SLI config searing hot under full load....

[Senor Snarf]

I have two GTX 275's in an SLI configuration on my ASUS P6T motherboard. Due to the proximity of the PCI-E 16x ports on the motherboard, the cards are very, very close. They're almost touching. The bottom one idles at around 47C and the top at around 50C. That doesn't seem too bad, and even when playing Crysis either card only reaches low 80's at the most.

However, when testing with FurMark in extreme burning mode, the top card reaches a blazing 94C and the bottom card gets up to about 90C. Then I hear the fans FINALLY kick up to 100% and the temperature of the top card dropped down to 93C, but I ended the test before I could see if it would drop any more because I was not comfortable with the cards running for any amount of time at those temperatures. Is it normal for two high end cards like these to get that hot under full load? Should I set the fan to ramp up at lower temperatures to avoid it? If so, how would I go about doing that?

Thanks!

 

[mindless728]

well, furmark is a stability test, so the temps are going to be very high compared to any game you play

the only thing i can think of is put a fan on the side of your case blowing air onto the GPU's (if you don't already)

 

[Bluescreendeath]

Get one or two IO slot cooling fans.

 

[Senor Snarf]

Will the temps ever get that high real world? It's not like I run any games/applications that would stress the cards as much as FurMark, like mindless said.

 

[invisik]

The card can handle up to 105c+.

 

[Senor Snarf]

That's what I've heard, invisik. I also read several reviews that said the card could get to the mid-80's - low 90's when they tested them. As long as the cards aren't regularly reaching those levels, should they be ok? Low 80's in games won't shorten their lives will it?

By the way, I just noticed the top card (that has it's airflow restricted by the other card) takes forever to cool down in comparison to the bottom card, which cools itself to idle levels fairly quickly after being strained. Is it bad that it takes a while to cool down, even if it's at safe temperatures while it does so?

 

[hundredislandsboy]

If you can stand the noise, you can always manually set both GPU fans to 80% or more before you start 3D gaming or testing. At least you know, you're doing what you can to keep the temps from going past 85 C.

 

[invisik]

Those temp will be fine. My 2 gtx260 oc idles at 40-45c and at max load 85-90c (fan speed 85%). The cards lifespan wont decrease there meant to be able to withstand those temps.

Same with my setup even though there is space between my 2 cards. The 2nd card tends to cool much faster. The reason being could be theirs always more stress on the 1st card since i believe basic windows application use the 1st card.

 

[Senor Snarf]

Cool. I let it go for a little bit with FurMark and neither card get any hotter than 93c, so I guess I don't need to worry.