GTX 470 SLI Overheating

[Lefti]

Hi all,

Got a problem with my new graphics set up.

Got two Palit GTX 470 graphics cards in an SLI configuration with an ASUS P6X58D-E motherboard.

The performance is awesome, for about ten minutes until the top graphics card overheats and the PC locks up .

The cards are at stock speeds, the case is open, but that top card just seems to get too hot since the bottom card restricts its air intake.

I have GPU-Z logging the temps to file so I can see them after it crashes.

When it crashes that top card is up to 110 degrees with the fan going at 92%

CPU is an i7-950 (stock speed for the moment).
PSU: Zalman HP850
Case: Corsair 600T

Ideally I'd like the cards to be further apart but such is the layout of the motherboard and the width of the coolers

Any tips on how to tackle this problem? or should I just give up and go back to a radeon setup like I had before? Surely there must be a way to get these temps down, otherwise it seems like an SLI setup isn't actually possible.

Advice from the community would be much appreciated.

 

[wiinippongamer]

rma, that's not normal even for fermis, i've also heard palit's gtx400 cool like crap, because the heatsink doesn't even cover the vrms

 

[Rustyy117]

The cards aren't faulty...

Its just what happens when you SLI/CF two hot running cards with no space between them.

@OP your mobo has three PCI-E lanes 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x8/x8 or x16/x16/x1 mode)

So you could put one card in PCI-E lane 1, and the second card in the third PCI-E lane, that way the cards will have some breathing room. You just need a long SLI cable.

Other things you could do include:

Cable management ( Make sure your PC's internals are neat and all cables are out the way and not restricting air flow)
Remove the Stock thermal paste, and apply some high quality thermal paste like MX-3
Add more/Better case fans.

Hope that helps.

 

[Lefti]

Thanks for the fast replies. I did consider moving it down a slot.

Will running the second card on a 8x lane reduce performance though?

You'd think motherboard manufacturers would space the PCI-E lanes more especially for mobos marketed for SLI/XFire.

 

[Rustyy117]

8x 8x will have little to no effect on perfermance, 8x is plenty for anything but new dual GPU cards

 

[Lefti]

I'll give it a try and report back

 

[Lefti]

No good

The system panel connector blocks the card from going into the bottom slot. Another fantastic piece of motherboard design, that those little pins for the chassis connectors prevent a graphics card from going in slot 3.

I'm starting to regret my choice of motherboard, and graphics. In all the reviews I see two and even 3 fermi cards all in a row with no space in between, how the hell did they get it to work like that .

 

[borisof007]

With adequate air flow, a large motherboard, and a large case.

Usually you'll want a High Air Flow, Full Tower case with any dual 470/480 solution. Those cards are SUPER hot. Either that, or customer cooling solutions or liquid cooling.

 

[Lefti]

The airflow through my case is good, but it looks like the cards just need space to breathe.

What are my options? a new mobo with wide spacing? different graphics cards? is there some kind of aftermarket cooler?

I'd love to go water cooling but i don't have the time and cash to invest in it atm

 

[Spiderm0n]

Can you return the cards? The Gigabyte 470 super overclock was redesigned to run cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125338&Tpk=470%20super%20overclock

 

[notty22]

What is the bottom card running at ,temp wise ?
You could try switching the cards? Some 470's with the reference coolers run hotter than others it seems.
I believe some come with varied voltages. See what gpuz is reporting for either card for curiosity sakes.

 

[Lefti]

Ooooh

Now that is interesting.

The card on the bottom was about 10-25 degrees cooler than the one on top.

Now I look at the voltages they are not the same:

one card is running at 0.875 v
the other is running at 0.950v

and the 0.950v card was the one on top, so not only was it worse off in terms of airflow but it was running an increased voltage of 0.75.

I've swapped them around now. I'll see how things go.

excellent spot notty22

So it seems they increase the voltages on the cards to whatever is needed to hit that stock clock speed? I'm not sure how much better that card will fare on the bottom, but I'll put it through it's paces. Perhaps if the 0.950v card is still too hot I can send it back for one with a lower voltage.

 

[notty22]

Perhaps if the 0.950v card is still too hot I can send it back for one with a lower voltage.

People definitely run them on top of each other like your attempting. But some seem to come at different voltages. You have to do ,what you have to do.
Exchange the hot one , if swapping them around does not help much.

