Just like the rest of us, I want as much out of my video card as possible without adding another liquid cooler to my PC. I decided to find a nicely priced air to air cooling solution for my EVGA SC2 1080Ti. After reading and watching a number of reviews, I decided to order the Rajintek Morpheus II Core edition (the Core edition has a cool black finish). I ordered the Morpheus from Amazon for $60 USD. After receiving the Morpheus and a lot of failed attempts at mounting it, I finally got it to make good contact with the GPU and was able to start bench marking its performance.
 
Keywords:
Benchmark, Cooling, EVGA, GPU, ICX, Morpheus, Rajintek, 1080, 1080Ti
 
Purpose:
Compare the performance of the Rajintek Morpheus II versus an EVGA SC2 1080Ti with ICX cooling
 
Hardware:
Intel 7700k @ 4500
Asus Maximus IX APEX
EVGA SC2 Black Edition 1080Ti
EVGA SC2 ICX Cooler
Rajintek Morpheus II Core edition w/ two Delta 120mm AFB1212SH 3400 rpm fans
 
Test:
Heaven Benchmark 4.0
Data Collection Software:
HWiNFO64v5.84 @ 750ms
Data:
EVGA SC2 ICX Cooling



The ICX cooler performed as expected. At each of the rpm levels there was a significant change in cooling with 1000 rpm reaching as high as 74c. At 3000 rpm the ICX cooler maintained a very respectable temperature maxing at 54c.

EVGA SC2 Morpheus II Cooling


The Morpheus cooler also performed as expected. At each of the rpm levels, the Morpheus cooler provide a significant improvement in cooling, the characteristics were similar to the IXC cooler however there are some very notable differences.

EVGA SC2 @ 1000 rpm, ICX vs. Morpheus


When comparing both coolers at 1000 rpm it becomes immediately clear that the Morpheus stabilizes at a lower temperature than the ICX cooler. Across the stable section of the curve, the Morpheus maintains an average delta of 14c cooler than the ICX. In addition to maintaining a lower overall temp, the Morpheus also cooled much faster, this trait is seen when looking at the right side of the curves. Another finding worth noting is the left side of the curve. The ICX cooler actually out performs the Morpheus cooler in resisting inital heat saturation. There are a number of things that will contribute to this some of that items are: the size of the contact plate, the surface area of the ICX contact plate is much larger than the Morpheus cooler. Another item to note is the heat pipe location on the ICX is closer to the GPU die.

EVGA SC2 @ 2000 rpm, ICX vs. Morpheus


Durring the 2000 rpm test, both coolers performed with similar characteristics to the 1000 rpm test. The ICX proved to be an inferior cooler through the stable portion of the curve averaging around 8c hotter than the Morpheus. The Morpheus also cooled back to no load temps much faster than the ICX. The ICX again resisted heat saturation longer than the Morpheus.

EVGA SC2 @ 3000 rpm, ICX vs. Morpheus


The final test, the 3000 rpm test displayed all of the same traits. The Morpheus out performs the ICX through the stable section of the curve maintaining a 4c cooler result. The Morpheus also cooled back to no load condition quicker than the ICX. Just like the previous two tests the ICX outperformed the Morpheus at initial temperature saturation. A final thing to note, the Morpheus seemed to have reached beyond the point of marginal gain. The overall temperature improvement at 3000 rpm versus 2000 rpm does not justify using the 3000 rpm setting during normal game play.
 
After looking over the EVGA SC2, I decided it could use a better back plate. I designed my own heat dissipating back plate and mounted it to my Morpheus set up. Since I previously mentioned that 2000 rpm was ideal because of the delta gain to 3000 was minimal, I decided to test the back plate at 2000 rpm versus the two previous tests stock, and Morpheus cooled. The results of the back plate were outstanding, check out the curve below.
The Bully Mod topped out at 49C, previously the Morpheus hit 55C and the stock was a hot 62C. Bully wins :)

 
Here are some pics of the Bully Mod SC2 Morpheus and custom back plate.

wow, does that take up 5 slots? 

BullyApC

EVGATech_JoseR
wow, does that take up 5 slots? 

Let's just say SLI isn't gonna fit :)
 

EVGATech_DanielM
That is a very sweet mod. Really impressed by the graphs as well along with the scores. I have seen those coolers on a few cards and was really impressed by the scores. Quick question however, did you remove the side plate from the original shroud? That might be an issue in regards to the warranty however if something should go wrong with the card just wanted to point that out but impressive stuff nonetheless. 

