980 Ti's 2 way SLI is running one card too hot.

[ApexTypeA]

Hardware:

i7 4930 K

32 GB DDR3 Dominator Platinum 2400

Asus X79 Sabertooth

Power: AX1200i

Case: Cooler Master HAF XB Evo

AND, of course, the twins: Zotac 980 Ti AMP. (not the extreme or the Arctic) 

Cooling: CPU: H100i

              Video Cards: The stock cooling solution heat pipe with 3 fans

              Case: The case has 2 Noctua fans pushing air in through the H100i Radiator in front. 

Another fan above the IO in the back. 

One big boy 200 mm up on top. 

1 Small 8mm behind it to cool HDD. 

 

Ok, let me try to be brief. I just got a second 980 Ti. Before that I had no problem with the cooling. I had pretty much all fans pushing air in and the big 200 mm on top exhausting it out. Now that I added the second TI, the First one is hot as hell. Overclocking it or not really. It gets to 87 degrees Celsius 188 F. I tried switching the fans orientation, opening the case up during testing and get the same results. I am concerned that running this cart under these temps is going to cook it. I like this case because it is unusual and easy to access, practical etc. But after spending the day tinkering with it, I have been able to reach the overclocking maximum for both cards, however I cannot run it for long because I am concerned about the temps, they are are killing me. Is there any ideas on what can be done to run it a bit cooler?

 

 

[ApexTypeA]

The res are 3440 by 1440. So the reason why I got the second Ti was to run it smooth as this x34 deserves.

 

[Codyman125]

that's the "Suffocated" card yes? Just plug your monitors into the other card. the card that drives the displays will always be hotter, so make that card the same one that gets free and open air.

[thekeemo]

That is normal. The top one isnt getting as much airflow but that temp is still safe.

[MegaDave91]

Top card is always hotter in an SLI configuration. Make a custom fan curve if you haven't already; this should reduce temperatures significantly; albeit at the cost of noise.

 

EDIT: That is a relatively small case for dual card operation on air.

[Moonzy]

dual gpu will normally suffocate the top gpu due to it having less room to breath

 

your case is too small for dual 980 ti to breath adequately tbh

 

might wanna get a case with larger space with more intakes and exhaust, the 980 ti can be pretty hot

[ApexTypeA]

Yeah, a new case might have to be the new course of action here... The noise bothers me too so. If I were to get a new case I could ever water cool both cards with another ratiator. But you guys think that, say 88 is still safe enough then?

 

[ApexTypeA]

12 minutes ago, Codyman125 said:

that's the "Suffocated" card yes? Just plug your monitors into the other card. the card that drives the displays will always be hotter, so make that card the same one that gets free and open air.

I am new to SLI, I didn't even think of that! I will try that right now!

I will let you folks know. 

 

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, ApexTypeA said:

Yeah, a new case might have to be the new course of action here... The noise bothers me too so. If I were to get a new case I could ever water cool both cards with another ratiator. But you guys think that, say 88 is still safe enough then?

 

to me, anything above 75 is too hot and above 85 is unacceptable (for intel and nvidia, for most cases)

[MegaDave91]

1 minute ago, ApexTypeA said:

Yeah, a new case might have to be the new course of action here... The noise bothers me too so. If I were to get a new case I could ever water cool both cards with another ratiator. But you guys think that, say 88 is still safe enough then?

 

Hot but safe. If you have an over abundance of horsepower from your cards, you can downclock them to reduce temperatures. 

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, MegaDave91 said:

If you have an over abundance of horsepower from your cards, you can downclock them to reduce temperatures. 

never! MORE FPS!! MORE PERFORMANCE MUAHAHAHA

 

or just enable v-sync if your fps is always above your refresh rate anyways :I

[Moonzy]

3 minutes ago, ApexTypeA said:

I am new to SLI, I didn't even think of that! I will try that right now!

I will let you folks know. 

it will help by a few degrees, around 5~10 celcius lol

depending on the resolution you're pushing too though

[Tech Deals]

8 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

to me, anything above 75 is too hot and above 85 is unacceptable (for intel and nvidia, for most cases)

^ I second this...

 

My 980 TI gets to about 70 degrees under full load, but I only have one of them.

