Recommend me a cooler for my 7870 PCS+ Cards

[SKBARON]

Why don't you try using some pci-e risers? It will be less expensive than buying another batch of coolers for your gpus, and the drop in performance is trivial, iirc.

 

[Melvis]

pci-e risers?

 

[ne6togadno]

Had a brain wave, what if I could get coolers off someone that had good coolers (twin fans etc) but now run water coolers instead? id be happy to buy the old coolers off them if it would fit my cards. Thoughts?

coolers from other card wont fit.
why dont you trow away that alwful case you have and replace it with something like this http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_1549&products_id=25160 with some additional fans you can make quite good airflow in case
or CM HAF 932advance. my cmtrooper is also good.

How about this one?

http://www.zalman.com/global/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=390

this one is for nvidia.
amd cooler is this http://www.zalman.com/global/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=385 but to me looks like it takes 2.5 slots.
see this review http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com...sk=view&id=595&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=4
you can do custom water loop for cards but with universal vga blocks. however cooling of mem vrms will be reduced

 

[Norton]

Can you post a pic of your setup? Maybe there's a way to insert a heat shield/barrier to prevent one card from pulling in the heat of the second card*
* similar to the heat shield keeping the cat. converter on your car from heating the floor panel/burning your carpet

 

[SKBARON]

pci-e risers?

 

[Melvis]

Ok guys ima pull out my cards and take it to my mates place who can test them out in his full size case etc and see what difference that makes. that will then tell me if the case is indeed the issue.

 

[ne6togadno]

put also door fan just above the cards and set it to pull air out of the case

 

[Melvis]

put also door fan just above the cards and set it to pull air out of the case

I was thinking this honestly to set the 120mm fan I have on the side panel to pull the heat out instead of blowing the air onto them as these cards do not blow the heat out the back of the case well but more into it. Not like my older 4870X2's that blew it all out the back.

My mate cant run the cards in crossfire yet as I need the extra long crossfire bridge argh. He has told me so far that the one card does indeed get very hot even on its own. (stock cooler)

 

[ne6togadno]

hm
change thermal grace of that card

I was thinking this honestly to set the 120mm fan I have on the side panel to pull the heat out instead of blowing the air onto them as these cards do not blow the heat out the back of the case well but more into it. Not like my older 4870X2's that blew it all out the back.

blowing air on cards is useless since they suck fresh air from the back. you need to remove hot air they dump into case so temp in case doesnt grow up

 

[Melvis]

hm
change thermal grace of that card

blowing air on cards is useless since they suck fresh air from the back. you need to remove hot air they dump into case so temp in case doesnt grow up

Umm no the cards suck air from the bottom not the back, they blow 50% out the back and the other 50% inside the case. Having my fan blow onto the cards brings down the temp by 5c but will test later what will happen when i reverse the fan on the side panel.

At this stage I waiting for a longer crossfire bridge to suit my mates motherboard as my crossfire bridge doesnt reach in his case. I know this for sure will yeild better temps in his case as the cards will be an extra space apart where in my case there the normal space apart. Ill provide pictures of my case etc shortly

Thermal paste has been changed and made no difference in temp just a heads up.

 

[ne6togadno]

there is no way with one fan to have 2 air directions.
your card either suck air from the back and blow it in case or suck from case and blow it outside. there is no 50% at the back 50% in case.
if your cards dump air in case then you need cover fan on extraction if cards blow to the back then cover fan need to supply fresh air to cards.
comparing his with your temps is pointless. he will always get lower temps because of bigger space between cards no need to wait for cf bridge.
you can impove your temps by spliting cards on bigger distance. you will heve to run them 8x 8x or 16x 8x instead of 16x 16x but it is better then 2xfring pans

 

[Melvis]

there is no way with one fan to have 2 air directions.
your card either suck air from the back and blow it in case or suck from case and blow it outside. there is no 50% at the back 50% in case.
if your cards dump air in case then you need cover fan on extraction if cards blow to the back then cover fan need to supply fresh air to cards.
comparing his with your temps is pointless. he will always get lower temps because of bigger space between cards no need to wait for cf bridge.
you can impove your temps by spliting cards on bigger distance. you will heve to run them 8x 8x or 16x 8x instead of 16x 16x but it is better then 2xfring pans

Here go look at the card > http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Club_3D/HD_7870_jokerCard_Tahiti_LE/3.html Its not a powercolor brand but it is the same cooler. As you can see it vents out the back of the card and into the case, it draws air from the bottom as the card faces the bottom of the case right?