I did want to keep the EVGA 1080Ti LED bar, it looks great on the cards.  I bid on a couple stock EVGA (i guess people removed them for aftermarket or hybrid coolers) coolers and was lucky enough to pick up one for $7 plus $8.50 shipping.  I gutted it and pulled the LED bar.  I used two pieces of aluminum angle to create the face for the fans and the Morpheus cooler.  EVGA makes the best cards and without a doubt has the best customer service/tech support possible.  Where your logo with pride!!!

haha nice

You were able to connect the LED and everything? Super cool! 

 
Yep, I disassembled the cooler shroud and pulled the front light bar and connector.  I had to solderer the two wires and solder in an extension.  Then I could plug the LED bar in with the stock connector.  I was soooo happy when I saw an ICX cooler on ebay so that I could bid on it.  I had actually bid on two and won the second auction.  Honestly, the HUGE Morpheus cooler and the two 120 fans look bulky without the LED and the angle parts.

HaywireHaywood
Kudos on your efforts! Now do some overclocking and see how much more performance you can get out of it with the mod compared to the ICX and also compare sound levels between the two with a sound level app.  That is where you will see if your efforts are worthwhile.  While the mod does run the card cooler, that alone doesn't translate to a fps increase (I think).  None of the temps in the graphs exceed the normal operating range.  If you can get more frames and less noise, it's a success.

I do not have any noise sampling equipment.  I can only tell you that my gaming curve with the Morph and back plate which only goes up to 2200 RPM is much quieter than the stock ICX was.  I use Ghost Recon as my standard gaming test.  My ICX would spin up to ~3100 RPM and hold a steady 48C.  The same test with the Morph and back plate at ~2200 RPM keeps the game no hotter than 41C.  The 2200 is much quieter than the 3100.
 
Here are some Superposition 1.0 results with my cards best overclock (I didn't win the silicone lottery with my card).
 
Stock ICX with 100% fan:

 
Morph with 100% fan:

 
Morph with 100% fan and back plate:

 
 
The main reason the w/ back plate score is so much higher than the just Morph score is that the card temp stayed lower much longer.  It very slowly heated up so the thermal throttle didn't kick it till around scene 14.
 
Here is the gaming voltage and fan curve I use with the Morph and back plate:
 

You say you didn't will the SL but that 2100 on air is respectable. My card tops out at 2050 on water. I have you beat on memory speed - mine pushes 6350

WoW man that looks SWEET ! *awakes the geek in self*. Maybe I can look into this down the line, need some extra research first tho

Huge cooler - Nice results
 
Thanks for sharing with the community
 
Enjoy your First BR

SammyKiller
That's awesome, I can't get nowhere near those scores on my SC black, most I've seen is 6200 on 1080p extreme, then again, my case has poor airflow and my GPU hovers around 62-65c at 100% fanspeed. I might go hybrid kit on this one.

Sammy, I was super happy with the air cooled results.  The air flow through the case is super important.  With the temps you are describing, your card will be thermal throttling a LOT.

sn1pemare
I know I am a bit late to the party, anyway, that's an awesome Mod! I want to do something to cool the back of my 1080Ti HC as well. Mine feels way to hot (quite uncomfortable to the touch). It's running in a test bench sort of "case". You just gave me some great inspiration to tackle this. Thanks for sharing!

sn1pemare, thanks!  good luck with your mod, i think the creativity mixed with a bit of science adds some fun for the dork in all of us (i sure am)

Ganjamulla
This is a super sweet mod, temps looking awesome! I was going to attempt a similar thing to my EVGA GTX1080ti SC2, could I PM you with some questions ?

 
Thanks, and sure, feel free to message me and I would be happy to answer any questions I can.

I have that same exact card but trying to install the Morpheus ii with the vrm heatsink that the card comes with is to tall only by a few mm. So the die does not get good contact with the Morpheus ii block it's driving me nuts. It's so insanely close

I am a fan of your 1080ti build and would like to ask some question. I would be glad if you would return to my message. I know its been 5 years since your mod, But I would be really happy if you can help me out with my build on a similar build . My email is mktopbas2001@gmail.com