Bit of an anal question this but here goes.
So having to RMA one of my 5870's over a dodgy fan, I've decided to stick with a single card solution - 1x5870 and hopefully replace with a 5890 next year, funds permitting.
Meanwhile, I have bought a X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty and got my hands on a cheap 9800GT 1GB fror Physx - it's one of the low energy 9800gt's which does not need a pci-e connector from your PSU.
I'm wondering what order these should be installed in. When I was running crossfired 5870's, the top 5870 always ran 10 degrees hotter than the slave card as the fan was blocked. Both cards were running at 16x, and the X-Fi in the 3rd pci-e slot at 1x. All I am doing now is replacing the slave 5870 with a 9800gt, and the same airflow restriction will occur with the top 5870. Would it be better to put the X-Fi in the 2nd pci-e 16x slot. It will still block the airflow, but at least the back of the X-Fi won't heat up like the 9800gt would. I could then put the 9800gt in the 3rd pci-e 16x slot. The only minus to doing this is my cards would now be in 16x8x8x configuration. But I guess physx doesn't need 16x bandwidth.
So having to RMA one of my 5870's over a dodgy fan, I've decided to stick with a single card solution - 1x5870 and hopefully replace with a 5890 next year, funds permitting.
Meanwhile, I have bought a X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty and got my hands on a cheap 9800GT 1GB fror Physx - it's one of the low energy 9800gt's which does not need a pci-e connector from your PSU.
I'm wondering what order these should be installed in. When I was running crossfired 5870's, the top 5870 always ran 10 degrees hotter than the slave card as the fan was blocked. Both cards were running at 16x, and the X-Fi in the 3rd pci-e slot at 1x. All I am doing now is replacing the slave 5870 with a 9800gt, and the same airflow restriction will occur with the top 5870. Would it be better to put the X-Fi in the 2nd pci-e 16x slot. It will still block the airflow, but at least the back of the X-Fi won't heat up like the 9800gt would. I could then put the 9800gt in the 3rd pci-e 16x slot. The only minus to doing this is my cards would now be in 16x8x8x configuration. But I guess physx doesn't need 16x bandwidth.
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So end result will be same as doing 5870-X-Fi-Physx. I guess I will have t experiment and measure temps.