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GTX580s SLI

Xire

Xire

Xire

Soldato
Joined
8 Apr 2011
Posts
2,932
Location
London
Hey guys,

I used to have 2x 480s in SLI not under water. But swapped them for a single 580 as the heat they were giving off was unreal. Now Im considering going back to SLI by getting another 580. But a bit worried about the temps im going to get with just reference models and stock cooler on them.


Ive never gone in to watercooling before and dont feel comfortable enough to do it. Water and electronics just scare me lol.

Anyone else running 2x 580s without water cooling? And what temps should I expect/be alright with?
 
I had a phantom and a palit dual fan in SLI, the pallit gets a bit noisy and runs at about 80C, the phantom is quiet and runs at about 65C - both these cards dump all their heat inside the case

I have an NZXT phantom case fully loaded with fans (all NZXT ones which are quiet even on full) and case temps get up to about 32C - ambient 21-22C

with reference cards expelling air outside and a decent case, you will be fine, up to 80C is fine, depending on your motherboard's spacing the top card may run slightly hotter / noisier than the bottom one

to be honest though, 1 GTX580 at 1080p eats everything I throw at it (min 54fps in BF3 ultra), so I've returned one of my 580's and am waiting on Kepler (either for price drops or same price / better performance)

basically, SLI is fine in a decent case, for Tri-SLI I would want water
 
I have 2 evga 3gb models on air.

Temps
card 1: idle 71c load 84c
card 2: idle 37c load 60c

Running two screens that's why idle on card one is high and the fans never go about 50% and all case fan set to 600rpm, all in all i think you will be fine on air if you have good air flow in your case
 
Not that I have nVidia cards mate, but to let you know, I run 2x6990's, and next to each other they do run hot. Idle is around 46-50C... fully loaded say looping Heaven benchmark on full load they're hitting 85-90C on around 60% fans on auto fan settings. If I max them both to 100% fans, they top out around 68-74C give or take.

That idle temp is off it's head you sure that's reading right fella? Surely idle should be that high whether nVidia or Ati?
 
I run two cards in a Haf-X, which has a huge fan on the side with ducting directing air between them. Idle about 35- 45, on load in Skyrim with the new high res texture pack in 3D vision, top card about 81, bottom 71 ish.

It can be done, but you need air blowing between them. Just taking the side of the case doesn't work, there has to be a flow of fresh air constantly being fed in.

Source: Tried both methods.
 
Xire01 said:
Anyone else running 2x 580s without water cooling? And what temps should I expect/be alright with?
Click to expand...
Yap,,I been running my two aircooled 580s for over a year now and they still working great
I had no heat problems at all...

Right now there Idling at
44c = top card
36c = bottom card..
 
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I ran two 295s on air and they were fine heat wise, so long as they were like this.

drool-2.jpg


This helped too of course.

2-11.jpg


The biggest problem with lots of heat is that it needs somewhere to go. It needs dissipating. Even under water that heat ends up in your room.

I found SLI and Crossfire absolutely impossible to live with during the summer. Just turned my room into a Turkish bath and I got lots of spots.
 
ALXAndy said:
I found SLI and Crossfire absolutely impossible to live with during the summer. Just turned my room into a Turkish bath and I got lots of spots.
Click to expand...

I don't mean any disrespect, ALXAndy, but I couldn't help but titter when I read that. I find your writing style informative as well as, at times, amusing. :) :D
 
Running two sli rigs here, one with gtx 470's. The other with gtx 460's. The 470's are reference cooled, 460's use non ref coolers. (Gigabyte windforce), not only do theese dump heat into the case, theyre very tightly spaced. Therefore they run a fair bit warmer than the 470's, which have a reputation for being hot running cards.

460 rig.
IMG_0049.jpg


470 rig.
IMG_0063.jpg


Gonna get another antec spotcool and try it behind the 460's. Or bodge mount a 120mm fan behind them..
 
to put things in perspective, the fan on the side of the Haf is 200mm, and has ducting around it that channels air into the cards.

I saw the spot cool in a shop the other day. It was tiny (looked around 80mm), so all things considered, I don't know wherether it would be able to move the same amount of air. Guess it depends how fast it is spinning.

You could always channel it from the back end of the cards, right up close, like in the photo setter posted, that might work. Me personally though, I don't think it will do a very good job. Worth a try though, because at the end of the day, it's going to be better than nothing at all.
 
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Related question for anyone who has tried SLI with reference (exhaust) and SLI non-reference (dump into the case) coolers - did u notice any difference in the temperature of your room between the two setups?

I ask because I tried sli 5870 reference (exhaust) a while ago and they shoved so much hot air into the room, without AC it was unbearable!
 
Had 2 gainward good edition 580s (same cooler as palit 3gb) for a while.

Get some ear plugs LOL.

Tbf though a single 580 phantom is annoying to me, need to go water -_-.
 
My Palitt reference models were fine in a Corsair 500R, the side fan helps but really they were fine anyway as the heat was dumped out of the case.
 
the heat they give off (into your room) is going to be the same regardless of the cooling, so if that was your issue, then your out of luck.

If you just mean for inside your case/temps they run @ then read the above posts I guess
 
I have 2 580's in sli on a asus p8-z68 vboard

Both idle between 35 and 40 with the top card normally being 4 degrees hotter. The separation betwen each of my cards is about an inch or just over. Under load the top card never goes beyond 74 and the bottom card 70. These are the msi twin frozr 2 cards. I have everything plugged into a 600t case with 2 additional case fans on side mesh.

I have found that a good exhaust config on the case is crucial when using 580 sli, the cards will generate a lot of heat and its good to get a good config to start pulling the warm air out. I have just installed an additional 2 fans as exhaust on my case and it is already making a 3-4 degree difference.

Hope that helps
 
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