M18x R2 GPU2 custom blanking plate.

For the small amount of people that bought an M18x R1/R2 new from Dell and only ordered one GPU, the GPU2 space was filled with a fan grill blank and an MXM blanking plate in order to maintain the support under the keyboard and block off an unused vent. P/N: A10C09 and A10C11.


Those blanks are hard to find (for me in Australia anyway), as I have upgraded to a single RX 480 4GB card, there is flex on the right side of the keyboard due to having no GPU2 leaving a big empty space.

So I made a dummy MXM GPU plate from some scrap plastic which allows the right heatsink to be mounted as normal maintaining the keyboard support and keeping the GPU2 parts with the system so they don't get lost somewhere.

Some pictures. Making use of a broken X bracket. The slot end is a V shape so it only rests on the slot without touching/compressing pins.

 

Scrap laptop lid.


I was going to add supports to emulate the original blank plate but decided the heatsink was better.

 

Nice work! How much are you selling them for?

 

How much are you happy to spend? I've got left over sheets to make a few more of the same spec, it takes a little while to make as I don't have the best tools for the job to make the process quicker.

 

I could attempt to make one, I guess. I have some dead cards that I could take a bracket from.

Next thing to do is to try to blend the CPU heatsink to the spare GPU heatsink for extra CPU cooling.

 

I started with a dead card and traced out the shape then cut it out, the scrap HP lid I used ended up being twice as thick as an MXM PCB which is why I have the V point on the end. Once all cut out I held the dead card up to it to trace all the holes. With the current situation I'm not sure how long one would take to post, I bought another AW from your state but it has been sitting at the post office for a week now.

That's what I was thinking exept for GPU1 but it's a long way appart and it would need a custom heatpipe, it would be really good.

 

Its simple yet genius idea being honest. I was looking for one complete set for a longest time but never bought a kit as paying price incl shipping that would cost as much as the GPU itself , didnt make any sense. The way I got mine was just by luck when bought complete m18x for parts that was single GPU from factory and had those dummy card block offs by default.

Im planning on building 3D printing station in not too distant future, and I'd be printing something like this for sure, since I have these parts on hands, or even better idea is to just cut one of them blanks from the plastic sheet, and fit original heatsink to it, looks factory and does the job too