SLI Problem with MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G - Two PCB Revisions

[royfripple]

I purchased my first MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G in March of 2015.  At the end of May, I purchased a second one to SLI for gaming on my 1440p monitor.  When I received the second one, I noticed that it was longer, as the dragon logos and the entire heatsink sat at a different location on the PCB.

 

The reason for this is that the second card, with the PCB 1.3 revision has an entirely different black metal plate underneath the heatsink (note it's not a backplate, it sits on the downward facing side of the card, between the PCB and the heatsink).  It has an extra piece that connects directly to the I/O shield.  With the two different revisions in the computer, the reason is very obvious...the PCB 1.1 revision card sags really, REALLY badly.

 

It was so bad in fact, that I actually couldn't use them in SLI as it caused stability problems and actual blue screen crashes of my computer.  The reason is that on the PCB 1.1 version, the PCB sags right at the SLI connector and is so bad that the SLI connector isn't parallel with the floor.  This actually screws with the connection of the SLI bridge between the two cards.

 

I've already had two RMAs with MSI to replace the PCB 1.1 version and in both cases, they sent me the same version I already have.  I'm going on two weeks since I contacted an MSI tech support person (after the second RMA wasn't correct) and they have yet to find a card of that revision.  I've been without my second card for 2 and a half months.

 

Needless to say I'm pretty frustrated with them.  Has anyone else running this setup noticed the same problem?  It's a very specific situation so I'd assume it hasn't happened to a lot of people but I'm curious.

 

Note: It's not a real pretty build, I'm well aware of that.  Picture is for clarification purposes only. 

[iamdarkyoshi]

I used to own that case! I used my power cables to suspend my card for my crossfire bridge in the past. Now I dont need a bridge Just zip tie the PCIe power cables as a vertical suspension for the cards.

 

 

Man is that thing sagging!

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

Holy GPU Sag Batman

[royfripple]

 

iamdarkyoshi, on 13 Sept 2015 - 11:01 PM, said:

 

I used to own that case! I used my power cables to suspend my card for my crossfire bridge in the past. Now I dont need a bridge   Just zip tie the PCIe power cables as a vertical suspension for the cards.

 

 

Man is that thing sagging!

 

Yeah it's definitely getting long in the tooth.    I'm looking at the Enthoo Evolv ATX for an upgrade.  I've also wished that I'd have waited long enough on buying new cards for the 980 Ti to be out as I probably would have gone with that!

 

Yeah I've had some suggestions like that from my friends when discussing it.  If they aren't able to resolve it the third time around, I'll have to just do something like that.

 

I am planning on getting a windowed case (as mentioned above) pretty soon though so I'd really like to have matching cards that don't need to be hung by the power cables!

 

Yeah it's really crazy how badly it sags.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Yeah it's definitely getting long in the tooth.    I'm looking at the Enthoo Evolv ATX for an upgrade.  I've also wished that I'd have waited long enough on buying new cards for the 980 Ti to be out as I probably would have gone with that!

 

Yeah I've had some suggestions like that from my friends when discussing it.  If they aren't able to resolve it the third time around, I'll have to just do something like that.

 

I am planning on getting a windowed case (as mentioned above) pretty soon though so I'd really like to have matching cards that don't need to be hung by the power cables!

 

Yeah it's really crazy how badly it sags.

Another thing you can do is just cut some black painted PVC and just make support pillars that support the end of the card, one between the case and bottom GPU, and another between bottom GPU and top GPU. Good luck and welcome to the forums!

[royfripple]

Holy GPU Sag Batman

 

I should also note that the bottom card does have a bit of an incline so that makes the sagging look even worse than it is.  That being said, the sag is strong with this one. 

[iamdarkyoshi]

also for better airflow, I would run the bottom fan near the PSU and take out the cable grommet thingy under the GPU to get some air through it

[royfripple]

Another thing you can do is just cut some black painted PVC and just make support pillars that support the end of the card, one between the case and bottom GPU, and another between bottom GPU and top GPU. Good luck and welcome to the forums!

Yeah that's a great idea actually.  That's probably what I'll do if it comes to having to support it somehow.

 

Thanks!  I've been watching the linus channel regularly for several months now and this issue finally pushed me to create an account on the forums.

