Help with fans/cooling. High GPU temps.

Icanhaswatur · March 31, 2015

OK, so, I need help with my cooling. Unfortunately, I didnt realize how bad the layout of the EVGA Z97 FTW Mobo is, and my video cards MUST be in the first 2 slots for SLI to work. This forces them to be insanely close to each other.

The issue is they are ACX cards, and my temperature on the first card (top), rises to ~85c sometimes. I didnt really notice this til I started playing AC: Unity. Battlefield was fine with like low 70s, but Unity pushes it to insane levels (~85c). The menus even push it to 92c. IDK why that happens in that game. My idle temps are mid-high 20s for top card and low-mid 20s for 2nd card.

Here are some pics. Might not be the best but I tried to show what I can. I know cable mnagement is bad, but the PSU has insanely short cables and isnt modular.

http://imgur.com/a/ntjpS

My airflow/fans are as follows:

Case is HAF 932

2 Corsair AF120 top exhaust fans

1 140mm Rear exhaust.

1 230mm front intake fan.

4 CM Excalibur side fans for intake.

And 1 120mm for Push on heatsink.

My PSU is mounted so the fan is up, exhausting air out of the case. Figured this should pull the hot air from the GPUS and reduce some temps. Would doing this mess up the airflow with the side fans?

Is there anyway to change something to help my cooling, specifically for my vid cards? Like do something with the side fans? Did I mess up and get terrible fans for intake or even exhaust (The Excaliburs?) I do have my fans on max at all times. I have no way to control them outside of the BIOS as my fan controller broke.

MY CPU temps are fine, never over 60c on load and during AIDA64 stress test. And yes, the cards are OC'd. 6% in Precision X. And my SLI bridge was off because I had to put the 2nd card back in the 2nd slot. If the pics dont do enough, please let me know and will show what is needed.

blackadder · April 1, 2015

Top card is normally 10c hotter than bottom. You can place a fan in halfway between them see if temps decrease. Also place psu upside down if flitered and not on carpet.

Edit. Saw pics your cards are to close. You need a slot between them. Not much you can do with air,i think.

bob345 · April 1, 2015

are you sure you cant use the card in a lower slot for sli? You motherboard does have small pci-e disable switches, so make sure the other slots are not turned off.

Icanhaswatur · April 1, 2015

are you sure you cant use the card in a lower slot for sli? You motherboard does have small pci-e disable switches, so make sure the other slots are not turned off.

Yeah, I have tried. It recognizes the card and uses it for PhysX, but the ability to enable SLI is missing from NVCP. I have concluded with my google searching that it doesnt support SLI unless its in the first 2 slots. I was blinded by my love for EVGA. It is a terribly designed board.