GTX 560 Ti (SLI) Heat Problem

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Fecal Face

Fecal Face

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Jul 28, 2009
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Hi :hello:

I bought two Palit 2GB GTX 560 Ti's a few days ago, and have been running them in SLI. Nvidia surround is great, 6110x1080 = :ouch:

Problem is, since they're so close together on my motherboard (ASUS P6T), the top card is getting no airflow at all, hitting 95°C+ playing games:
5472713526_7ed1bee796.jpg

Not cool. (literally)

My first idea, obviously, was to move the card down a slot, creating a much larger gap in between the cards, like so:
5472712034_9ac036f61d.jpg


Problem is, every time I've tried that, my computer hasn't booted, or has booted without video. Now I'm not sure if this is because my motherboard simply won't allow me to run cards in SLI in those specific slots, or if my PSU is somehow not powerful enough, or if the cards are somehow faulty.

Last time I tried moving the cards around it took me over an hour to try to boot properly, after switching the cards from slot to slot and rearranging the power connectors, unplugging / plugging in my computer, it finally started up properly.

Thing is, when it DID start up, my BIOS settings had been completely reset, my date was set to the year 2099, and my RAID 0 configuration had been lost. Reinstalling steam / couple hundred GB of games = double not cool.


So, I have a couple questions for y'all:
Is it possible for me to run the cards in SLI (perhaps get a longer SLI connector first) how I suggested, with one card moved a slot down, or is there some restriction with my motherboard that I'm not aware of?

Is it my power supply, my mobo, or the cards themselves that caused my BIOS settings to be completely reset / my computer not boot? Or is it some other problem?

Full list of my specs here, in case they're needed:
PC Power & Cooling 750W PSU
2x 2GB Palit GTX 560 Ti's [SLI]
3x WD 1TB Caviar Green [RAID0]
WD 1TB Caviar Black
Intel Corei7 920, not OC'd or anything
6GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 Triple Channel RAM
Lexa Blackline case, all fans replaced with 120mm 1900RPM Scythe "Slip Stream Kaze-Jyuni" fans.
 
Solution
S


You should set the fan to go faster at lower temps. Waiting for 100% at 90c is a loosing proposition. Readjust to run 100% at 70c. And raise the fan speed for lower temps in session. Say 60% at 50c. Running faster at lower temps will help the card run cooler vs waiting for the card to hit high temps before faster fan speed kicks in.
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Ok I can say this, my first run with sli was with two evga 7600gs then later two evga 7900gs ko with a spare. Then it was two 9800gt in sli but the gem that I treasure is a 3dfx voodoo 5500 agp. Sli on a stick agp non less with no switch but I also got two alienware 7900gtx duo s. They are big and long cards so I know a lot about sli but they key to have the best two way setup is having a slot between the cards that isn't used for extra air flow with a 80mm fan hanging over for that extra kick of air for good temps. One thing though you don't want to have the bottom card all the way down on the bottom like on my 780i rig due to temps issue again. As for the mod try to work on it more and it will help.

PS make it more narrow with a bottom and you can go around those cables.
 
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I have a Gigabyte 560ti SOC and noticed my temps never go above 40 C. Can you play your games with only one card in the blue slot and make sure they both function the same, no overheating on either one. Then sli them, blue and white for x16 and x8, blue and black will be x16 and x1, so you dont want to do that. Then find out which card is overheating, are you sure its the top one?

My suggestion would be to move air out of the case and not in it. The side fan should blow air out of the case and not on the cards, the hot air inside will stay inside. Both video cards push air downward away from each card, but since you sli, hot air is coming onto the second card. See if you can find pci-e fans and place one on top of the first card blow air straight up and the second one below the second card blowing down.

See what happens. I had a single card get really hot playing CIV 5, so maybe one of your cards could be defective. What happens if you dont put the side back on, still overheating?
 
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Alright, I tried moving the bottom card one slot down, but for some reason it wasn't being detected at all by Windows / nvidia control panel.

When I opened nvidia control panel, it only showed the one card. Weird.

Could that be an issue with my mobo, or is it just not possible to run two cards like that?

If it's not possible on my motherboard, would it be possible on this one? (EVGA X58 SLI LE)
evgax58slile.jpg


Basically what I want to do is run the two cards in slots A and C. This should definitely fix my heat problems, as it will add a big gap in between the cards, but it doesn't seem to work with my mobo. Does anybody know if it would work on the above mobo (one of the cheapest mobos I could find with 3+ slots)?
 
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ur current mobo will use x16 and x1 for sli in slots 1 and 3, not good. The EVGA will do x16 and x4 for slots A and C. Look for a mobo that will do dual x16 or x16 and x8. Did you try my reccomdations to verify that both cards are good cards?
 
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Yeah having a mobo that will let you put at least 1 slot between the cards in SLI will make a big difference. Also while your case has decent airflow, it could be much better. A new case somewhere down the line with some decent cable management options might be something to think about. Especially with your style of card cooler, since it doesnt take air from the front to the back, but rather from the bottom and then splashes it back into the case.