[Nena Trinity]

It is probably not a big deal, I hope... :3

[ConnorDahne]

I bought my two msi 970's about four months apart and had a similar thing happen..

Grab one of these, it really helps with the sagging, and looks cool as hell.

http://www.v1tech.com/shop/backplates/msi-dragon-backplates/

[Kronvict]

I purchased my first MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G in March of 2015.  At the end of May, I purchased a second one to SLI for gaming on my 1440p monitor.  When I received the second one, I noticed that it was longer, as the dragon logos and the entire heatsink sat at a different location on the PCB.

 

The reason for this is that the second card, with the PCB 1.3 revision has an entirely different black metal plate underneath the heatsink (note it's not a backplate, it sits on the downward facing side of the card, between the PCB and the heatsink).  It has an extra piece that connects directly to the I/O shield.  With the two different revisions in the computer, the reason is very obvious...the PCB 1.1 revision card sags really, REALLY badly.

 

It was so bad in fact, that I actually couldn't use them in SLI as it caused stability problems and actual blue screen crashes of my computer.  The reason is that on the PCB 1.1 version, the PCB sags right at the SLI connector and is so bad that the SLI connector isn't parallel with the floor.  This actually screws with the connection of the SLI bridge between the two cards.

 

I've already had two RMAs with MSI to replace the PCB 1.1 version and in both cases, they sent me the same version I already have.  I'm going on two weeks since I contacted an MSI tech support person (after the second RMA wasn't correct) and they have yet to find a card of that revision.  I've been without my second card for 2 and a half months.

 

Needless to say I'm pretty frustrated with them.  Has anyone else running this setup noticed the same problem?  It's a very specific situation so I'd assume it hasn't happened to a lot of people but I'm curious.

 

Note: It's not a real pretty build, I'm well aware of that.  Picture is for clarification purposes only. 

My friend has the exact same problem as you in regards to having two different pcb revisions on his msi gaming 970s. He bought his first one at launch and his second one yesterday but has no problems running it in sli, just the sli bridge is a little slanted but he wants to replace his older card so that they match up and to reduce sag. Have you had any luck or response from msi yet to swap out your card?

[royfripple]

I bought my two msi 970's about four months apart and had a similar thing happen..

Grab one of these, it really helps with the sagging, and looks cool as hell.

http://www.v1tech.com/shop/backplates/msi-dragon-backplates/

Thanks for the link.  My brother-in-law is a mechanical engineer so I'm actually going to be working with him to make a couple of custom aluminum backplates!

[royfripple]

My friend has the exact same problem as you in regards to having two different pcb revisions on his msi gaming 970s. He bought his first one at launch and his second one yesterday but has no problems running it in sli, just the sli bridge is a little slanted but he wants to replace his older card so that they match up and to reduce sag. Have you had any luck or response from msi yet to swap out your card?

 

I'm sorry it took me so long to respond!  I did get it resolved with MSI...after over 2 and a half months.  I got my third replacement card about a week and a half ago that was PCB rev 1.3.  They are working well now.

 

I completely agree, even if I hadn't had the crashing problems and everything, it still really sucked having two cards that don't look the same.  From the trouble I had, I'm quite certain they won't swap it out if the only reason is that they look different.  The other big issue seemed to be that they don't have many of the 1.3 versions of the card in their refurbished stock.

 

The OTHER problem is that when you send in a card for RMA, they literally go to a warehouse where someone without any technical skill just swaps it out for the next refurbished card on the shelf.  So if you do get an RMA, you need to make sure that the person you're dealing with from Tech/customer support guarantees that they will have the card sent to them first in order to confirm it's the correct version.  They were supposed to do that with my second RMA but it didn't happen (they actually offered me the Gold edition because they didn't have any of the 1.3 revisions of the normal gaming 4g in, which I didn't accept since the color is completely different).  With the third RMA, the guy actually sent me a picture of the card so I could confirm it's what I was looking for.

 

If it's at all possible, I'd also try to work directly with tech support, not just the normal RMA customer service as the tech support guys will give you the best chance of understanding and resolving the problem.

[Kevguy]

Stop buying MSi cards.

Buy ASUS, gigabyte or evga instead.

[royfripple]

Stop buying MSi cards.

Buy ASUS, gigabyte or evga instead.

