MY first build in 10 years :P A lot has changed!

Wandrykow

Wandrykow

Wandrykow

Associate
Joined
7 Mar 2016
Posts
3
Location
Brighton/London UK
First of all greetings Ladies and Gents!

My name is Bart =) I like computer and motorcycles!

I’m kind of a new in this business, at least it feels like this again! *sigh* It has been about ten years since I’ve built my last computer ;) One of the reasons I decided to sign up to this forum.
I’ve run in to a couple of problems while creating my tiny monster PC from overclockers parts. It all has started when I decided to buy an extra GTX 980 Ti HOF to run Witcher 3 on ultra-settings.

THE HEAT!

Like in that old film with Robert De Niro ;) My Number one enemy! But before getting in to the problem I’d like to describe my RIG so let’s get to it:

1 The case - NZXT Noctis 450 (I could not resist that Star Wars trooper colours & shapes haha) + some extra fans in casing
2 Mother Board - Asus Z170 Pro Gaming
3 PSU - Evega Supernova 1300 W
4 RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) 2666MHz DDR4 1.2v C16
5 CPU - Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Unlocked Processor
6 CPU Cooling - Corsair H80i GT 120mm Liquid CPU Cooler
7 Hard Drives – 2x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5"
8 Graphic Cards – SLI KFA2 GeForce GTX 980Ti 6GB "Hall of Fame 8Pack Approved Edition"
9 Monitor – 4K Acer Predator 4k2k XB281HK 28" G-Sync
10 Mouse & Keyboard - Black Cougar 200M Gaming Mouse & RAZER Black Widow 2014 Expert

The problem.
After running MSI Afterburner I noticed that while playing games like far cry, shadow of Mordor, GTAV etc (all on MAX details) I have noticed that running these game for more than 30 minutes in 4K resolution my TOP card gets to dangerous 91 degrees o_O FPS it’s not a problem because I always get an outstanding performance, it’s just the heat that worries me.
If I run games on max details but in 2560x1600 resolution I always reach the 75 degrees and that is a MAX temperature. I’m not mentioning my second card (bottom) because there’s no problem with overheating at all. Plenty of airflow and space to breath.
At this point I REALLY regret that I didn’t went for the other HOF version, the water cooled. But what’s done it’s done. I can’t return it now so I thought about a few options.
A. Selling the card (sadly losing some money on it…) and buying water cooled version for the top card + all the equipment, tubes etc needed to run it.
B. Buying a new mother board with ‘wider spread’ I mean the PCI-E slots so there’s more space between the two cards so the top one can breathe freely. But again, costs costs.
C. Buying something like XSPCRazor GTX 980 980 Ti VGA Water Block all the equipment, tubes etc needed to run it. (Not sure if it fit for HOF but anywyad the main idea is the water block)

OR

D. THE CHEAPEST ONE.
As I already Have spent WELL OVER £2500 I thought that my best option and the cheapest one would be cutting out a slot in my side cover and getting one of those ‘TURBO FANS’ with hmmm Tube? Corridor? Don’t know how to name it. This link is for reference only ** Removed **

Anyway, some kind of pipe that will blow masses of cold air straight between those two cards. I’m not that fussed about the look, you know fancy illuminated tubes, LEDs etc (I’ve got that kind of **** on MY DUCATI bike he he he :D).

Also I’m not crazy about overclocking. To be fair at this point not many games will need extreme overclocking. You know, some people like to achieve sexual satisfaction while watching scores in benchmark LOL! Luckily I don’t belong to one of them haha :P At the moment the only thing I really want is getting at MAX a 77-79 degrees on my top card while playing Witcher 3 in 4K for at least 4-5 hours in a row. I know it might be difficult with air cooling but I want to try option D first.
So my lovely people, I’m open for suggestions and ideas! I would appreciate any help =) If you live around Brighton and able to help I’m buying you a good pint or two! ;-)
 
you do realise that you've broken forum rules by linking to another store.... this forum is run by overclockers.co.uk a pc store. I'd suggest removing the link before the mods come along :)

Might be an idea to post up a budget as someone might be able to suggest another option
 
Top card should be hotter but that temp... here's some other suggestions:

1. Clean and replace thermal paste (this can make a huge difference if the amount or positioning at the factory was wrong*).

* Example of wrong http://i.imgur.com/9Ayobj8.jpg

2. Swap the cards around, top to bottom, bottom to top.

3. Downclock/downvolt them as necessary to achieve your target temps.

4. Remove any remaining PCI-E brackets at the back of the case.

5. Create a custom fan profile on Afterburner that'll increase the RPM of the fans. The factory fan profiles tend to be biased towards quiet not best temps, I've found.
 
