Fury X will now wear 3D printed customized plates

Jul 2, 2015 12:34 GMT  ·  By

On the official AMD R9 Fury X community website Fury X owners will find instructions and the 3D model of the card's faceplate ready for download.

In an interesting move to help customizations, AMD hopes it will gather a larger customer base than Nvidia without being forced to join the price wars started by Nvidia. Small features like these will enable AMD to keep a profitable price, in addition to its cutting-edge HBM technology, and justify a higher price than its main competitor, the Nvidia GTX 980 Ti.

On its main community website AMD claims that, although it wants to keep the default black die cast finish in black nickel and full metal construction, many users will probably feel the need to add a personal touch to their cards so it encourages 3D printing their own designs.

Instructions to change the plate are slightly funny as they consist in advising users not to change the plate while the card is plugged in the motherboard and operational and that user's workspace should be clean of any debris.

Four screws and it's gone

To actually remove the plate, one has to only remove the four hex screws that tighten the plate to the cooling system and put a newly 3D printed one back in. Another quite useful advice is not to tighten the screws too much as it may damage the outer metal case.

The practicality of this feature can actually be of use, especially for those PC owners that have their interior neon-lighted and cases covered in transparent acrylic material for a full favorite anime or MLP covered Fury X on display.

However, it is unknown how printed material can withstand heat as most materials used for 3D printing are unlikely to be as good as metal as heat conductors, never mind the eventual drawings or painted patterns on the plate itself.