Is it easyer to cool a 6990 or 2x 6970 ?

[venur]

Topic.

 

[rubix_1011]

I'm not sure I completely follow your question. Please include more information on what you are seeking to answer including detailed questions, concerns and your initial arguments.

 

[venur]

Well I'm not sure yet if I'll go for two GPU in crossfire/sli or for a dual GPU. Going for a 3monitor set-up I expect my GPUs to produce a ton of heat.

 

[jerseygamer]

First of all avoid almost all of the xfire issues by going with the 6990. Using 2 cards is a terrible idea all around. Its night and day, way more reliable. Heat should not be a problem in any decent case with a side cover fan and decent air flow. You should be able to burn that card all day long.

Most games do not have a fov adjustment. Basicly you are stuck with streching on your side monitors in most cases. Multiple displays are a pain in the rear all around. Eyefinity for example when its set up so you can run your games on 3 displays creates big limitations. For example if you are watching a video and you maximize it the video will play on your center display but the outside of the window expands and covers the rest of your desktop. So basicly maximize anything and it covers all 3 of your displays. If you want to game on 3 displays then you realy do need a 6990 to keep decent detail.

Now if you run outside of a display group and just extend your desktop you will only be gaming on one display but you can maximize a program and it will only take up the display it resides on and not all 3. You can play a game on one display and still make use of your other displays. Here is the problem though. Unless your game has full screen windowed support or runs well in windowed when you load any full screen aplication on a display your other displays will stop rendering untill you exit that full screen program or tab to another program.

My advice is buy everything localy so you can return it all. Xfire/sli is still a niche thing and has poor support. Multiple displays are very much a novelty and usualy reserved for professionals who need that extra realistate for work reasons.

 

[rubix_1011]

Is this a watercooling question, or just a video card question?

 

[jerseygamer]

Either way the answer is 6990. For air or water cooling a single card solution is cheaper and much easier to cool then 2 or more cards.

 

[rubix_1011]

I agree.

I just wanted to know where this thread belonged in the forum and if it needed to be moved.

 

[venur]

I agree.

I just wanted to know where this thread belonged in the forum and if it needed to be moved.

na it was realy toward the cooling bcuz as for the GPU technical performance I know the pros and con of going for a dual GPU (6990) or two gpu(6970)

 

[boiler1990]

I disagree on the 6990. Though it'll be cheaper to cool (really just the added cost of a single waterblock), it won't necessarily warrant better performance.

You still need to use Crossfire drivers because the PCB has two GPUs onboard, so your argument there is moot. Also, it has been proven time and again that 2x6970s > 1x6990 in graphical performance, and every little bit counts with 3 monitors.
(Double the 6970 results; the bench list only has 1x6970 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/515?vs=509)

Since the 6990 uses two of the same GPUs in the 6970, the heat load will be about the same, so the hardware setups should be nearly interchangeable with the cooling setups. You might need a bit more cooling with the 2x6970 setup, but as long as you have at least 480mm of rad space you should be good to go. My 2x6950 2GBs ran at 45C while gaming and I had my 2500K in my loop with a 360 and 120mm rad with 110CFM fans.

 

[rubix_1011]

Most double GPU cards actually run less than spec on each GPU than would normally be running in a single GPU card. Typically it's minor, but that does make a difference.

 

[boiler1990]

Most double GPU cards actually run less than spec on each GPU than would normally be running in a single GPU card. Typically it's minor, but that does make a difference.

Exactly my point. With 3 monitors, any minor difference is exaggerated.

 

[venur]

I disagree on the 6990. Though it'll be cheaper to cool (really just the added cost of a single waterblock), it won't necessarily warrant better performance.

You still need to use Crossfire drivers because the PCB has two GPUs onboard, so your argument there is moot. Also, it has been proven time and again that 2x6970s > 1x6990 in graphical performance, and every little bit counts with 3 monitors.
(Double the 6970 results; the bench list only has 1x6970 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/515?vs=509)

Since the 6990 uses two of the same GPUs in the 6970, the heat load will be about the same, so the hardware setups should be nearly interchangeable with the cooling setups. You might need a bit more cooling with the 2x6970 setup, but as long as you have at least 480mm of rad space you should be good to go. My 2x6950 2GBs ran at 45C while gaming and I had my 2500K in my loop with a 360 and 120mm rad with 110CFM fans.

I know that 2x 6970 > 6990 on benchmark (at the cost of a little more microstuttering wich is prevented by going 3x CF )

But my concern were about the heat of a 6990 compare to two 6970 before making a decision.

 

[boiler1990]

I know that 2x 6970 > 6990 on benchmark (at the cost of a little more microstuttering wich is prevented by going 3x CF )

But my concern were about the heat of a 6990 compare to two 6970 before making a decision.

Well it depends on what size/how many rads you're able to fit in your loop.

Also you may see microstuttering anyway because as I said before, you have to use CF drivers for the 6990 because it technically has 2 GPUs in CF, but they just happen to be on the same PCB.