Blower vs Reference coolers for SLI

[Monkey Dust]

Hi all,

 

I'm chewing over various builds in my head, and the one I'm currently settling on involves a Silvertone SG10 (a mATX case) and a couple of 980s, or maybe two 970s if I get an unexpected attack of sanity. In this build the cards would be right next to each other, leaving the top card little room to intake air. The SG10 can have up to 1 120mm and 2 92mm fans blowing directly on to the cards, with an 80mm fan as an exhaust on the motherboard side. My question is, in such a setup should I stick with the reference, rear exhausting, cooler? Or can I use two blower style coolers without everything getting too hot?

 

Thanks.

[dadasmithywinkle]

Hi all,

 

I'm chewing over various builds in my head, and the one I'm currently settling on involves a Silvertone SG10 (a mATX case) and a couple of 980s, or maybe two 970s if I get an unexpected attack of sanity. In this build the cards would be right next to each other, leaving the top card little room to intake air. The SG10 can have up to 1 120mm and 2 92mm fans blowing directly on to the cards, with an 80mm fan as an exhaust on the motherboard side. My question is, in such a setup should I stick with the reference, rear exhausting, cooler? Or can I use two blower style coolers without everything getting too hot?

 

Thanks.

Reference are better for SLI, as the hot air goes straight out of the case. Blower-style is the same thing as reference. Aftermarket or open coolers are adviseable for SLI-setups. Regardless, you'll only see about a 5 degree C difference between the two.

[Xaring]

If you dont care at all about looks -> Bottom card default, top card - aftermarket design.

 

If you care about looks, both reference design. Make sure you have plenty of intakes, if you can get side intakes, that would be perfect.

[Najuno]

If you dont care at all about looks -> Bottom card default, top card - aftermarket design.

 

If you care about looks, both reference design. Make sure you have plenty of intakes, if you can get side intakes, that would be perfect.

This!

 

I could not have said it better!

It´s the way I set up my 3way SLI 2 reference cards and 1 aftermarket combined with superior airflow.

[Megahurt]

mATX motherboards usually have 3 slots between their 2 full lenght pci-e slots, so you might have plenty of room with 2 slot coolers, check the layout of the motherboard first.

[Bhav]

Unless you have a Corsair Carbide Air, in which case you can stick in 4 aftermarket cooled cards and not have any temp problems.

[Monkey Dust]

If you dont care at all about looks -> Bottom card default, top card - aftermarket design.

 

If you care about looks, both reference design. Make sure you have plenty of intakes, if you can get side intakes, that would be perfect.

 I would have thought it would have been the top card that would struggle for air in that setup not the bottom one? I wanted to use aftermarket coolers for the high clock speeds, mixing them would rule that out.

 

The SG10 only has 4 PCI slots so running with a space inbetween is out.

[Bhav]

No, having blower cards under an aftermarket means that the heat from the bottom cards wont rise to the top one, so its better with aftermarket on top, blowers underneath.

If you put aftermarket ones at the bottom, they push their hot air up, not great for small or closed / poorly vented cases.

[Xaring]

 I would have thought it would have been the top card that would struggle for air in that setup not the bottom one? I wanted to use aftermarket coolers for the high clock speeds, mixing them would rule that out.

 

The SG10 only has 4 PCI slots so running with a space inbetween is out.

 

YOu can do that, but then the hot air from the bottom GPU will raise and go into the top one, causing it to thermal throttle in the worse cases, if you exhaust backwards on the botton, youve, still have completely fresh ar sucked in on the top one (it does not matter if its aftermarket, whci would have higher clock speed and a better cooler, or a reference)

[Monkey Dust]

YOu can do that, but then the hot air from the bottom GPU will raise and go into the top one, causing it to thermal throttle in the worse cases, if you exhaust backwards on the botton, youve, still have completely fresh ar sucked in on the top one (it does not matter if its aftermarket, whci would have higher clock speed and a better cooler, or a reference)

Ah, that makes sense, thanks.