Halp! x3 R9 390 in Crossfire - so close to each other fans rub against backplate!

[Neuspeed]

Title says it all. Anyone has ideas?

Mobo: Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z
GPUs: Asus Strix R9 390 (three of them)

https://s12.postimg.org/p8pf1w5n1/Crossfire_R9_390s.jpg

 

[Geekwad]

The least expensive would be a PCIe slot riser cable for the middle card, and then custom-mounting it.

 

[Eximo]

Seems to just be a GPU sag problem? You could jam some simple spacers between the cards to prevent the fans from rubbing.

Get a new case and have your motherboard on its back with the cards vertical is another option.

Of course the best solution is to water cool them.

 

[SgtScream]

Even if you fix the noise, you'll still be dealing with a tremendous amount of heat between all three graphics cards. This term is called "Pancaking". I'd suggest returning the other two graphics cards and run on a single gpu, otherwise it will only be a matter of time before one fails due to heat issues. Another reason is your cpu has just enough horsepower to process one gpu without bottlenecking, let alone three. When troubleshooting, you'll eventually will have to take all three out and test them each individually to find out which one failed. You'll replace that one, then another one will die. Then on top of that, the manufacturer will send you a replacement the r9 390, but the card will be slightly different from the other two so it will cause your crossfire setup to spaz out due to instability. Just speaking from experience, It's better to go with one powerful GPU, for many reasons, some of which i'm sure I haven't listed.

 

[rcald2000]

+Neuspeed I offer no solution, since everyone else has covered all options. But I just had to say: Whoa, that's so cool! I like the look of the inside of your case too. Is your power supply a EVGA G2 1300 or 1600?

 

[junkeymonkey]

remove the backplates ?? like sais if its due to sag you would need to prop up the bottom card level and add a spacer between the it and the 2ed card to hold them level ? [home make something as this ] http://www.powercolor.com/us/products_Accessories_features.asp?id=1

or maybe make a ziptie sling to hold it up ?

but still the back plate is going to add / take up 2-5mm or so that could be used for air flow between the cards

 

[rcald2000]

+Neuspeed Actually I do have another option for you to consider after-all:

* sell three R9 390's; sold price on Ebay US is $175 - $200.
* buy three RX 480's (8 GB); buy price on NewEgg is $219.99 ($204.99 after $15.00 rebate card) ($3.99 Shipping).
* sell two Doom codes. Each GPU comes with Doom steam code. Assuming there are no restrictions, keep one code for yourself, and sell or giveaway the remaining two codes.

Three R9 390's have combined TDP of 825 watts (3 x 275 watts)
Three RX 480's have combined TDP of 450 watts (3 x 150 watts)
* OC version of RX 480 has TDP of 180 watts.

Result: Lower power consumption, lower weight, lower heat production.

*** ebay completed/sold prices for R9 390 ***
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=r9+390&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xr9+390+-390x.TRS0&_nkw=r9+390+-390x&_sacat=0

Weight of GPUs: 1312g (2.9 lbs) and 877g (1.9 lbs) for the R9 390 and RX 480 respectively

MSI Radeon RX 480 ARMOR 8G OC
$219.99 ($204.99 after $15.00 rebate card)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137048

! caution about rebate: "Receive a USD $15 prepaid card by mail from MSI! Offer expires on 2/28/17. Limit 1 per household". If you wish to claim all three then you'll probably have to order them separately and ship them to your address with slight modifications to insinuate that they are different. Personally I'd just claim the one rebate, and disregard the others, but I thought that I should mention.

 

[Eximo]

Eh, might as well do a pair of 1070s at that price point.

3 RX480 for $660
2 1070 for $740
1 1080Ti ???? announcement in 6 days though.

Or hold out for Vega.

 

[Neuspeed]

Seems to just be a GPU sag problem? You could jam some simple spacers between the cards to prevent the fans from rubbing.

Get a new case and have your motherboard on its back with the cards vertical is another option.

Of course the best solution is to water cool them.

I'm using a Corsair Graphite 780T full tower case, there's plenty of space for all the cards. However the spacing of the PCIE slots on the motherboard is what the issue is.

Hmm I'll try the spacer idea.. Thanks!

 

[Neuspeed]

+Neuspeed I offer no solution, since everyone else has covered all options. But I just had to say: Whoa, that's so cool! I like the look of the inside of your case too. Is your power supply a EVGA G2 1300 or 1600?

Haha Thanks man! I always thought my cable management skills are terrible lol.. I'm using a EVGA Supernova 1600 G2. Dam thing can support 9 video cards!! O_O

 

[Neuspeed]

Eh, might as well do a pair of 1070s at that price point.

3 RX480 for $660
2 1070 for $740
1 1080Ti ???? announcement in 6 days though.

Or hold out for Vega.

The three R9 390s cost me $490. I've always wanted to try crossfire and see what like, just for fun.

 

[Neuspeed]

+Neuspeed Actually I do have another option for you to consider after-all:

* sell three R9 390's; sold price on Ebay US is $175 - $200.
* buy three RX 480's (8 GB); buy price on NewEgg is $219.99 ($204.99 after $15.00 rebate card) ($3.99 Shipping).
* sell two Doom codes. Each GPU comes with Doom steam code. Assuming there are no restrictions, keep one code for yourself, and sell or giveaway the remaining two codes.

Three R9 390's have combined TDP of 825 watts (3 x 275 watts)
Three RX 480's have combined TDP of 450 watts (3 x 150 watts)
* OC version of RX 480 has TDP of 180 watts.

Result: Lower power consumption, lower weight, lower heat production.

*** ebay completed/sold prices for R9 390 ***
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=r9+390&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xr9+390+-390x.TRS0&_nkw=r9+390+-390x&_sacat=0

Weight of GPUs: 1312g (2.9 lbs) and 877g (1.9 lbs) for the R9 390 and RX 480 respectively

MSI Radeon RX 480 ARMOR 8G OC
$219.99 ($204.99 after $15.00 rebate card)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137048

! caution about rebate: "Receive a USD $15 prepaid card by mail from MSI! Offer expires on 2/28/17. Limit 1 per household". If you wish to claim all three then you'll probably have to order them separately and ship them to your address with slight modifications to insinuate that they are different. Personally I'd just claim the one rebate, and disregard the others, but I thought that I should mention.

Thanks for the suggestion! However I'm gonna stick with this ship until it sinks.. After it sinks, it will be long enough time to see how AMD is doing vs Intel with the introduction of Ryzen.

 

[Neuspeed]

remove the backplates ?? like sais if its due to sag you would need to prop up the bottom card level and add a spacer between the it and the 2ed card to hold them level ? [home make something as this ] http://www.powercolor.com/us/products_Accessories_features.asp?id=1

or maybe make a ziptie sling to hold it up ?

but still the back plate is going to add / take up 2-5mm or so that could be used for air flow between the cards

Power Jack is a great invention but it wouldn't help my setup as I have three GPUs. I need to find heat resistant spacers or something that won't melt ez

 

[Eximo]

You'll find quite a number of available 3D printed designs available from Shapeways. Though I think they are typically made with single GPUs in mind,

I wouldn't worry too much about melty plastics, computers don't really get that warm.

Some high temperature doublestick tape perhaps, you could even leave the non-stick part so thee cards don't stick together. Or something simple like nylon washers available from a hardware store. Or those flat Lego pieces would probably work pretty well. Even some of the dense closed cell foam that a lot of computer hardware is packed in would be okay.