Hi Guys, I've just installed a second graphics card into my computer at am having trouble with cooling. My (important) specs are: Asus P8Z68-v pro Asus Radeon 6950 Direct Cu II x 2 Antec 1200 case The 6950s are massive cards (three slots) and as such they sit very close together. This severly impacts the air flow on the top card. I can't find anyway to cool it. I've placed a small spacer between the two cards but it hasn't really had any effect. I don't currently have a side fan on my case, so I'm not sure if that would make a difference. The top card idles at about 70-80 degrees, whereas the bottom one operates closer to 30. Does anyone have any suggestions? Here is a picture of someone elses setup, it should give you a good idea about the spacing I'm working with.
That's not right. There's no chance there's a 50c increase. The cooler has most likely got contact issues. It's time to strip the cards, and reapply thermal paste. EDIT: I forgot to mention, if you're afraid, there's no need. It's just like installing a CPU cooler but with a few more screws. Simples.
TheMadDutchDude is right.. I torn my 5770 apart to clean out the dust.. It was 75 C Idle.. after that.. I'm now idling around 50s but it's a hot running card.. there's no issues..
Thanks guys. I think I'm going to pull one of them out and double check that it's not just over heating. I have some thermal paste here, so it shouldn't be a problem to tear the heatsink off and reapply. I'll do that further testing and then see how we look. Here is a pic of the Sensors, with the computer idling.
Should try swapping the cards around before going through the trouble of TIM application. That way you can identify if it is an issue with one of the cards.
I've tried switching the cards around and cleaning them out. Still the same issue. I think it would be a strange coincidence if two cards had thermal problems. Not sure what the next step is.
Well I've got available space for 2 120mms in the HDD bays and 1 120mm on the side panel. Will that make much difference?
Experiment! Running a couple of GPUs is all about tinkering to get the best performance. It'll be worth while playing with the voltages of both cards. I found with an old GTX 480 the voltage could be dropped a little bit and that had an impact upon limiting the GPU temperature whilst maintaining the same performance.
It's not the end of the world having CrossFire disabled until I work out how to fix it. I might order 3 new fans and see how it goes. What I actually dislike most about my computer is the cabling. the 1200 is really hard to neatly cable. I'm tempted to buy some longer braided cables, but they are really expensive.
If switching the cards doesn't change the problem (top card still crazy hot) then definitely experiment with airflow.
If these are pics for both cards idling, I gather the right hand one is the top card? Why aren't the clock speeds both the same, is the bottom card (left) actually doing anything?
Yes that is the top card. Yes it doesn't appear to be doing anything. I didn't think Crossfire worked with Windows itself anyway though
You're probably right, can you get a game running in windowed mode and leave both GPU-Z's open to see if both cards are in fact being utilised?
I had something similar withy two EVGA GRX680 Cheesecake's, one was running mega hot and the other wasn't, turns out that my SLI setting was done by a noob (me) now they run at the same temps but with fan throttling to coincide with GPU loads I get 50C at full load with fans running at 50/60% of max. But ill echo what others say with the small gap between the two GPUs you are bound to have a hotter running top card get some forced airflow around it. Fresh air from outside the case directly onto your GPUs will make the world of difference!
The top card is always the primary card too, and doesn't always fully throttle down because Windows uses it. The temperatures shouldn't be that much higher though. Let us know how you get on with changing things around.