 

Believe me, I've most definitely considered it.  I really like the cards themselves.  They perform very well compared to the Strix 970 and the EVGA 970 and in my personal opinion, is the best looking card of the three.  I can guarantee this will definitely be a factor however the next time I'm looking to buy a video card (or two )

[Kevguy]

Believe me, I've most definitely considered it. I really like the cards themselves. They perform very well compared to the Strix 970 and the EVGA 970 and in my personal opinion, is the best looking card of the three. I can guarantee this will definitely be a factor however the next time I'm looking to buy a video card (or two )

See, that's the catch with MSI stuff. They make it look all pretty and stuff. But it's still a pig wearing lipstick.

I have the ASUS gtx 970 STRIX. It works just st fine.

[ConnorDahne]

Thanks for the link.  My brother-in-law is a mechanical engineer so I'm actually going to be working with him to make a couple of custom aluminum backplates!

Ooooh, send me two lol

[iamdarkyoshi]

Thanks for the link.  My brother-in-law is a mechanical engineer so I'm actually going to be working with him to make a couple of custom aluminum backplates!

I would pay up to like 40 bucks for one that fits my XFX R9 390X (reference 290x pcb) because ekwb's backplates arent really that cheap.

[royfripple]

Ooooh, send me two lol

 

 

I would pay up to like 40 bucks for one that fits my XFX R9 390X (reference 290x pcb) because ekwb's backplates arent really that cheap.

 

Hahaha, we'll see how quickly it gets done.  He doesn't live near me so it'll probably take a while to get together and figure it out.  We'll see what happens though.

 

We did discuss the possibility of actually making them to sell, however the upfront cost would be significant in order to get a hold of a large enough variety of cards.

[royfripple]

I would pay up to like 40 bucks for one that fits my XFX R9 390X (reference 290x pcb) because ekwb's backplates arent really that cheap.

 

I also forgot to mention that I agree, theirs aren't cheap and most of the other ones aren't metal.  I also really prefer the anodized aluminum look.

[Flowroro]

I purchased my first MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G in March of 2015.  At the end of May, I purchased a second one to SLI for gaming on my 1440p monitor.  When I received the second one, I noticed that it was longer, as the dragon logos and the entire heatsink sat at a different location on the PCB.

 

The reason for this is that the second card, with the PCB 1.3 revision has an entirely different black metal plate underneath the heatsink (note it's not a backplate, it sits on the downward facing side of the card, between the PCB and the heatsink).  It has an extra piece that connects directly to the I/O shield.  With the two different revisions in the computer, the reason is very obvious...the PCB 1.1 revision card sags really, REALLY badly.

 

It was so bad in fact, that I actually couldn't use them in SLI as it caused stability problems and actual blue screen crashes of my computer.  The reason is that on the PCB 1.1 version, the PCB sags right at the SLI connector and is so bad that the SLI connector isn't parallel with the floor.  This actually screws with the connection of the SLI bridge between the two cards.

 

I've already had two RMAs with MSI to replace the PCB 1.1 version and in both cases, they sent me the same version I already have.  I'm going on two weeks since I contacted an MSI tech support person (after the second RMA wasn't correct) and they have yet to find a card of that revision.  I've been without my second card for 2 and a half months.

 

Needless to say I'm pretty frustrated with them.  Has anyone else running this setup noticed the same problem?  It's a very specific situation so I'd assume it hasn't happened to a lot of people but I'm curious.

 

Note: It's not a real pretty build, I'm well aware of that.  Picture is for clarification purposes only. 

why are your gpus so bent?

[royfripple]

why are your gpus so bent?

 

The top one is sagging (with the reason I described in my original post).  The bottom one did seem to be bending upward and I'm really not sure why.  I ordered the new Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX case in September and it was delivered this past Monday.  I moved my build to the new case and the cards both look completely fine now (MSI did finally send me a corrected card with the extra support bracket).

 

As an aside, the Enthoo Evolv ATX case is a seriously beautiful, functional case.  Building in it was amazing, being very straightforward and with plenty of room/options to route things.  I'm looking forward to upgrading my build aesthetically in this case (I'm currently looking into LED lighting options).  Someday when I have the time and can drop the money I'll setup water cooling in it, which it appears to be well suited to.