array was removed, and the experimental aftermarket part was attached to the TUF's remaining heatsink and shroud. Cooler Master's demonstration proceeded smoothly, but this publication questions whether these prototype GPU cooling units are truly prepared for a universal fit across a wide variety of expensive current generation GeForce RTX models, or Radeon RX equivalents. Cooler Master's design team likely has to be careful in choosing specific or popular GPU models, once "Project VGA Cooler" exits the conceptual phase of development and approaches final retail form.



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[jesdals]

So this is just a frame to slap 2x120mm fans on your graphicscard? Well thats going to be a though sale compared to just putting them directly on the card with some hot glue or strips

 

[natr0n]

I like zip tie-ing 80-120mm on older cards. Just remove the shroud and you have decent heatsinks to work with.

msi 7970 bare heatsink is a good example to mod

 

[bonehead123]

Sooooo......spend big $$ on your 4xx gpu, which already has a reasonably effective cooling system built-in, step DOWN from 3 fans to 2, and replace the stock shroud with this one, which has about 2" of unused plastic/space on one end....

Yep, that's gonna be a tough sell for sure, except to the "moar money than brains" crowd, hehehe

All for what $150 ? Shenanigans indeed....

 

[rcodi]

This certainly has a place in the market, there are plenty of high end cards with noisy stock fans and I'm all for having a clean way to install them. Heck I even had an ASUS ProArt card recently that was marketed as quiet but the fans don't even hold a candle to aftermarket offerings in terms of acoustics throughout the whole RPM range. This is also coming from someone who regularly deshrouds and either zip ties or case mounts fans with spacers to achieve better noise levels, I would absolutely pay for this (within reason ofcourse). The negativity on this post so far is bizarre, clearly this isn't for you. It's no secret sizing up fans has benefits, people have been doing this for years with 3D printed shrouds.

 

[Chaitanya]

So this is just a frame to slap 2x120mm fans on your graphicscard? Well thats going to be a though sale compared to just putting them directly on the card with some hot glue or strips

It comes with vertical GPU bracket and pci-e extension cable.

 

[SN2716057]

So a slick looking, more expensive Raijintek Morpheus?

 

[TechLurker]

If these would allow strapping in of any 120mm fan, and not just CM's Mobius fans sized down to fit card width limits, then it could be a good alternate option for strapping in Noctuas or T30s or Grand Tornadoes.

Moreso if they engineer a good universal GPU cooler finstack that accepts 120s and adds the shroud both for some performance and aesthetic reasons.

 

[Super XP]

Now that looks somewhat interesting.

 

[20mmrain]

If they can get the compatibility correct, add RGB, get the price right, and make the thermals worth the change... I like this idea a lot! It looks clean! I like this idea over using zip ties and using your own 92mm/120mm fans.
I think it could be fun for the modding community also! (Paint it, airbrush it, wallah!)
Also with WC companies straying away from water blocks for AMD and middle level cards, this could be an alternative. Sure you won't get the same temps, but if they're improved... a great option none the less!

I hope they launch it and this isn't some BS marketing porotype that will never see the light of day!