 

[Lefti]

While it seems there is a slight difference between the card voltages neither card can handle that top slot, the cooler one still overheats, it just takes a bit longer to get there

Though I do wonder if it would be possible to lower the voltages in order to bring the temps down. Perhaps there is room for me to undervolt the cards slightly and still maintain the stock frequencies.

Either that or I'm looking for a motherboard with better spacing.

 

[Lefti]

After lowering the voltages as low as I could get them without furmark crashing - 0.887 volts on each card - that top card still overheats, it goes all the way up to ~110 at which point the card shuts itself off, presumably to prevent damage. When the top card goes the bottom card is in the high 70s. Clearly spacing is the issue here, looks like im in the market for a motherboard.

Conclusion: You cannot run 2 Palit GTX 470 graphics cards in SLI with an ASUS P6X58D-E motherboard.

 

[jerreece]

Just for reference... are these Palit GTX 470's the version with the dual fans? Or are they the "stock" reference cooler? nVidia's reference design specifically has a flow through slot on the back side of the card to "help" with airflow when the cards are sandwiched together.

 

[jerreece]

With adequate air flow, a large motherboard, and a large case.

Usually you'll want a High Air Flow, Full Tower case with any dual 470/480 solution. Those cards are SUPER hot. Either that, or customer cooling solutions or liquid cooling.

The only problem with custom coolers is all the GTX 470 compatible custom coolers I've seen so far are "3 slot" coolers.

 

[ScoobyJooby-Jew]

Have you tried pulling the side panel off and using a house fan to blow air on the cards? That will force air into the space between cards and help cool the top. If that lowers your temps, then you'll know that the top card is overheating due to lack of air flow. At which point it will be time to pull out the jigsaw and get creative on your case >

 

[BooMJesuS]

Lefti,

I also have a 470 and have been considering going SLI with another, but my concerns about heat and the exact issue you're dealing with brought me to this thread. I also have a mobo that would force me to have my cards stacked a 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch apart. Here are my options- a) buy a larger mobo for breathing room in between cards forcing me to buy a new case or b) just buy a new case with a new design. The PSU is on the bottom and the mobo is rotated 90* so the components are positioned vertically, allowing heat to radiate evenly in the direction heat naturally wants to go...up. Instead of having the cards stacked and one baking the hell out of the other, the heat from the two rises evenly. My concern though is that this might not be enough, given that the cards would still be close and radiating heat outwards towards eachother. Although I haven't spent a whole lot of time shopping on this type of case yet, its not cheap (Silverstone Raven)... If anyone has any recommendations for other cases with the same features but a cheaper pricetag I'm all ears. I'm more concerned with funcionality, not asthetics.
Obviously option A is the optimal choice, but the most expensive and I'm not sure how much of a difference buying a new mobo to put in this new case would make as opposed to going with just the case. Those are my thoughts and concerns on the issue and would also appreciate any feedback. Good luck Lefti.


(crap sorry for the bump... just noticed im 6 months late on this thread...) I'll be surprised if anyone responds now...

 

[jase74]

This thread lives on with my gtx470's overheating. My mobo is sabertooth x58. Top card is gigabyte 470gtx overclock and bottom is
gigabyte standard. I run them both at 650 -> 700 mhz using afterburner.

My case is Lanboy Air fitted with maximum fans. That's around 15 case fans.

I have really good airflow and case cooling so its the actual airflow in between the two gtx's.

There must be a better solution to fix this issue as I also run a revodrive ssd on my other PCI slot.

Things are a bit cramped in the slots, but is there anyway to achieve better cooling via some sort of case mod. I have two arctic cooling fans blowing away at the GTX's from point blank. Seems its the actual GPU's which can run up to 110 degrees before shutdown. Mine run at around 85 -> 94 at any given time under load.

 

[badtaylorx]

ok ill be the one to point out the giant pink elephant in the room. the one option nobody wants to list is sell off the 470's on ebay to someone who ISN"T going to sli them....and get a 5xx series card.....the main focusing factor for the 5xx redesign was HEAT&NOISE ..470s were way way way too hot and without watercooling not a viable sli option.......jase74 you have 15 fans in one of the highest flow cases known to man......if that cant (air) cool a card......NOTHING WILL

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey