SLi very very hot

[DEFEATEST]

Hey guys , a while ago when I got my Maximus III mobo and tried to SLi 2 5870s the heat was too much. Im guessing it was the tiny gap between both cards that made them heat up so much? I had BF3 rocking at 100 fps on my 30 inch dell, but the fps dropped rapidly , then lots of artifacting and crashes. I took out the second card and have only been using the one so far. I sold the second one, but now I'm thinking about getting another one and giving the SLi a second go. What can I do to eliminate this heat issue if thats even what it is?

Thanks!

[manofthem]

Originally Posted by DEFEATEST

tried to SLI 2 5870s

Thats your problem...lol jk. Why not sell the 5870 and buy a new single gpu? At your resolution 1gb card seems limiting. I'd fancy a pretty little 670. (would that CPU bottleneck that gpu, maybe slightly...?)

[Jstn7477]

Having two cards right next to each other usually suffocates the top card. This problem can be resolved to some extent by having a high CFM fan blow between the cards, but having a single card usually ends up being better cooling-wise.

I would check both cards individually and see if both work fine. Could be a PSU problem too if that 600w OCZ unit is getting overloaded.

[natr0n]

It helps to have a motherboard with slots farther away from each other for sli /crossfire.

Also, removing your case door allows more airflow in that situation.

[mastrdrver]

His board sets the PCIe slots so that you have a single unused slot when running multiple cards.

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by manofthem

Why not sell the 5870 and buy a new single gpu? At your resolution 1gb card seems limiting.

^^^ This.

But if you still wish to run Sli, you can try fixing a fan outside the hdd cages, in a way that it blows air current front to back passing between the two cards.

[DEFEATEST]

It might be the psu ..... never thought of that. I have an i5 760 now so should'nt bottleneck. I would think a second 5870 would be cheaper and quite the performance boost for the money don't you guys? I mean what could I buy that would be the performance of 2 5870's? and not break the bank.

[OneMoar]

5 series is dead

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by OneMoar

5 series is dead

I don't see how this is a useful post.

I think that you should try moving the video card over so they're not right up against each other. Also you should change the fan speed profiles to move some more air. No one has mentioned this and I'm surprised by it, but does your case have good air flow? If it's warm inside your case, there is your problem.

[DEFEATEST]

Funny this 5870 has been an excellent card especially since Im running most games at 2560 x 1600 with very acceptable frame rates , so the 5 series is no where near dead in my opinion. This card has rarely let me down and I bought it 2 years ago. Anyhoo, I dont think you have a choice as to where the cards go, there's only 2 slots and it makes the cards on top of each other. My case is a haf 922 so the air flow is good. Do most Sli boards have pcie slots so close. With the monster sizes of cards these days, you would think they would give a brother some space!

[neatfeatguy]

Originally Posted by DEFEATEST

Funny this 5870 has been an excellent card especially since Im running most games at 2560 x 1600 with very acceptable frame rates , so the 5 series is no where near dead in my opinion. This card has rarely let me down and I bought it 2 years ago. Anyhoo, I dont think you have a choice as to where the cards go, there's only 2 slots and it makes the cards on top of each other. My case is a haf 922 so the air flow is good. Do most Sli boards have pcie slots so close. With the monster sizes of cards these days, you would think they would give a brother some space!

It really depends on your MB. My MB can support tri-SLI if I really wanted. I can run my PCI-E slots as 16x/16x/1x for SLI - though this puts the dual-slot cards right up next to each other and the top card will always run 10C hotter over the bottom.

Or I can turn the PCI-E bridge chip around and run my PCI-E slots as 16x/8x/8x. When I do this and I place the second card in the third slot, I see no difference in performance and I also get more room between my cards letting them breath better.

[newtekie1]

Which Maximus III do you have?

The Maximus III Formula has 2 slots between the PCIe x16 slots, this allows an extra space between dual slot cards and gives them more breathing room, which helps prevent overheating.

The Maximus III Gene has only 1 slot between the PCIe x16 slots, so there is very little space between dual slot cards and this can cause some overheating issues.

If you have the Maximus III Gene then you might have to force 100% fans speed to help eliminate overheating, you might even have to undervolt/underclock the cards. But two underclocked cards will still be way better than one normal clocked card. Also, getting cards that exhaust out the back of the case can help with airflow as well.

[Melvis]

Its ya mobo, go get a new one that puts the PCI-E slots a good few inches apart and your problem will go away.

I run crossfire 4870X2's with a good inch of gap between the cards, both run at the same temp with out issue.

[DEFEATEST]

Ya it is the Gene version. All of this talk of fan speed at 100% and extra fans is really making me rethink this idea. Maybe I'll just save up for a new GPU and keep it simple!
thanks for all your advice guys.

DEf