 

Note: That temp is with a 30% overclock from base, about 1,300 MHz.

[MegaDave91]

6 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

never! MORE FPS!! MORE PERFORMANCE MUAHAHAHA

 

or just enable v-sync if your fps is always above your refresh rate anyways :I

VSync? Eww...

[Tech Deals]

11 minutes ago, ApexTypeA said:

Yeah, a new case might have to be the new course of action here... The noise bothers me too so. If I were to get a new case I could ever water cool both cards with another ratiator. But you guys think that, say 88 is still safe enough then?

 

May I suggest a Corsair Obsidian 750D?

 

That is what I use, lovely case, tons of room, tons of airflow, lots of ways to attach coolers of all kinds.

[Lethal Seraph]

Top card on an SLI config is expected to run hotter unless you have a blower-style exhaust on both cards.

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, MegaDave91 said:

VSync? Eww...

peasants like me who cant afford a 980 ti and g-sync lives with a 970 and v-sync on 1080p ;-;

my fps caps at 60 anyway so no stutters and tearing  i'd give up some input lag for better visuals since im not playing fps anyways

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, Lethal Seraph said:

Top card on an SLI config is expected to run hotter unless you have a blower-style exhaust on both cards.

blower style cards will also suffocate in some cases, insufficient intake due to the bottom card blocking it lol

@ApexTypeA, you should space out your gpu as far as possible (1 pcie lane is minimum, 2 pcie lanes is adequate) so your top gpu have more room to breath in

[Tech Deals]

1 minute ago, Moonzy said:

blower style cards will also suffocate in some cases, insufficient intake due to the bottom card blocking it lol

@ApexTypeA, you should space out your gpu as far as possible (1 pcie lane is minimum, 2 pcie lanes is adequate) so your top gpu have more room to breath in

^ This.  If your cards are physically next to each other and you can't put a finger or two between them, they are too close.

 

Newer and better motherboards put the first and second PCI-E x16 slots further apart so there is some air gap.  Still not great, but better than nothing.

[Lethal Seraph]

19 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

blower style cards will also suffocate in some cases, insufficient intake due to the bottom card blocking it lol

Yup, especially if you run a MicroATX sandwich build. 

[Samfisher]

37 minutes ago, ApexTypeA said:

Yeah, a new case might have to be the new course of action here... The noise bothers me too so. If I were to get a new case I could ever water cool both cards with another ratiator. But you guys think that, say 88 is still safe enough then?

 

Start worrying when it's near 95. 88 is fine, just spin the fans faster or something.

[ApexTypeA]

34 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

it will help by a few degrees, around 5~10 celcius lol

depending on the resolution you're pushing too though

I was actually trying to do this and was unable to do so. It seems, when SLI bridge is installed, the second card does not output a signal via Display Port. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I tried disabling SLI within NVidia CP and, once that goes through and I reboot, I get the second card to drive the monitor. Any suggestions?

 

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, ApexTypeA said:

I was actually trying to do this and was unable to do so. It seems, when SLI bridge is installed, the second card does not output a signal via Display Port. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I tried disabling SLI within NVidia CP and, once that goes through and I reboot, I get the second card to drive the monitor. Any suggestions?

i never ran sli config before (due to issues)
but i suppose you can switch the main gpu in the nvidia control panel, if not, the bios?

[ApexTypeA]

25 minutes ago, Tech Deals said:

^ This.  If your cards are physically next to each other and you can't put a finger or two between them, they are too close.

 

Newer and better motherboards put the first and second PCI-E x16 slots further apart so there is some air gap.  Still not great, but better than nothing.

There is a good inch between them. The 3rd PCI E slot is not an option at this point. Because of how the case is designed, the card on the 3rd slot would sufocate almost as badly. 

[ApexTypeA]

33 minutes ago, Tech Deals said:

May I suggest a Corsair Obsidian 750D?

 

That is what I use, lovely case, tons of room, tons of airflow, lots of ways to attach coolers of all kinds.

I just looked at it. Its quite good looking. The footprint of the HAF XB is a bit much for a desktop PC. I bought it when I was using the PC in the LR and it worked well for that purpose.