Oh, and even if you're not OC'ing, get a CPU cooler. You can find a decent one like a CM Hyper 212+ for as little as $20 bucks. Will make a difference.

What's your Mobo right now?
 
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Thanks, I'll keep those in mind. 😀



Both cards seem to be fine, I'm 99.9% sure the heat issue is because of the lack of air between the cards. I'm going to look for a mobo that's affordable (~$200 is the most I want to spend) and has the correct slots / speeds.



My mobo right now is an ASUS P6T

I actually was OC'ing, before I got the GTX 560's I was running my i7 920 at 3Ghz, not too dramatic of an increase but it didn't go above 80C on 100% load (converting a movie with handbrake for a few hours was what I used to test it ;P). It's not OC'd now, as it seems to be a bit warmer since the new cards went in.
 
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Other one is usually around 60°C, which isn't bad at all 😀
 
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I should note that I took the computer to a local shop a few days ago, they updated my BIOS and flashed my CMOS, and now the not-booting-no-video thing seems to be gone.

...Just played the Crysis 2 demo and GTA IV, my temps were levelling out around 85°C, down from 95°-100°.. I don't know what they did. Fans weren't rearranged or anything. I am officially confused. :heink:


Edit:

Only two possible things I can think of is that either my previous BIOS (the one that was originally on the mobo) wasn't reporting the temperatures properly or something, or maybe one card was getting too hot and they switched them. Either way I'm still confused. Lol.
 
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download gpu-z and post temps from that program for both cards, so what mobo you have now and what slots are the video cards in? Also, do you have fraps and can test fps? Because if it is slots 1 and 3, I doubt the second card is doing any good because the pipeline is x1.
 
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Nice 😛



They're still in their original slots, still in my original mobo. All they said they did was update my BIOS and flash my CMOS. Not sure at all why I'm getting lower temps :??:

FPS seems fine compared to how it was doing before they looked at it. I'm using MSI afterburner to monitor both temperatures and FPS, because it works with my keyboard 😉
 
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Thats good to know about the bios update, maybe that board cant tell temps. Maybe you should install gpu-z and see if there is a difference for a second opinion. More info and a second opinion may help you finally solve this problem.
 
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Installed GPU-Z and checked my temps with it, SpeedFan, and MSI Afterburner. Getting the same readings on all three programs.

Everything seems to be ~10-20°C lower than what I was getting before I took it in. Odd.
captureqn.jpg

 
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I just got my Computer and ran into some similar problems. I have 2 GTX 560ti 2GB in sli mode. I have an Asus Sabretooth x58 board with a i7 960 3.2GHz CPU. I have an Azza Hurrican Full Tower which has 2x 230mm Intake fans right on top of the GPU's and 2x 120mm fans in front of the HDD bays which flow also towards the GPU.

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517010&cm_re=azza_hurrican-_-11-517-010-_-Product

My issue is when I run StarCraft 2 on High Settings during the cut scenes my top card hits 90-95°C... Thats with 80% fan. Is this normal for a set up like this? My bottom card only hits in the high 60°C to low 70°C

Idle are as follows: 69°C top and 43°C bottom.

Any feedback is appreciated

 
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@gkmaster, you have 4 inflow fans and 1 outflow fan. Do me that is bad for heat as the hot air recirculates inside the case and prevents fresh colder air from getting inside the case. If you take the side cover off, does the temps change? If you switch both side cases to outflow, does your temps change? How is your cable management, as in are your cables allowing for proper airflow within the case?
 
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Heat needs to be able to rise. It doesn't sink very easily and going horizontally takes effort. I suggest changing around a few of those fans. You want as much airflow from the bottom as possible coming in while the exhaust at the top. This makes it easier for heat to naturally rise with in the case.
 
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Treat your computer case as a car engine, fresh air in, hot air out. Since each case is different and have different cooling options and open air ports. do what you can to get hot air out of the tower. Your case seems to blow alot of air inside the case and without adequate outflow. And by the position of the 230mm and power supply fans, hot air is just recirculating around the video cards choking them. That case design is really bad imho with regards to sli.
 
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Speaking about car engines, modern engines sound like crap and have low grade aluminum blocks that easily crack when overheated and wear very easily. I like old cast iron blocks that can take a few hundred thousand miles without failure plus when they overheat all one has to do is allow it to slowly cool then back on the road again.
 
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Hey there I have a similar spec computer build on the way,
i7 970 6 core
6 gigs of ddr3 Corsair XMS
1 TB Western Digital Black
and for now at least (1) 2GB Palit GTX560
I may consider SLI later, but i wanted to ask you what the performance is for SLI? I mainly play WoW, CoD Black Ops, and I would like to run Crysis 2,



 
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SLi will grant up to 190 percent performance increase compared to one card. What kind of budget are you looking at and is Sandy Bridge an option? When do you have the buy the parts? Are you in the US?
 
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