Beware the pitfalls of component upgrading!!

[pumaknight]

This is going to be one of those silly posts that I thought I would never have to post...but hopefully others can benefit from my stupidity!!

I recently replaced my elder 4870x2 with a pair of 6950 cards. The installation went fine, and the performance increase even better. But as I put them in I began to wonder about the proximity of the top card to the lower card....

On my mobo, the PCI-e slots are next to each other....leaving hardly any space for the top card to dissipate its heat. Me in my eagerness thought little of this as the mobo box said the mobo was Crossfire ready, so the cooling must be fine....ahem...cue the embarrassed face!!

I launched crysis 2, hi res, DX11 and all settings to max...the cards just ate it up, giving me a very healthly framerate...The dreaded stuttering did not appear, and the quality made even my non gaming wife pause for comment "wow, that looks so real...look the trees even move!!"

After about 1/2 of gaming the fans kicked into high gear....not too noisy and not too bothersome. But after just another 15 minutes, I got a controlled shutdown..black screen!!

The system rebooted and I checked out the hardware....sure enough, my card temp on the top card had gone above 105!! Not good!! To lower card was reporting a rather more manageable 50...the case was fine for cooling, it was just the location of the top card and the lack of airspace to allow the fan to do its business.

After slapping my head against a hard surface for being so stupid and not check the location of the cards on the mobo, I came to Overclcockers to order teh fix!

So I am now awaiting a brand new mobo (with processor cos it was a good price!) where the PCI-e slots a reasonable distance apart....

I tell you this story to remind all to check all components...those of you with a bit of skill and a bit of knowledge will laugh at this story I am sure...but those of us who are more used to ordering a total system as opposed to component upgrading...well, beware to pitfalls of component upgrading...
If a box says it is okay, don't assume it is....cehck the ower, the cooling the space, the compatability, the connectors, the software, the screws....to be safe, check every darn thing!! Only then will you avoid the pitfall of component upgrade!!

Wish me well when I fit my mobo....hopefuly I wont uncover another bad configuration and have to go to my very very understanding wife explaining why my "cheap" upgrade is costing yet more money!!

Be well all!

 

[Rroff]

Common problem with multi GPU - and why a lot of GeForce cards come with holes in the PCB that match up with the fan on the reverse - not sure if Radeons have this feature.

 

[Surveyor]

Let's face it you just wanted an excuse to upgrade

Another option would have been to use something to create a bit of a gap between the cards and perhaps have a fan blowing cool air into the gap.

It would have been a lot cheaper if it worked OK.

This person used the rubber foot from a case to create a gap:

 

[vectisitch]

another really good reason the go custom watercooled

 

[rocsen]

I just left the screw out on the bottom card and let it lean at a very slight angle. Made a huge difference.

 

[setter]

Ive got a fan stuck behind my gpu's. But, when buying a motherboard, slot spacing is something i always check, as ive ran a few sli setups over the years. Of the two x58 boards i own, (p6t dlx v2, p6 x58 de), the latter has the better spacing, but i wont be using multiple gpu's on the p6 as its not gonna be used for gaming much.

 

[pumaknight]

thanks for the suggestions...tried the spacer and the one less screw and stretched the space as far as I could without fearing strain on the slot and board. Alas, still in the upper 90s for temp

But if I am being totally honest, I am not too disappointed at having to get a faster processor out of the deal / mistake / stupidity

Although, not a huge step, from a i7-920 @ stock speed to a i5 2500K.....roll on BF3...and rol lon playing Crysis 2 again at hi res DX11 and maxed out.....oh the smooth and graphical beauty of it all!!

 

[setter]

Id invest in one of theese

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SY-000-AN

And point it at the rer of the top card. Got one installed behind my cards, keeps both within a few c of each other. 81 and 80c on auto fan, but with a custom fan profile in msi afterburner, 72 and 70c respectively.

 

[rocsen]

Have you tried swapping the cards around? Sometimes you might have a slightly hotter running card so would be better to have that one at the bottom. Also try and stick a side fan on your case if possible.

 

[rocsen]

Id invest in one of theese

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SY-000-AN

And point it at the rer of the top card. Got one installed behind my cards, keeps both within a few c of each other. 81 and 80c on auto fan, but with a custom fan profile in msi afterburner, 72 and 70c respectively.

That looks like a neat fan!

 

[Marine-RX179]

>pumaknight

What x58 motherboard have you actually got?

If you got a motherboard that got three PCI-E x16 with lanes at x16/x16/x8, you could still crossfire using the top x16 slot and the bottom x16 slot (x8 lane), which will run the crossfire as x8/x8. Granted you may lose be 2-3% speed, but it still a sensible solution for keeping the cards at reasonable temp.

 

[pumaknight]

>pumaknight

What x58 motherboard have you actually got?

If you got a motherboard that got three PCI-E x16 with lanes at x16/x16/x8, you could still crossfire using the top x16 slot and the bottom x16 slot (x8 lane), which will run the crossfire as x8/x8. Granted you may lose be 2-3% speed, but it still a sensible solution for keeping the cards at reasonable temp.

Thanks for the idea...my friend is a product manager for a large computer company and he came over at the weekend to "sort out" my error...basically my current mobo will just not work with the cards, well, not enough to give cooling at desirable temps. It is a early gen x58 mobo which only had 2 PCI-e slots right next to each other...barely got the cards in with thier heatsinks and fan assembliles (hence the difficulty in getting enough of an air gap for fans and other suggested solutions).

The good news for me was that my budget was approved, so do not have to worry about cost of new mobo.... And my friend was the one who chose the mobo, so if it doesn't work...he will owe me a significant amount of beer....win win really!!

 

[rocsen]

What mobo you getting?

 

[rocsen]

>pumaknight

What x58 motherboard have you actually got?

If you got a motherboard that got three PCI-E x16 with lanes at x16/x16/x8, you could still crossfire using the top x16 slot and the bottom x16 slot (x8 lane), which will run the crossfire as x8/x8. Granted you may lose be 2-3% speed, but it still a sensible solution for keeping the cards at reasonable temp.

Do you get ATI bridge cables long enough for that?

 

[Marine-RX179]

Thanks for the idea...my friend is a product manager for a large computer company and he came over at the weekend to "sort out" my error...basically my current mobo will just not work with the cards, well, not enough to give cooling at desirable temps. It is a early gen x58 mobo which only had 2 PCI-e slots right next to each other...barely got the cards in with thier heatsinks and fan assembliles (hence the difficulty in getting enough of an air gap for fans and other suggested solutions).

The good news for me was that my budget was approved, so do not have to worry about cost of new mobo.... And my friend was the one who chose the mobo, so if it doesn't work...he will owe me a significant amount of beer....win win really!!

Good to hear that it works out for you (more or less ). At least you now learnt that you should pay attention to the slot spacing of the motherboard if do plan on going dual graphic card in the future.