GTX 560 Ti (SLI) Heat Problem

[Fecal Face]

Hi

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 =

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:

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:

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.

 

[swifty_morgan]

I just downloaded MSI Afterburner, looks like my cards were only set to go 80% fan speed once it hits 80°C. Or maybe that's the default for MSI Afterburner. Either way, I set the curve to put the fan speeds to 100% once it hits 90°C, I'll see if it makes a difference tomorrow. Need to go to bed now

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.

 

[Fecal Face]

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,

Performance is pretty good. It ran the Crysis 2 demo on "hardcore" settings at 1920x1080 perfectly well, so it should handle WoW and CoD just fine. DiRT 2 ran great on Ultra at 6110x1080. Pretty much every game I tested ran great.

I didn't pay much attention to performance with only the one card though, so I can't really say how big of a difference it was.

 

[Fecal Face]

Avoid the Palit cards, crap for cooling and thermals are abysmal.

After seeing my own temps, I'm going to have to agree with you, and the only real reason I bought the Palit cards was because EVGA didn't have 2GB models out 😛

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.

Will do

Also, I picked this as the best answer. The problem was solved (somehow) by the shop I took it to, but out of all the other suggestions this made the biggest impact on temps 😛

 

[Fecal Face]

Best answer selected by Fecal Face.

 

[swifty_morgan]

I just got one of these cards Friday. Been playing the heck out of my "old" games with it. Amazing the difference over the 5850. Haven't had a stutter in anything except 2033. 1920x1200 with AA enabled, all settings maxed.... Crysis, FarCry2, BBC2, Crysis Warhead, Medal of Honor Afghanistan is next. I've been rejuvenated, LOL.

After a couple of hours of gaming the card did get a little cooler ( broke in ) but it's an nvidia product and they're known for that. I'd mess with after market coolers but it's too new yet and don't want to screw with the warranty. So far it's a good purchase. No more 1gig cards for me.

 

[SLiSauL]

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.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7004/captureqn.jpg

Is that a Guild Wars 2 wallpaper in the background? XD

i have the same issue with both my cards. i have even taken off the fan shrouds. not too much help.
i am going to spin my cpu cooler around and see if i can move some air out of the case.
seems the evga models. or models with only one fan seem to tun a bit warmer. i have been getting the display driver has stopped responding and has recovered error lately

 

[Fecal Face]

Is that a Guild Wars 2 wallpaper in the background? XD

It certainly is 😀

i have the same issue with both my cards. i have even taken off the fan shrouds. not too much help.
i am going to spin my cpu cooler around and see if i can move some air out of the case.
seems the evga models. or models with only one fan seem to tun a bit warmer. i have been getting the display driver has stopped responding and has recovered error lately

I was going to try getting something like this: http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/product_page/vga/spitfire/product_vga_cooler_spitfire.html

But it doesn't say whether it's compatible with GTX 560Ti's or not