Gtx 550ti

[satan4u]

I recently got myself another gtx 550ti by gigabyte they both seem to be running in SLI perfect however I seem to be having heating issues both will get up to about 90c
so I'm thinking of buying a VGA cooler and here lies my problem
I have no idea which one to get or if it will be to much for my PSU which I just got to power these 2 cards
the PSU is a thermaltake touchpower XT 875watt
my system is an i7 870 not overlocked with a thermaltake frio CPU cooler
my case is a coolermaster ceturion5II
8gb ram
Asus xonor d2x soundcard
the motherboard is an asus P7P55D-E PRO
I changed the back fan and the side fan to a coolermaster turbine which helps but its still over heating
also my single card used to get up to about 80c before I did SLI

any advice or help would be good thanx

 

[Lutfij]

1| welcome to the forums newcomer!
2| are you sure you have enough space between the two cards since you're running sli on that mobo?
3| usually GELid, Arctic cooling and zalman make awesome and functional coolers - you can take a look.

Edit; here ya go
http://www.gelidsolutions.com/products/index.php?lid=1&cid=17&id=52
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga.html
http://www.zalman.com/ENG/product/CategorySecond_Pic.asp
http://www.acousticpc.com/quiet_video_card_cooling.html

 

[satan4u]

thanx for the links and the welcome

I don't have much of a gap really if you look at this pic

it will show you how big the gap actually is

however since this post I have done a few tests I noticed that with the side of my case off it never went above 80c so I'm thinking there could also be to much hot air inside the case which is making it overheat?
I changed the direction of the fan of the side to suck air out instead of push air in and it took a while longer to get up to those temps

 

[Lutfij]

okay, now we can see the bigger picture.

1| thumb rule with fans os that for a case like yours we need to have an equal amount of air going into and out of your case. i.e; exhaust = intake

if intake is high then you'll most probably have warm air trap inside and later heat up most components.

2| you seriously need to take a looka t the jungle of wires you have in that case. good cablemanagment is a simple/cheap/effective way to lower temps without any extra leverage from parts save a bag of zipties.

3| have the side intake, the front intake for the HDD's and the rear should exhaust as well as the top fan. though i don't see a fan on the top there, thus the mesh...

i could shoot you some ideas if you'd like?

 

[blade061188]

lutfij is right. Without good airflow through your case you are asking for trouble.

I have used the case you have for a friend of mine, and it is not very well set up for cable management, unfortunately.

Honestly, if you are looking to invest in a better cooling solution, I would suggest a new case rather than new VGA coolers. Your whole system would see a benefit from increased airflow.

 

[Lutfij]

hmm i also want to bolster blades point -

i notice that you have an open core cooler for your 550's they are actuall better since you don't have a shroud covering it and trapping nearly 50% of the gpu's heat inside.

* came across this thread - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1183498

more tips here;
http://www.lockergnome.com/theoracle/2010/01/24/cooler-master-centurion-5-ii-makes-winning-changes/

** MR. OP - upon doing some digging, i can see you have a good amount of options to do cablemanagement

and this post of a member @ the member gallery thread - you can also look throught the pages to get an idea of cablemanagement; http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/310222-31-hardware-member-system-gallery#t2318690

 

[blade061188]

Those look like some helpful threads. You may not need a new case after all. 😉

Once you get your case airflow under control, then you can assess your need for better VGA coolers From the looks of your case though, I bet good airflow will solve your problem

 

[17seconds]

With those cards, which already come with aftermarket cooling, you are best off trying to get some more airflow through your case. All the same, 90c is still within the thermal limit of the cards, so really you have nothing to worry about.

 

[toneekay]

Also, have you tried raising the fan speed on the cards as well?

First step: Cable management
Second step: Raise fan speeds (if haven't done so already)

* It may also help (like you mentioned) to keep the side case fan as an exhaust. Assuming that it's near the cards, you'll have extra exhaust for the created heat.

 

[satan4u]

thanx for the tips and the links

yes I have tried changing the fans speeds I set them to both 100% it took a while longer to get up to that temp but it did help a little bit

and the reason I didn't tidy the cable sis coz i had a feeling I would run into heating problems with my case so if the only option was to go out and buy a new case it would be easier to change all my parts and cables over

I also changed the side fna to pull heat out instead of pushing cold air in and that did help it took a while longer to heat up

I also tested something I got a small 100mm and had it sucking air form the card until it got up to 75c then I changed its direction to have it push cold air onto the card while haivng it push cold air onto the card it started going down slowly but it got down to about 70c

so it is in fact a heating problem so to solve this I went out and brought myself a bigger case I got the coolermaster haf 932

 

[17seconds]

Definitely apply a very thin layer of your Arctic Silver 5. Remove the old thermal paste with a Q-tip/cotton swab and some 99% rubbing alcohol (to ensure that it evaporates quickly). Keep your fingers from touching the surfaces directly as the oils on your skin can affect cooling performance.

