Recommendations for keeping my sli temps down?

[Noobmannnn]

First post here, sorry if I did it wrong. I have two GTX 780s (Superclocked with twin fans) in SLI. Unfortunately, due to the nature of my mobo (z87 Gryphon), I needed to use the top 2 PCIe slots to get SLI working. Having these things sandwiched wasn't an issue until recently, but games like Battlefront and Tomb Raider have my primary GPU hitting 80+ degrees, and inevitability throttling/crashing. I'm on Low/Medium settings when I know this build could easily handle High/Ultra at 1080p.

I have both GPU fans at 95%, and I'm still running hotter than hell. My CPU is watercooled, but I'm relying on good old fashioned airflow for the GPU. The wiring is rather neat, and I have quite a few fans surrounding the case.

To conclude, can anyone recommend a solution that will give the top card some cooling help? I can't make the bottom card the heavy lifter, nor can I move them around without losing the SLI...

Thank you.

 

[rcald2000]

Please list specs, including power supply manufacturer and model #.

Please take photos of the inside of your build, so that I can see the layout.

 

[Michael Hurtle]

First post here, sorry if I did it wrong. I have two GTX 780s (Superclocked with twin fans) in SLI. Unfortunately, due to the nature of my mobo (z87 Gryphon), I needed to use the top 2 PCIe slots to get SLI working. Having these things sandwiched wasn't an issue until recently, but games like Battlefront and Tomb Raider have my primary GPU hitting 80+ degrees, and inevitability throttling/crashing. I'm on Low/Medium settings when I know this build could easily handle High/Ultra at 1080p.

I have both GPU fans at 95%, and I'm still running hotter than hell. My CPU is watercooled, but I'm relying on good old fashioned airflow for the GPU. The wiring is rather neat, and I have quite a few fans surrounding the case.

To conclude, can anyone recommend a solution that will give the top card some cooling help? I can't make the bottom card the heavy lifter, nor can I move them around without losing the SLI...

Thank you.

I would recommend having at least two fans mounted in the front of the case blowing air in and one on top and back that also will blow hot air out assuming you are using a 120mm on the top of the case. Try to make sure that no cables are in the way of the airflow towards the two GPUs what so ever. If you are still hitting some hot temps add a fan either on the side of the case blowing air onto the GPUs. If none of that helps, grab some vented PCI brackets for the rear and remove the 120 in the rear so most of the air is being pushed only onto the GPUs. if you dont have any vented PCI brackets just remove the ones not being used and try to see if that helps.
I would also recommend cleaning out the PC to make sure it isn't a dust issue from the GPUs themselves

Which version of the 780s are you running? What case do you have?

Hope i could help you have more options to choose from to fix your issue

 

[Noobmannnn]

Please list specs, including power supply manufacturer and model #.

Please take photos of the inside of your build, so that I can see the layout.

Sure thing.

I have an i7 4770k
Asus Gryphon Z87 Motherboard
16 GB Corsair RAM
2x EVGA GTX 780 Superclocked
Corsair RM850 PSU (If I recall it's this guy w/out the cooling fan) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139056)

And here are a few pics (sorry for the quality...)
http://i.imgur.com/UV7L0xs.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/kfsT8yl.jpg

My apologies if those aren't of any help. As you can see, these massive cards need to be squashed right next to each other. I didn't do my research on my mobo beforehand (new to PC gaming...) Thanks for your assistance.

 

[Noobmannnn]

And yes, whatever fix I decided to employ, there WILL be a full dusting in the works : ) I just did it a month ago however, so I'm afraid that's not the (only) issue.

Edit: Oh and this is the case. I'm clueless I swear... http://www.corsair.com/en-us/graphite-series-600t

 

[Michael Hurtle]

And yes, whatever fix I decided to employ, there WILL be a full dusting in the works : ) I just did it a month ago however, so I'm afraid that's not the (only) issue.

Edit: Oh and this is the case. I'm clueless I swear... http://www.corsair.com/en-us/graphite-series-600t

somehow Jerry rig (Zip Tie) some fans to behind the GPU against the HDD cage blowing air towards the back of the case so it is directly on the GPUs because they have no breathing room at all

 

[rcald2000]

So it looks like you have three cages at the front of your case. The top cage "appears" to have something, which I'm guessing is a dvd-rom, and the bottom cage has a hard drive. Any chance that you could relocate the hard drive from the bottom cage, to the top, so that it's right below the dvd-rom. Then please remove the bottom two cages, so that the case's front fan can better circulate air.

If I were experiencing this problem, here is what I would do:

(1) Download and run HWMonitor, and record CPU and GPU temps and utilizations during game play.

(2) Remove side of case, turn computer on side (with motherboard facing upwards), face a floor standing fan in the direction of the motherboard, in order to cool components. Again record temps and utilization.

(3) remove one GPU, and run HWmonitor, and record data again (side panel off and case on side).

(4) remove other GPU and replace first one, and run HWmonitor, and record data once again (side panel off and case on side).

random thoughts / possible causes: (a) poor airflow, (b) software, (c) thermal compound on GPU's needs re-applications.

Question: Could you please elaborate on your throttling and crashing comment. What precisely is happening? Is the game crashing or the entire OS? What tells you that the game is throttling? I'm not implying you're wrong, I'm just trying to get more information about your issue.

 

[Noobmannnn]

The top of this case contains two small fans. The front has one larger fan. And that fan in the 1st picture, by the video cards, I just realized is NOT working. Not sure if that's new or not. Any help on getting that sucker going would be appreciated. I'm looking through my AI Suite fan settings atm...

I will definitely look into moving the cages. I'm completely new to this, but the reason I got this PC was to learn, so I'm excited to tinker!

The throttling occurs when my card reaches a certain temp (I believe 80 degrees, as I have that set in Precision X). More importantly, the video card driver eventually crashes and needs to reset (after hitting that 80+ degree mark), which crashes the game. I should mention that I just upgraded to Windows 10 a few days ago. However, I was having no problems until I tried a couple of the latest games. The Division Beta today (though it IS a beta to be fair...) was the last straw for me. I'm on Medium settings and still overheating and "crashing" (driver resetting itself). Yet I get 60 fps on Ultra... until my case apparently turns into Satan's living room.

Thank you both for your continued help. I appreciate it!

 

[Michael Hurtle]

The top of this case contains two small fans. The front has one larger fan. And that fan in the 1st picture, by the video cards, I just realized is NOT working. Not sure if that's new or not. Any help on getting that sucker going would be appreciated. I'm looking through my AI Suite fan settings atm...

I will definitely look into moving the cages. I'm completely new to this, but the reason I got this PC was to learn, so I'm excited to tinker!

The throttling occurs when my card reaches a certain temp (I believe 80 degrees, as I have that set in Precision X). More importantly, the video card driver eventually crashes and needs to reset (after hitting that 80+ degree mark), which crashes the game. I should mention that I just upgraded to Windows 10 a few days ago. However, I was having no problems until I tried a couple of the latest games. The Division Beta today (though it IS a beta to be fair...) was the last straw for me. I'm on Medium settings and still overheating and "crashing" (driver resetting itself). Yet I get 60 fps on Ultra... until my case apparently turns into Satan's living room.

Thank you both for your continued help. I appreciate it!

Good to hear that you love to tinker around with PC hardware as we all do here!
honestly computer case fans are really hard to fix. I would say try another fan header to see if it fixes it, but i dont think that would effect the cards temperature THAT much. if you can get the card working place it in-front of the GPUs while its going under load to see if a fan close to them like that will help the temperatures.
The only reason i say have them that close is to see if the hot air is not being pushed out correctly from the stock fans. i would also recommend what rcald2000 said in steps 3-4 because having old thermal paste wear out can cause the temperature dips like that.

 

[rcald2000]

Best options: (1) Remove front cages to help air flow, possibly upgrade case fans for better air flow & silence, (3) add a PCI slot case cooler; not Vantec as it's requires a PCIe slot to power it.

Other options that are more expensive and a bigger pain, would be upgrading to a bigger (better?) case and a full ATX motherboard.

*** PCI slot case cooler ***
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007998%20600035566%208000&IsNodeId=1&Description=case%20fan&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=30

What I would do:

* Sell 2 x EVGA 780's on Ebay; I see them selling for $189 - $289 for the 3GB version. I'm guessing that the huge price difference is due to the different models (coolers).

* Buy 1 x EVGA 980 Ti Classified (via NewEgg) for $619.99 after $20.00 (my #1 choice here). OR
* Buy 1 x EVGA 980 Ti b-stock (factory recertified) for $589; whatever you don't make on the sale of the 780's, pay the difference out of pocket.

The single card should greatly alleviate the overheating condition to a great degree. But I would still remove the extra drive cages and perfect air flow in anyway that I could.

*** EVGA b-stock GTX 980 Ti's ***
http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=8&family=GeForce+900+Series+Family&chipset=GTX+980+Ti

*** NewEgg - GTX 980 Ti's (all vendors) ***
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%208000%204814%20600565061&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30

Ebay query: EVGA GTX 780 (sc,superclocked) -as -parts -broken
options: sold, used
sort: lowest
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sop=15&LH_ItemCondition=4&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=EVGA+GTX+780+%28sc%2Csuperclocked%29+-ti+-as+-parts+-broken+-6gb&LH_PrefLoc=1&_pgn=3&_skc=100&rt=nc

 

[Noobmannnn]

Thank you both for your help and detailed responses. I was looking into PCI slot coolers. My only remaining question is where should I be placing it, and should it be blowing air into the cards or out of the case?

And yes, I'm afraid that SLI was a big mistake in my case (haha... case...). If I wasn't a slave to my tuition, I'd be on that 980 ti like no other. Though if I can get a good price for these two it might be manageable. I've picked rcald2000's response as a solution, but both of you were invaluable. Thanks again!

 

[rcald2000]

All those fans are blower style, so they will exhaust heat outside of the case.