Photos first.
 












 
I did a ton of prep work in terms of research before even touching the card. Didn't want to screw anything up or void warranty. In regards to original equipment, everything is still in place other than the AIO itself. 
 
Clovis559 was the first I've seen to go down this route with his Kingpin. I've never trusted AIO's, but I knew he'd have a hard time trying to run a full loop through the AIO head itself. I tried once when Threadripper was brand new and there weren't blocks out for it yet. It worked technically, just not very well.
 
Being that both Optimus and EVGA are the only ones that seem to care about a block for the Kingpin, both have been famous as of late for how delayed their products have rolled out. I know, the world has slowed all together this past year. Either way, I wanted to try and find a stealth way to block the card without any change to it's external appearance. Clovis559 was nice enough to shoot me some of his measurements he took while his card was apart since I didn't want to tear mine apart for the measurements I needed. All in all, I discovered that the original thermal pads are 2mm. The surface height of the original AIO memory cooling plate is 1mm above the GPU die itself, but the memory cooling plate is 2mm total, with it's stamped design. It's a smart design, but also proprietary in it's design. Not down with that, so I got a 2mm thick copper plate from Amazon for like 15 bucks. Traced the design of the original memory cooling plate onto the 2mm Amazon plate. Dremeled it out so it matched. Screwed up drilling one hole out cause the bit broke midway through. Made it pretty tough to clean it up. 
 
With the new Thermalright 2mm thermal pads I got, and the new 2mm copper plate, placing it down showed how much the AIO coldplate is proprietary. I imitated the design of it by using the center cutout of the copper plate as a shim for the die. Used KPx on both sides. Didn't want to use LM cause I'm out of nail polish and also I just don't feel right about it yet. Maybe when there's a legit actual block on it, I'll apply LM. Anyway, I was hopeful that KPx was enough seeing as the block isn't directly touching the die. It's die>KPx>shim>KPx>block.
 
The key here though is the overhang of the block onto the new 2mm copper plate for the memory. The block overhangs over the shim onto the copper memory plate. This is the active cooling solution that mirrors the AIO's design. I was also hopeful that it was enough contact to properly cool the memory. Being that the new copper plate had much more copper to it also helps in it's own passive cooling capacity. 
 
With the shim installed and ready for the block, the new memory plate was about 0.5-0.7mm taller than the shim. This is exactly what I wanted, since the thermal pads should squish down anyway for optimal contact. Had to use different mounting hardware for the block than what came with it, but still used the springs to equalize the mounting pressure for each corner. Also threw some zipties around the mounting hardware since the 30 series mounting dimensions are rectangular vs square in past generations. As I was tightening down, the hardware was slightly angling out due to how the bracket was modded to support the rectangular arrangement.
 
Also snagged some Koolance fittings and some EPDM tubing in 1/4" ID, 3/8" OD sizing. This also mirrored the original AIO tubing, so that I could maintain the stealth look to this mod.
 
I was stoked, because it worked out perfectly.
 
I wanted to share this with you guys because it was a fun mod and I know some of us get down with ridiculous mods like this. Maybe it can help someone else with something similar!
 
And it works perfectly. Disclaimer: I've never had the best scores with either of my 3090's (FTW3 as well) but I just don't have the time to chase high scores, just got time for low temps.
 

 

Very nice!  It looks like the maximum GPU temperature is comparable to an EVGA GPU block

We're twins. Knowing what I know now, I wish I would have went with a much larger block like you have, or even larger. Those temperatures though!
I just ordered my parts to fix my flow problem, but can't do anything until they come next week!

SOOO GOOD.  Been waiting for a while for someone to fit a block under the shroud.  Looks great.
 

KingEngineRevUp

Clovis559

KingEngineRevUp
Wouldn't it have been cheaper, easier and better to just cut the Kingpin's AIO tubes and connect your radiator and pump to it?

I tried that. In short, the design of the AIO block is quite restrictive for flow, the tubes ID are small, and ... it works, but what Lifeisshort117 has will yield much better performance.
Actually to keep warranty in tact, I ordered a Hybrid kit, which has an identical AIO block to the Kingpin, and cut that. My 360 Kingpin AIO is untouched in the box.

So what are your results like and can you share photos? 

I Pmed it to you, I def don’t want to take away from this thread. Life has improved his mount over mine, his block, solved a few problems I have not. I really am tickled by his implementation. It is nice to see how others think and solve problems. I actually got lucky on spacing on my mount, but if I was to redo it, I would go this route. hands down.

great work, subbed.

Very cool work man!

Nice dude

mech9t5
Just noticed the zip ties.  What's the purpose of these zip ties?

The mounting holes are not in a square, they're in a rectangle. The mounting holes of block are in a square. They don't line up so he had to drill into the mounting brackets (For the water block) to make new holes. This makes it annoying to bolt down because they can now slide out.

The zip ties hold the bolts in place, from sliding out, while Life tightens the screws. Now that it's bolted down, they likely don't do anything.
 

pretty awesome, and nice photos

Great shots and project  Appears to be worth the effort. 

Great pictures and thank you for sharing; I am about to do similar with my Kingpin 3090Ti.   I agree, EVGA should, (should have since they no longer offer nvidia graphic cards), offer a non-AIO version during checkout. 

Why have two pieces, the center shim and the outer plate?  Could not a single copper sheet be used?