A few looks at the installation process for the Thermaltake Frio:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermaltake-Frio-OCK-CPU-Cooler-Review/1278/4
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/Frio/4.html
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/32294-thermaltake-frio-cpu-cooler-review-6.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qCm0w8iLws&feature=related
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1316/3/

 

[satan4u]

thanx matto
I ended up just carefully taking the board out with the CPU cooler still attached was way easier than taking the whole thing apart just to put it into a new case

I used a cable tie to hold the cable at the top in place and to keep the cable form the fan from moving out of place

I didn't take a pic of the other side but I did cable tie them all together and make it stick to the side of the case

 

[Lutfij]

arrrrgh...you really need to do some cablemanagement...

honestly go over to the member gallery i posted earlier and you'll get a good amount of ideas to manage all the cables.

the clump of wires on the the front of the mobo should be behind the mobo tray+you have so many options to route that wire around to specific areas to the mobo. Thats the whole point of giving the cut outs on the mobo tray.

The Official Cooler Master HAF X/932/922/912(+) Club @ OCN

here are some members on Tom's who own a HAF 932;
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/310222-31-hardware-member-system-gallery#t2310594
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/page-310222_31_100.html#t2337840 (haf 922)

on OCN;
http://www.overclock.net/computer-cases/535901-cm-haf-932-vs-922-a.html#post6629223
http://www.overclock.net/computer-cases/634101-antec-900-haf-932-build-pictures.html

on My630i;
http://www.my630i.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3547

review sites;
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1376/4/
http://www.overclockersonline.net/reviews/50002141/

hope all these links help.

 

[toneekay]

Seems like your old case would've worked as well being that it had the cut outs to route wires behind the tray.

Look through the Member System Gallery for ideas, especially the guys that have CUT OUTS (not the pics where the wires are everywhere). I even have a few pics on there that shows good examples of how to route wires behind the HDD cage without cut outs (page 7).

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/310222-31-hardware-member-system-gallery

 

[Lutfij]

^ +15

that was my initial suggestion instead of shelling on a new case.

 

[satan4u]

when I had the old PSU in it, it was using the cable management like your meant to and it still got hot and the temp got up to 80c with a single GPU
that is one of the reasons I never bothered to do cable management in it and the reason it looked like that, doing it would have given it more room but I don't think it would have made as big a difference as getting a bigger case with more/bigger fans has given me

and also in the new case the GPU temps don't go above 67c

and I went through the gallery I might do some of those ideas

 

[Lutfij]

it was using the cable management like your meant to

your first shot of your case speaks otherwise since you have an XT now.
Edit;
i noticed you have the XT before int eh centurion but had the fan facing up - that was the key issue - your second and first casrd were being deprived of fresh air cos the PSU was sucking it off.

but I don't think it would have made as big a difference

honestly, most people try it and then realize the results...some here in the gallery did wonders in tight cases. notable mention would be P07H34D int he forums. Without much to work with all he did with a bag of zipties was wonders! not to mention working with a crossfired 6950 setup.

 

[toneekay]

Did the new case come with new fans as well? A good culprit could be a poor fan not moving enough air through the case.

 

[satan4u]

when I first did my computer with the old PSU I had a friend over that made me use the cable management

yeah that was a big fault on my behalf I didn't notice it could go the other way around but even with the old PSU and a single GPU it still got pretty hot inside that case

while it would have helped abit it wouldn't have made the difference a bigger case with bigger fans has

@toneekay, yes the new case came with Front: 230 x 30 mm red LED fan x 1 / 700 rpm / 19 dBA
Side: 230 x 30 mm standard fan x 1 / 700 rpm / 19 dBA
Top: 230 x 30 mm fan x 1 / 700 rpm / 19 dBA
Rear: 140 x 25 mm fan x 1, 1200 RPM, 17 dBA

nothing I could have done to the old case would have given as much airflow as the new case has

 

[Lutfij]

if the solution to your thread has been achieved i suggest you not linger on this thread... best select a "best answer" and we can close this lil baby