Last edited:
Danny75 said:
Top card should be hotter but that temp... here's some other suggestions:

1. Clean and replace thermal paste (this can make a huge difference if the amount or positioning at the factory was wrong*).

* Example of wrong http://i.imgur.com/9Ayobj8.jpg

2. Swap the cards around, top to bottom, bottom to top.

3. Downclock/downvolt them as necessary to achieve your target temps.

4. Remove any remaining PCI-E brackets at the back of the case.

5. Create a custom fan profile on Afterburner that'll increase the RPM of the fans. The factory fan profiles tend to be biased towards quiet not best temps, I've found.
Click to expand...

Thanks Danny, much appreciated =)

1. I'm afraid I might lose warranty if I start fiddling with paste but as a last option I guess I could give it a shot
2. Did swapping the cards, no changes. on their own their getting normal temperatures.
3. Down clocking rig for £2500 :P ooh well..
4. Done that plus I even taken out PSU outside the case
5. Done is as well

Talking about fans and airflow, I get slightly better temps without side covers, maybe 1 or 2 degrees but estheticism goes down the drain..

My set up looks like this.
http://imgur.com/1ScfKWQ

btw intake and exhaust been fiddled before and at the moment that's the best temperature results I'm getting.

PRESENT setup
http://imgur.com/zQuU6Zz

WHEN the case is open I attach two extra fans near cards like this
http://imgur.com/Jftn80A

And the whole thing looks like that
http://imgur.com/Qwgmxd4

The HDD slots been taken out already for better air flow.

Thanks for help! ;)
 
Well, those cards are fat so very little gap between them, yeah.

The problem with the setup (when your case is closed) is that there is too much intake and very little exhaust. On top of that, the rear exhaust is done by the H80i, which won't move air out of the case as fast as a CFM fan (H80i fan is static pressure plus the radiator obstruction). So if you haven't tried already, I would swap to:

3 front intake fans/1 rear exhaust fan (as fast as possible)/H80i on the top as exhaust.
 
Wandrykow said:
PRESENT setup
http://imgur.com/zQuU6Zz
Click to expand...

Personally I wouldnt have removed the bottom bit as its supposed to be there to help keep heat from the PSU out of the main case area.

The temps you are experiencing are normal for the setup you have. Non reference coolers which dont exhaust heat out of the case.

Only thing you can do to dramatically improve temps is to watercool or install AIO coolers on at least one of the cards.
 
varkanoid said:
Personally I wouldnt have removed the bottom bit as its supposed to be there to help keep heat from the PSU out of the main case area.

The temps you are experiencing are normal for the setup you have. Non reference coolers which dont exhaust heat out of the case.

Only thing you can do to dramatically improve temps is to watercool or install AIO coolers on at least one of the cards.
Click to expand...

The bottom cover is more for aesthetics than a heat shield. The non windowed Phanteks enthoo pro for example does away with the psu shroud as it can't be seen.

The power supply will exhaust hot air out of the rear.
 
you still get hot air rising from the top of the case of the PSU. I would have thought it better on than off and every bit helps with SLI.
 
lee32uk said:
The psu housing getting warm isn't going to affect temps inside the case.
Click to expand...

er yes it is. anything producing heat will change the temperature inside the case. Might not be a lot but it will unless some laws have changed I dont know about. :D

Considering the PSU is below the GPU's it needs taking into consideration. SLI hammers the PSU.
 
Greetings!

Thank you all for your input =)

I did some changes in my setup and I managed to get my top card to stay at 85 degrees while hammering Shadow of Mordor in 4K (of course as usually all options in ultra) and whole case closed up.

I followed Danny's advice and swapped CPU cooling to the top part of the case and turned round a couple of fans to get more exhaust. Plus I've bought online one of those 'turbo sucking fans' :P Funny enough it cost me less than a fiver on Ebay, already ordered another two because they're performing great.
BTW Cable zip ties aren't perfect lol but it's just a temporary fix so don't shoot me for aesthetics ;) The rig looks like this now:

https://imgur.com/D9M54DC

Hopefully with another 'turbo fan' attached to the cards it will suck out even more hot air. I'm not that fussy, 80 degrees on hardcore sessions would really do me =)

One more question I wanted to ask over here. Did anyone ever tried to put a water block on a KFA2 GTX980Ti HOF? I know that they have another version with water block already in. I just wanted to save myself a hassle of selling present card and ordering the one with built in waterblock.

Maybe just buying one of those IF they fit?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-w...-ti-acetal-predator-pre-filled-wc-989-ek.html
 
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