5770 custom cooler - in desperate need of help

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Hello

I recently bought 2 ASUS Cucore 5770 cards for a Crossfire setup. On my MB (listed below) the PCIEx slots have only 2 slots difference, leaving less than half a centimeter distance between the cards (with the Asus cooler/fan). The result is that after starting a 3D application/game the top card reached 97 degrees in 5 minutes, and the bottom card sits at 92. As a result, the fans go 80%+ and they sound like turbines. Asus used high pitched noise fans too...

My case has great air flow and low temperatures, but for testing I tried an open case next to an open window at night, which lowered the temperature only by 2 degrees! I also connected each card on their own, and the temperature on full load is about 85-86 degrees. Which is fine (even the 97 isn't bad) but the fan still operates at 65% to maintain that temperature and the noise is simply horrendous. I tried setting the fan at 50% and the cards went to 105 degrees. And to be honest, from 45% and up, the fans become annoying. I like silent PCs and all my cooling and parts have been bought with that in mind.

I'm looking to get 2 custom coolers for the cards now. Only problem is, there aren't many that have been proven to work well and quiet on 5770 on crossfire. The Prolimatech MK-13 is amazing but you can't use it on crossfire, not with only 2 slots distance. The Tacens Visio and SilenX IXG-80HA2, which are both excellent, are not sold in the UK. I cannot find information anywhere about the Zalman Z-Machine GV1000 and VF1000 LED to see if they fit on 5770s. Zalman's website doesn't list them, though the 5770s come with stacked DVI ports, which makes many cooler manufacturers to exclude them from their list. The Asus cards I got do not have stacked DVI ports and allow enough room for those coolers but I can't just spend money and try them. The Thermalright HR-03is not for Crossfire, same for the Accelero S1 and S2 the Thermalright T-Rad2 does not fit the 5770 (though not sure if that's only for the stacked DVI ports)....

Please help... I spoke with OcUK and did consider getting a water cooling solution just for the cards, but it's an expensive and not very convenient solution for my setup. I'd much rather return the cards and get a single 5870 with a good cooler. I'd like to make sure I'm out of options before I do anything (I have till Tuesday to return the cards) so any help would be extremely appreciated.

Many thanks


PS. I have read hundreads of reviews and threads the past week, so I would really appreciate confirmed information. Thanks
 
watercooling will always be quieter.

Maybe so but as the 5770 only has mounting holes of 61mm diagonally that rules out most blocks apart from the full cover one that cost's half the price of the card and will only fit a 5770.

This card is a real pain to find coolers to fit and it was the main reason i got rid of mine as i was originally going to go crossfire with them. The HR-03 does'nt fit anyway because of the mounting holes. Personally i would send them back and get a 5850 and overclock it or just get one of the £299 5870's.
 
Maybe so but as the 5770 only has mounting holes of 61mm diagonally that rules out most blocks apart from the full cover one that cost's half the price of the card and will only fit a 5770.

This card is a real pain to find coolers to fit and it was the main reason i got rid of mine as i was originally going to go crossfire with them. The HR-03 does'nt fit anyway because of the mounting holes. Personally i would send them back and get a 5850 and overclock it or just get one of the £299 5870's.

Exactly.

I guess I am just hoping that someone has hands on experience with one of those coolers on a card that doesn't have stacked DVI ports. If not, they will probably go back, and get a 5870 like you said...
 
watercooling will always be quieter.

Although often true, I believe it to be inappropriate considering the budget nature of the 5770 in the gaming gfx world. There is little point spending a lot watercooling £120 cards.

Oh dear, you've now made me afraid of my iminent CF 5770's next week!

Ditto, I hope mine are OK! I've won one in a competition from AMD, I guess it'll be a reference card (whatever that's like, anyone?), but I have yet to choose its partner. They should have kept the original style coolers, much more efficient design w.r.t overall temps.
 
Mine was a Asus and the biggest problem with these cards is the distance between the mounting holes which is only 61mm diagonally compared to most cards having around 72mm.
 
Return and get a 5850 then over clock it

no more playing around with crossfire profiles just simple gaming on one card

Cf5770's are faster than the 5850 before profiles. profiles just made them even faster. The hole spacing is annoying if you want custom cooling but you must want to overclock them a lot to warrant watercooling as the stock coolers are pretty good even if you use voltage tweaks.
 
Cf5770's are faster than the 5850 before profiles. profiles just made them even faster. The hole spacing is annoying if you want custom cooling but you must want to overclock them a lot to warrant watercooling as the stock coolers are pretty good even if you use voltage tweaks.

In many cases, they are even faster than a 5870.

I don't understand why some (or is it all?) of the new MBs have their PCIEx slots with only 2 slots distance. In my previous (nVidia chipset) motherboard, there was 3 slots distance for the whole triple SLI, allowing enough room for air flow.

I even tried with a 120mm fan hitting the cards on the side, but even though the temp dropped to 89 degrees, the fans still operate at 65%+. I can understand why manufacturers want to keep the cost down, but they should know people would be willing to spend an extra 10-20 quid for a better and quieter cooling solution... :(
 
Lool I have exact set up 2 asus cu cores and I know what you mean, temps what ever you do hit the high 90s, Well i have them in ud5 board gigabyte and moved the slots ( as far as the crossfire bridge would reach) and temps hardly dropped the top card just blows hot air into the other one and its almost impossible to cool, I would suggest you sell the cards and get a 5850 there more hassle then they are worth crappy crossfire drivers aswell
 
Lool I have exact set up 2 asus cu cores and I know what you mean, temps what ever you do hit the high 90s, Well i have them in ud5 board gigabyte and moved the slots ( as far as the crossfire bridge would reach) and temps hardly dropped the top card just blows hot air into the other one and its almost impossible to cool, I would suggest you sell the cards and get a 5850 there more hassle then they are worth crappy crossfire drivers aswell

Wow... that's bad... do you mean you used the x8 slots? From the picture, the UD5 seems to have the same slots.
 
Looks like the 90º mounting of my Raven 2 pays off then. My mobo also only has a 2 slot gap between the cards, but my shroud cooler card maxes out at 65ºC (40% fan speed) and my new rev cooler card doesn't even hit 60ºC.
 
I received an official reply from Asus:

"Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.
I'm sorry to tell you that no coolers can fit this card right now.Please wait patiently or change the model for a try."


I called OC and will be sending them back. I think I'll go for a vapor-x or toxic 5850. The "quiet" 5870s are in the £350 mark, which I don't want to spend.
 
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