non reference 7970 pci-e space allowance

[HornyRhino]

hi

silly question but i have always had reference fans on my gpus and want to replace my gpus with sli MSI HD 7970 Lightning 3072MB or EVGA GeForce GTX 680 FTW

my current case is haf-932...getting on 2 years now but will change later next year with new build.

what i wanted was advice on the spacing needed for non reference say 7979 fans in sli where 1st and 3rd card are shown...

i ask as my mainbooard almost reaches the roof of my power supply at the bottom area of the the case (picture shown)?

is there enough clearance for say the 7970 lightning where ther is a 15-20mm gap from the GPU fan to the roof of the PSU?

or just stick to reference fan type cards like 680 ftw?

silly question i know but i have never had non reference cards and presume they would be fine as they are open vent fans so wont be restrictesd for air like a stock cooler....gap is shown....


many thanks

 

[beejjacobs]

They are all dual-slot GPUs so clearance shouldn't be an issue. You want to check length though, both cards are 270mm so should fit okay.

From what I understand reference coolers tend to be better for SLI as they exhaust the heat out of the case, and so hopefully heating up the other card less. Just something to consider

 

[ALXAndy]

Does the 680 have a pierced PCB behind the fan like the 480 does?

Either way I can tell you now that 7970s are hot and loud. I had one, and it used to hit 83c with the fans on 70%. It was also louder than both of my 480s put together with the fans at 100%.

And you don't even want to go there on the drivers for the 7970. It's bad enough with one, but three?

 

[HornyRhino]

sorry i didnt mention properly im only going 2-way sli.... i am not doing 3-way sli again

i learnt my lesson...reference coolers in tri sli cause too much heat in a sandwich on air.

the 2 way sli im leaving a 2 slot gap in the middle for them to breath.

 

[HornyRhino]

ok ...thanx for the info