ASUS Direct CUII HD6950

[FtsArTek]

I'm looking at getting a couple ASUS Direct CUII 2GB 6950s. I have enough room for them (Room for two triple slot cards), although there will only be half a slots worth between them as far as I can see (they are officially 2.5 slot)... I have a 200mm fan blowing inwards directly in towards the side of the cards, so I was wondering if they would keep at relatively cool temperatures? I would prefer ASUS cards and in NZ I can't get hold of the standard cooler cards. If not, would two Sapphire 6950 dual fan cards or two Sapphire Toxic cards be the best option? If I did get the DCII cards, and they were running a bit hot, would there be anything else I could to to cool them?

I don't need to overclock. The rest of my system is:

AMD FX-8150 3.6gHz 8-core
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+
Cooler Master HAF 922
OCZ Vertex3 60GB SSD
Western Digital Velociraptor 450GB SATA3
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3
8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600
Huntkey X7 900w PSU (Will run two 6950s, I have already confirmed it runs 2 GTX570s)
ASUS DVD-RW drive
LED Sleeved kit (24 LEDs)
Price is not really a problem, as long as it's under $500 NZD (Around $400 USD, but remember that the shipping tax is added to NZ prices)

 

[purple stain]

The triple slot Asus cards aren't meant for crossfire/sli.I would suggest looking for a MSI Twin Frozr if you can.They usually yield lower temps than the Asus DirectCU cards but only take up 2 slots.

The Sapphire Toxic cards are also a good choice.

A 2G 6950 usually retails for about $270 in US.That means 2 of them would cost over $500 US.I know that outside of the US prices can be extensively more expensive.Just curious how that will work for you.

 

[wa1]

Well, if you aren't planning to OC then you doesn't need to take DirectCU card, any card will suit you. So you're planning to CF them, right? Then my suggestion is take model which blow hot air out of back of the card, since running dual cards could raising the temps inside your case. So the model which blow air out of your case is really helps to cooling down the temps...

If you don't have any choice and must get that DirectCU cards and the temps goes high then you can improvise a little bit and add another 80mm fan inside your case or something, so the circulation inside the case become fast, this should help a lot...

But I don't think you'll really do that, you already have a good case there, buddy.

 

[purple stain]

The OP was saying that the other option would be to go with the Sapphire Toxic version.If they only make one model of it then it exhaust's out the back of the case.Which would make it the winner hands down.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102951

 

[wa1]

Ah, yes, then sapphire is the winner here, thank you for the link, purple...

 

[FtsArTek]

About the price, I meant $500 NZD per card. I prefer the ASUS cards just because I have never had any problem with ASUSes, whereas my old Sapphire 4870 had to be underclocked so as to not overheat... Also in NZ the ASUS DCII is the cheapest by a decent amount. Also, the MSI cards seem to have some problems that I'm not really keen on, and their customer support isn't great. ASUS is best for that, as I can't get EVGA AMD cards 🙁

Will there be a massive difference between the DCII and the Toxic?

 

[purple stain]

Not really.Of course the DirectCU will get cooler temps but that's only because it doesn't exhaust externally.The Toxic edition from Sapphire is their flagship brand so it is still a quality unit and it comes with a nice factory O.C.

But honestly though I would rather have a reference dual slot card for crossfire then a triple slot card.If their isn't ample space between the cards they will choke.

 

[FtsArTek]

Quite a few people use two dual-slot cards with no gap between them... Would it not be the same story with two triple slot? or even less of a problem because of them being 2.5 slot?

 

[purple stain]

Lots of people do use a multi GPU setup with no gap between them yes and that works fine it's just that they will be extremely loud because of how fast the fans have to spin to get a decent amount of air.
To me it just doesn't make sense going with a triple slot card because they don't even get that good of temps.You would think for being that large it would be able to cool better but it doesn't.It's almost the same as the first DirectCU.Granted it's an improvement but it doesn't cool as well as a dual slot MSI Twin Frozr.

I think the Toxic version is the better choice here.But in the end it's your decision.Go with what you feel is best for you.

 

[FtsArTek]

Best answer selected by FtsArTek.