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How to manage SLI airflow

MasterOC

MasterOC

MasterOC

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Joined
29 Sep 2014
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Caithness , Wick
So I have 2 970 galax ex OC versions , they perform admiraly and tbh unless I actually looked at it thermally throttling in afterburner I probes wouldn't notice .

Anywho , I have an air 540 and replaced 2 x 140mm with 3 x 120mm af's in front in the hope it would keep me from throttleing but alas I still have the top gpu hitting 80c , tbh I try using a custom fan profile to 80% but the stock fan curve hit that eventually anyway ... Setting it straight to 80% just prolonged the temp climb rather then aiding it .

I can't space the cards any more as the bridge dosnt reach either , tried switching the gpus round but still the same. I run my 100i as an exhaust and rear 140mm as an exhaust.
.

Any ideas anyone , greatly appreciated.
 
Shouldn't be hitting 80c if am led to believe. How close are the GPUs? If there too close and can't be moved more apart then sadly not much you can really do.

I had similar issue with my two and had to buy new motherboard with better pci spacing, now my temps are around that of a single GPU because the massive gap I have.
 
erm i would say a side fan, but the 540 don't have them

maybe a antec spot cool might help... google it... OcUK don't seem to stock them any more
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys , I'm pretty good with diy stuff but don't fancy marking my case lol , not a big fan of side fans . If i place a fan on the bottom and secure it ,do you reckon it will help Push the hot air towards the h100i exhaust ? Although no doubt it will disrupt airflow to the lower card from the 3 front fans .., ahhh I don't know , I do have 14 days I think to return but I don't think any other card would perform any better in sli ... Ahhh am unsure what to do
 
yes your way would work for adding more cool air into the system, but you need direct airflow into the gap between the cards to make sure that the top card is getting plenty of cool air to help it cool
 
Oh yeah, great solution... :rolleyes:

Q - "My cards are running at 80 degrees, any idea how I can get them to run cooler?"

A - "Run them at 91 degrees?"

5*

10/10

:p
 
Ghetto mod of a slow 120mm fan to blow air over the back of your top card.
If your luck some cases have a fan mount on the back of the HD cage.
If you dont put any HD's in the cage and mount a fan it can work quite well.

Or create a ghetto funnel out of cardboard to funnel air from the back of the top card to the rear fan to pull air out.
 
I've used a fan mounted on the rear case exterior to help with sli non ref cards. Remove all pci covers, and set the fan to exhaust. I used prolimatech magnetic fan bolts to hold it in place.
 
As the OP said, this could help.

SpotCool_bend.jpg
 
I have the same idea with my H100i exhausting from the roof. Have a play about with turning some of the exhauist fans around. Whilst the H100i's will exhaust if your CPU is cool anyway the fans will never ramp up to help exhaust more air. Stick them at max and see if the temps drop.

Modding the case is extreme but if you have perspex on the side (and my first solution was really a joke) you can but new perspex is cheap and easy to replace for resale. I have a 7990 and I put a clear plastic fan on the inside of the case window drawing air directly from outside to feed the 3 fans on the top. I used ahole saw to cut through the perspex and drill thr screw holes.

No point in changing the cards as they are some of the lowest temp cards around due to their low power consumption.

Experiment with the direction of the case fans and their speeds. And positive and negative pressure setup. You may need to make it positive to force more air to vent from the top or you could turn the H100i fans around to draw cooler air in from the top. Either way you need to increase the airflow in the gfx card area in the case and two card. Try a temporary scoop to help direct air into the gap before deciding on a better looking solution. Use clear plastic file divider or something to give you an idea of how bad a directional scoop will look.

Change the fans out for some high cfm air capacity fans like some gentle typhoons. Stock H100i fans aren't great

Or buy a longer SLi bridge unless you have one of those fancy new lit ones!. Good luck
 
@OP you can add all the fans you want into the back or side. It will make very little difference trust me I been there... The Bottom GPU will always be pushing its HOT air into the case and Top GPU will again be sucking it in.

You need to find away on getting the heat from bottom GPU away from the top GPU.

The best way and if your MB allows it and have the PCi-e lanes is to space them more apart.

IMAG0135.jpg
 
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