Flexible HB SLI Bridge?

[Scania]

I'm Playing around with my new SLI setup,an MSI Lightning X 1080ti B-Grade purchase which I bought to accompany my Zotac 1080ti Amp Extreme in SLI, I’ve encountered a problem (other than crap airflow! )

The HB bridge I borrowed from my mate does not sit properly on the SLI connectors, because both cards are non-reference designs they are slightly too big, the bridge will connect but it’s not sitting flat due to one card being slightly taller than the other and it comes loose as a consequence which causes flickering and an error message in Nvidia control panel.

It’s fine if I wedge something on the bridge to hold it in place but this isn’t ideal...

So I’m currently using two standard SLI ribbon connectors with no issues bar a slight drop in performance that’s not noticeable in gameplay.

I’m minded to just leave it because it otherwise seems to be working none the less, or is such a thing as a flexible HB SLI bridge available? - I'm looking but all HB bridges seem to be a rigid design.

 

[freddie64]

Not sure if this will work or not, but this guy took the cover off the bridge and bent the PCB.

https://www.overclock.net/forum/74-graphics-cards-general/1625222-flexible-sli-hb-bridge.html

Maybe put the smaller card in the top slot.

Failing that, could you not stick the rigid cover over the flexi bridges to tidy them up.

 

[Jacky60]

I'd definitely swap the cards as it'll slightly increase clearance between them and airflow that's if they're slightly different in depth as the photo suggests, you can get longer flexible SLI bridges 10cm ones and they're £2.50 on the bay.

 

[Jacky60]

What sort of clocks are they holding in games? They're certainly nice models of the 1080ti.

 

[freddie64]

I'd definitely swap the cards as it'll slightly increase clearance between them and airflow that's if they're slightly different in depth as the photo suggests

Going by the spec pages there is about 5mil difference (Zotac being the smallest). Not much but every little helps.

 

[Scania]

What sort of clocks are they holding in games? They're certainly nice models of the 1080ti.

1582 MHz and boosting to 1695 MHz, which is what the slower of the two cards run at , the Zotac is 1645/1759MHz SLI defaults to the slower cards speed.

My nephew has a Zotac Amp extreme, I’m going to see if he fancies swapping it for the MSI which should sort my issues with the HB bridge and they should both run at the same faster speed.

I’ve tried having the Zotac as the top card and the temperatures if anything are higher, so two together could be toasty...

 

[smogsy]

1582 MHz and boosting to 1695 MHz, which is what the slower of the two cards run at , the Zotac is 1645/1759MHz SLI defaults to the slower cards speed.

My nephew has a Zotac Amp extreme, I’m going to see if he fancies swapping it for the MSI which should sort my issues with the HB bridge and they should both run at the same faster speed.

I’ve tried having the Zotac as the top card and the temperatures if anything are higher, so two together could be toasty...

seems quite low my Aorus 1080TI holds 1985Mhz in games might need to whack those fans up to get better boosts

 

[Jacky60]

1582 MHz and boosting to 1695 MHz, which is what the slower of the two cards run at , the Zotac is 1645/1759MHz SLI defaults to the slower cards speed.

My nephew has a Zotac Amp extreme, I’m going to see if he fancies swapping it for the MSI which should sort my issues with the HB bridge and they should both run at the same faster speed.

I’ve tried having the Zotac as the top card and the temperatures if anything are higher, so two together could be toasty...

What's the mobo? If you have a third PCIe x8 or possibly even x4 you might benefit from sticking the bottom card in that as then the cards should boost properly if cooler. I did that in mine when I thought one of my PCIe slots had failed with no noticeable drop in performance (turned out it must have been a bit dusty) although you'd definitely need longer SLI bridges then. I do run my PC in ghetto mode with no side panel etc and have loads of airflow which certainly helps sustain 1911-1974 boosts on both cards (FE and Inno 3D I chill x3).

 

[Scania]

Just got back from visiting my nephew, he was interested in the MSI Lightning, especially given it has a 3 month B-Grade warranty (possibly more if MSI accept the warranty registration...) but, alas the MSI is a fair bit longer than his Zotac Amp Extreme and without removing cooling fans from his case it wouldn't fit.

But, he had an AS-Rock HB SLI Bridge that came with his motherboard, I've just tried it with the MSI & Zotac cards and it wouldn't fit with the Zotac as the bottom card but does (just!) if the Zotac is back on top....

With my newly aquired B&Q desktop fan blowing onto the cards, temperatures are not too bad (hottest card now ballpark 75c) and full performance is restored, and a micro stutter @ 4K is now gone.

Might stick the MSI up on the MM to see if anybody fancies swapping a blower card for it, my previous GTX 580 SLI and 1070 SLI setups were both reference and triple fan type cards, which seems to give the best temperatures if not the ultimate in performance due to SLI defaulting to the slowest cards speeds...

Still, for the boost its given in Project Cars 2 & GTA V @4K its well worth it.

 

[Jacky60]

Nice!