sli - gpu 1 is much hotter than gpu 2

[Herr_Ando]

Just a question about SLI really. I have 2 leadtek 7800gtx cards @ 450/1250

I noticed that when I check the temp display in the drivers for gpu 1 it always seems to be a good bit hotter than gpu 2. After a few hours on oblivion tonight I saw my gpu 1 was 72c and yet gpu 2 was only 56c - both cards have Zalman copper vf700 coolers on them. I have tried re-seating the heatsink with arctic silver 5, but doesn't help.

Also with my case the Lian Li v1000+ I've got rid of the exaust blower and put on one of those 2x80mm blower fans, these seemed to reduce temps a bit.

I understand my temp for the hot card is about normal, and should be fine running at this temp, but just curious as to how this would be. Also worth noting its card 1 that is the hot card (the card with the best airflow near-by) card 1 is the older card mind you, could this be a factor?

 

[wellibob]

Its quite normal for one card to read hotter than the other. Just get good air flow.

 

[Jokester]

56C sounds like the card is idling, do you have SLI enabled?

Jokester

 

[Cuchulain]

Just a question about SLI really. I have 2 leadtek 7800gtx cards @ 450/1250

I noticed that when I check the temp display in the drivers for gpu 1 it always seems to be a good bit hotter than gpu 2. After a few hours on oblivion tonight I saw my gpu 1 was 72c and yet gpu 2 was only 56c - both cards have Zalman copper vf700 coolers on them. I have tried re-seating the heatsink with arctic silver 5, but doesn't help.

Also with my case the Lian Li v1000+ I've got rid of the exaust blower and put on one of those 2x80mm blower fans, these seemed to reduce temps a bit.

I understand my temp for the hot card is about normal, and should be fine running at this temp, but just curious as to how this would be. Also worth noting its card 1 that is the hot card (the card with the best airflow near-by) card 1 is the older card mind you, could this be a factor?

Is the first card (the hotter one) sitting above the cooler one? I've never used SLI so this could be balls, but would it be the top card sucking up the hot air from the top-side of the bottom card and the bottom card getting better air flow that's causing it?

 

[Arcane]

Agree with Jokester, 56 is about what I used to get at idle in a Lian Li PCV1100, sounds like only one card's doing any work, stick load balancing on via the CP and see if that's the case. As regards temps, that's on the warmer side of OK for idle, it's usually lower than that with the Zalmans but then it depends on the space between the cards as to how much airflow is getting in, I've read somewhere that without good space between the cards that the 700's do suffer. 72 for load is fine as the shutdown kicks in at 115 so you're well within tolerence. I ended up placing a 120mm fan against mine which dropped the idle 5 degrees, not very elegant but effective. (the PCV1100 had a door on the front and pretty poor airflow imho).

 

[Herr_Ando]

Yes, SLI is enabled in the drivers, but when i do the "show gpu load balancing" in the control pannel and start the game I cannot see the bars!

Its strange, because they appear on any other game i try. I have the latest 84.21's

 

[Jokester]

I'm using 84.20 and SLI works fine in Oblivion and the load sharing graph also works so it might be worth giving them a go.

Jokester

 

[Herr_Ando]

Jokester you were right, those 84.20's work much better thanks. 84.20's are a beta driver though, I dont understand how they managed to break it with the release of the 84.20s

Oh well, at least its fine now and I can get on with some gaming. Cheers.