As I said ive got a 120mm fan (even on a fan controller) to blow air onto the card/s and this brought it down 5c. Now I will try drawing the air away from the cards next later on in the week after I get the cards back from my mate.

Yes I agree he wil lindeed get lower temps then me because of the wider gap, I didnt know this till I got to his place, but why not try anyway? if the temps still get to hot even with increased gap then a BIGGER case wont fix the issue will it?

On my motherboard if you look in my system specs I can not run the cards at a larger gap, just not possible, where they are is where they stay, period!

 

[ne6togadno]

hm
on your mb cards should have 1 slot distance between them if coolers are 2 slot only. if you dont have then you are doing it wrong.
your mb has (from top to bottom)
pcie 1x, pcie 16x@16, pcie 1x, pcie 16x@4, pcie 16x@16, pci 2.1, pcie 16x@4
so if you are running 16x, 16x you have

pcie 1x
pcie 16x@16 - vga1
pcie 1x - coverd by cooler of vga1
pcie 16x@4 - free slot
pcie 16x@16 - vga2
pci 2.1 - coverd by cooler of vga2
pcie 16x@4 - free slot
if you dont have this config you are not running your cards on 16x, 16x

Yes I agree he wil lindeed get lower temps then me because of the wider gap, I didnt know this till I got to his place, but why not try anyway? if the temps still get to hot even with increased gap then a BIGGER case wont fix the issue will it?

much depends on the case.

Here go look at the card > http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Club_3D/HD_7870_jokerCard_Tahiti_LE/3.html Its not a powercolor brand but it is the same cooler. As you can see it vents out the back of the card and into the case, it draws air from the bottom as the card faces the bottom of the case right?

every vga card with fan cooler has vents at the back and fans at the bottom http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/R9_290X_Tri-X_OC/3.html
important is air direction. in your case yes exhaust is at the back http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tahiti-le-7870-7930-benchmark,3401-2.html. your cover fan should blow fresh air to the cards so your current fan confing is ok.
if you can install in your case front fan that suck fresh air in that will help too.

 

[Melvis]

hm
on your mb cards should have 1 slot distance between them if coolers are 2 slot only. if you dont have then you are doing it wrong.
your mb has (from top to bottom)
pcie 1x, pcie 16x@16, pcie 1x, pcie 16x@4, pcie 16x@16, pci 2.1, pcie 16x@4
so if you are running 16x, 16x you have

pcie 1x
pcie 16x@16 - vga1
pcie 1x - coverd by cooler of vga1
pcie 16x@4 - free slot
pcie 16x@16 - vga2
pci 2.1 - coverd by cooler of vga2
pcie 16x@4 - free slot
if you dont have this config you are not running your cards on 16x, 16x


much depends on the case.


every vga card with fan cooler has vents at the back and fans at the bottom http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/R9_290X_Tri-X_OC/3.html
important is air direction. in your case yes exhaust is at the back http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tahiti-le-7870-7930-benchmark,3401-2.html. your cover fan should blow fresh air to the cards so your current fan confing is ok.
if you can install in your case front fan that suck fresh air in that will help too.

Yeah thats the set up I have just how you said with where my cards are installed. Gives a space of two slots between the cards.

My mates caase is a full size case with a 22cm fan on the side, 120 and 90 mm fans at the back, 120mm fan at the front mayube 2 of them, and a 90mm fan at the top so cooling shoul dbe very good to test out my cards temps in his case.

Yeah I also have a 120mm fan at the front that blows into the case/onto the HDD's and a 80mm fan at the top drawing air out the top.

I ran two 4870X2's in the same case for a good two yrs without temp issues, max they would hit was 85c on a summers day.

 

[ne6togadno]

Yeah thats the set up I have just how you said with where my cards are installed. Gives a space of two slots between the cards.

My mates caase is a full size case with a 22cm fan on the side, 120 and 90 mm fans at the back, 120mm fan at the front mayube 2 of them, and a 90mm fan at the top so cooling shoul dbe very good to test out my cards temps in his case.

