As you can see from my sig I am running 560's in SLi. The top GPU is hitting some very high temps when gaming. By high I mean as high as 95C, though normally around 90C. The bottom card is happily 25 - 30C lower. As you can probably tell I am not happy with this. So far the only ways I can keep temps under control are to underclock and stick all the fans on full speed, creating a rather loud jet-like noise. Again this is not ideal. I have a fan on the side panel blowing air straight onto both GPUs and another inside the case blowing front to back on the GPU's. Both of these fans are Sharkoon Silent Eagles. With the exception of water cooling or buying a new case I'm not sure how else to cool these down. Any ideas?
I take it you have already swapped the cards over to rule out any fault with that particular card's cooling? Does the card reach the same temps if you disable the SLi?
This is a common drawback with SLI and air cooling - there simply isn't enough room for sufficient airflow for the top card, furthermore the only air it can get is the very hot air from the PCB of the card directly below it. I had exactly the same problem with GTX470 SLI. My theory has always been that exhaust fans are more important - I think you'd be better off having the side fan drawing hot air away from the GPUs rather than blowin directly onto them, which achieves very little - the fans that cool the GPU heatsinks are concealed, so no other external fan is going to help them. If its the 1000rpm version of the Sharkoon you should consider getting something with better airflow. Can you take a pic of your rig so we can see the distance between the two cards?
As LennyRhys mentioned it's common with sli especially if the cards are sandwiched togeather like they will be in ur case with that mobo, u could try swopping them around as Omoobhs says because most cards are slightly different and the card u currently have in the bottom slot might be a slightly cooler card anyway so it's worth a try, the chip's are rated for 99c but it's always better to try and keep em under 90c really, another option is to use either Evga Precision or Msi Afterburner and make a fan profile for the cards, no need to go extreme and manually have them on 100% while gaming u can just make them ramp up a bit more at lower temps.
I can only mirror the thoughts given above. The Gene-Z in my view is not ideal for air cooled SLI. My GTX 460 SLI are happy and cool but only because the ASUS P8P67 Deluxe motherboard offers decent spacing between the cards and I have three 120mm fans including a couple of Silverstone Air Penetrators fuelling them both with cool air.
I must admit I was expecting to have high temps so this isn't a surprise to me. I have swapped the cards around so I know there isn't a fault. The space between the 2 cards is very small... 7-8mm at it's worst I think. I have had the side fan pulling air out the case but it seemed to make the problem a tad worse, which surprised me. I'm contemplating getting rid of them and going for a 570/580, but I use the second GPU to fold when I'm got gaming. That is the only thing stopping my from going back to a single card.
One thing I was thinking was to buy a PCI-E riser/extender cable and move it down a few slots. It will fit in the case and I have a VGA holder for the case too so It can be secured nicely.
Worth a shot for a few quid! Also I have lots of experience with the 690 II and SLI cooling. In retrospect the side fan is a complete waste of time. I would recommend using a Silverstone Air Penetrator 120mm fan in the front of the case and remove the bottom portion of the HDD rack if possible. Also a Be Quiet! USC SilentWings 120mm fan would be great in the bottom chassis slot next to the PSU if it'll fit. Get a Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850RPM 120mm fan for the rear and you should be all set.
