Tri/Quad 980 GTX setup

[Andreas Lilja]

Hi,

 

I'm currently thinking about getting the aforementioned setup. However, I have a question about the cooling aspect.  For Tri/Quad-SLI, isn't it better to get reference nVIDIA cards where the heat dissipates from the rear exhaust? I have read that a two/three fan setup (like the Gigabyte G1 or EVGA ACX 2.0) basically "sandwiches" the heat, especially for the middle GPU. True or not?  

[SimpleG]

SLI scaling is the biggest problem you have, not heat

[MegaDave91]

Unless you're driving some ridiculous resolution, then for all intents and purposes, dual 980s are more than enough.

[Andreas Lilja]

I'm aware of this. However my question pertains to the heat distribution.

Thanks nonetheless.

[othertomperson]

If you want to play Crysis 3 at its most extreme preset at 4K and get (close to) 60 fps this is your only way right now. Otherwise all of the other examples that scale well can pretty much be maxed out at 4K already by just two GTX 980s. Would be interesting how these (few) games handle 4k surround with four 980s though.

 

As for heat, it'll just be about four times as hot as one... like... not that bad relatively, Maxwell is pretty good here. Just use reference cards because non-reference would be bunched up a bit too much to be comfortable with.

[Majestic]

Calling @JustCallMeVlad

[Guest]

Yes, the reference cards will be a better choice here. With open designs the heat rises from the bottom-most card, to the middle and then to the top. This basically cooks the top-most card because it has to deal with the heated air. It's not impossible but you need really good airflow to keep the temperatures in check. With reference blower-type cards it's way easier and the cards shouldn't affect each other too much.

[hitsu1]

I chose reference design for two reasons: (i) the way the heat flow is directed out of the case; and (ii) if/when I decide to move to water cooling I know the reference cards have a block available for them.

 

I would only recommend the reference designs or going with water cooling if you get going with 3 or more way SLI. For me, my bottom card runs the warmest but not by much. Temperatures are usually with 5 degrees between the hottest and coolest card.

[spartaman64]

the middle card will probably be the hottest

[Najuno]

Actually I am very used to high end custom water cooling. Yet I did what I shouldn´t have done and skipped the loop on the GTX980 3way SLI, because the GM204 is just a performance chip... and even though it is said that Maxwell runs quiet a 3way or 4way SLI creates a bunch of heat and noise. More than I actually like.

That´s why I am hoping so badly on the next highend cards to be released soon, because I really want my monster radiator back in action and have it quiet even in the hardest synthetic benchmarks.

 

I am building right now another X99 PC just for benchmarking and 4K gaming, which will have the GPUs definitely watercooled and the other one will be downgraded soon with running 1 GTX980 fully watercooled with my 5930K as HTPC driving a 55" 1080p screen. I hate those leaf blowers .

[D2ultima]

Hi,

 

I'm currently thinking about getting the aforementioned setup. However, I have a question about the cooling aspect.  For Tri/Quad-SLI, isn't it better to get reference nVIDIA cards where the heat dissipates from the rear exhaust? I have read that a two/three fan setup (like the Gigabyte G1 or EVGA ACX 2.0) basically "sandwiches" the heat, especially for the middle GPU. True or not?  

Reference coolers are best for Tri with a huge board, but if you're going for Quad you should watercool them so there's no heat dissipation from fans there.

[JustCallMeVlad]

You'll need a full water setup with TRI or Quad. On air card 1 is normally 20C hotter