Modifying a Dell PowerEdge R520 for powered GPU support is easier than you would expect

Modification really wasn&that bad. I ended up using a pair of tin snips, a loose hack saw blade and some 100 grit sand paper. Probably should have sanded the edges a little more. I am considering the alternative of blasting the corners with a heat gun near their melting point to really smooth them down, but not sure if that would be wise. This would be easier to do if you had a Dremel or oscillating saw. I did notice after reviewing the footage the card was running hotter than without the shroud. I suspect this is because of two reasons. One: The airflow wasn&being restricted and diverted by the shroud. Two: The fans were running faster in the first video because the cover wasn&attached properly. It probably isn&nice on them but these Tesla M40 cards seem to be able to handle being constantly near 90 C with no crashing. My Tesla M40 in my main server has been grinding away running Folding at Home under a heavy load all winter now. It has been stable at 87 C at stock fan speeds. I suspect the R520 would perform better with a blower style card like a NVIDIA 1080 TI FE or a Quadro P6000. eBay link to my power cable I use and sell: Video of me discussing the caveats of using a powered GPU in the R520: 0:00 Intro 0:51 Cutting inner fan shroud nubs off 3:14 Cutting a path to run the power cable 4:49 Expanding the opening for GPU airflow 8:41 Tesla M40 GPU installation process 10:48 Testing the card under load