Yeah I also have a 120mm fan at the front that blows into the case/onto the HDD's and a 80mm fan at the top drawing air out the top.

80mm at top are not enough to deal with heat from cpu and 2xgpus. if you can fit bigger add at least 120 (140 would be better) if you cant better change case.
your case looks good (i like dispay infront) but cooling is a quite inadecuate for 8350 and 2x7870LE. 90mm at reat and 80 at top are simply not enough for your setup. and to make things even worse your psu is on the top which not only blocks heat to go out of the case but also gives nice additional heating for psu parts.
full tower isnt must. you can do it with mid tower as well but you need something with better cooling. bottom psu, at least 120mm at back and 140-200 on top (or 2x120), 1-2x120 or 200 at front if case has filters bottom intake will be good too and optional 120 at side cover (at the end you might not need cover fan when you have better airflow in case)

I ran two 4870X2's in the same case for a good two yrs without temp issues, max they would hit was 85c on a summers day.

150+mhz difference comes at price

 

[Bo$$]

150+mhz difference comes at price

dual 4870X2 are more power hungry than his current cards, I think you'll see better results if you change out the coolers, the traditional blower style coolers run better in Crossfire if space is at a premium

Riser card would really be ideal

 

[ne6togadno]

his coolers are blower style.
4870 are more power hungry but alos can run at higher temps then 7870 w/o consequences.

 

[Bo$$]

his coolers are blower style.
4870 are more power hungry but alos can run at higher temps then 7870 w/o consequences.

no they aren't the blower style is with the fan at the end of the card. this cooler just dumps air into the case and a small amount out the rear. really bad for crossfire

 

[Melvis]

80mm at top are not enough to deal with heat from cpu and 2xgpus. if you can fit bigger add at least 120 (140 would be better) if you cant better change case.
your case looks good (i like dispay infront) but cooling is a quite inadecuate for 8350 and 2x7870LE. 90mm at reat and 80 at top are simply not enough for your setup. and to make things even worse your psu is on the top which not only blocks heat to go out of the case but also gives nice additional heating for psu parts.
full tower isnt must. you can do it with mid tower as well but you need something with better cooling. bottom psu, at least 120mm at back and 140-200 on top (or 2x120), 1-2x120 or 200 at front if case has filters bottom intake will be good too and optional 120 at side cover (at the end you might not need cover fan when you have better airflow in case)


150+mhz difference comes at price

The 80mm at top honestly never seems to get any heat up that far in the case to be drawing hot air out , very rare I feel any kind of heat coming out from it its all removed from the 120mm at the rear and the PSU units 120mm also. I can not fit any bigger Fan at the top of the case sorry. Well I could but it would involve alot of drilling lol.

The case comes with a 90mm but has space for a 120mm and that is whats been installed, the 90mm has been removed from day one! Honestly I find having the PSU at the top better then the bottom when it comes to cooling, heat risers right? and the PSU has a 120mm fan that blows air out the back also, its like having dual 120mm fans at the back of the case, I dont like the PSU at the bottom, just doesnt make sense to me logically.

We will find out soon when my mate runs my cards in his full size tower with a bigger gap between the cards and a bigger side fan etc. Time will tell

dual 4870X2 are more power hungry than his current cards, I think you'll see better results if you change out the coolers, the traditional blower style coolers run better in Crossfire if space is at a premium

Riser card would really be ideal

Agreed, the older 4870X2's blew all the hot air out the back and this seemed to work great when running crossfire. Sorry I said before i have a 2 space gap between the cardss, I only have the 1 space gap. Did fine for the 4870X2's though.

Yeah I want to know more about this riser card and how does that work? im not sure how to even fit one of those? how does it work etc? this would then give me two gaps between the cards then.

 

[ne6togadno]

no they aren't the blower style is with the fan at the end of the card. this cooler just dumps air into the case and a small amount out the rear. really bad for crossfire

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tahiti-le-7870-7930-benchmark,3401-2.html

Yeah I want to know more about this riser card and how does that work? im not sure how to even fit one of those? how does it work etc? this would then give me two gaps between the cards then.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pci...v&sa=X&ei=Dxj7UvXxM8SP7Aa44IG4CA&ved=0CFoQsAQ