Best way to cool in SLI mode?

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z_man22

z_man22

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Nov 23, 2012
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hey guys, so I ordered another asus gtx 660ti, and I was wondering whats going to be the best way to cool my gpu's I heard they get fairly hot in SLI, the card already has heat pipes and 2 fans on it. and I have 3 case fans I believe, then an after market cpu cooler, i believe it's a cooler master evo or w.e. does anyone have any recommendations for me to help cooling? or is this enough?
 
Solution
grebgonebad
The best way to cool with air when using SLI is to have GPU coolers that exhaust air out the back of the case, rather than into it. However, as stated above, unless you are overclocking your cards, it doesnt really matter as the manufacturers take this into account.

The top card will always run hotter than the bottom, as A. Thermodynamics state that heat rises and B. The bottom card genrally doesnt run as much as the top card unless palying a game that is optimised for SLI well.

My advice is, if plan on keeping the cards at base clocks, then dont worry. If you plan on overclocking, do so, but keep an eye on your temps and if they start to get high, then look into buying a couple of aftermarket VGA coolers for your cards that will...
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Cons29

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Feb 10, 2010
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one flexible (literally) fan is the spot cool, it's made by antec if im not mistaken. google it, i'm using one to cool my south bridge (it get's really hot for some reason) and now it stays cool.
you can opt to point it towards the uhm, between the cards to help with the cooling esp the back side of the card
 
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ThatGmodGuy

ThatGmodGuy

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Jun 12, 2013
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You wont need to worry about heat then. Your case is really good at cooling. But if you want, you can still watercool them, as watercooling tends to be the most effective form of cooling.
 
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Madn3ss795

Madn3ss795

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Mar 19, 2013
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Ok a silent case. Not very good with cooling. Just put in your 2 GTX660ti as usual, here's a simple fan setup to keep both of them cool: take of the fan mount cover on the side and put at least 1 140mm fan to the lower fan mount as intake. Take of the fan mount cover on the top and put at least 1 140mm fan mount there, too, as exhaust. This way it can be balanced between noise and temperature ( and cost, too ). If noise increase isn't a big problem then putting 1 more fan on the side will help more.
 
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grebgonebad

grebgonebad

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Jun 15, 2012
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I partly disagree with this, as I have 2 overclocked EVGA FTW 670's in SLI at the minute, using the standard reference cooler, and my cards never go above 85 degrees. I would say that watercooling is the more preferable way to cool, yes, but not a necessity.
 
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grebgonebad

grebgonebad

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The best way to cool with air when using SLI is to have GPU coolers that exhaust air out the back of the case, rather than into it. However, as stated above, unless you are overclocking your cards, it doesnt really matter as the manufacturers take this into account.

The top card will always run hotter than the bottom, as A. Thermodynamics state that heat rises and B. The bottom card genrally doesnt run as much as the top card unless palying a game that is optimised for SLI well.

My advice is, if plan on keeping the cards at base clocks, then dont worry. If you plan on overclocking, do so, but keep an eye on your temps and if they start to get high, then look into buying a couple of aftermarket VGA coolers for your cards that will exauhst air out of your case.
 
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Solution
grebgonebad

grebgonebad

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Jun 15, 2012
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Yes, but the cards are dual slot, and so have fan grills built in at the rear of the card where the HDMI/VGA/etc. ports are. This is the space that allows air to excape through the rear.
 
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Mousemonkey

Mousemonkey

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Sep 3, 2006
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Oh really? Then why is my top card running @74 - 75c and my bottom card is @ 75c then?

@OP. I have the same cards as you and can tell you that water cooling is totally unnecessary, at most a side fan will do or just increase the fan speeds slightly.
 
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