Alienware Aurora 7950 Crossfire question.
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Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Pavel Pokidaylo
July 5, 2013 5:35:17 PM
Hi. I'm not sure if two of these cards will fit in my aurora because one card takes up 2 slots. I can move one card to the bottom slot and then put the other on the top slot that would be the only way but I don't know if it would even work or if they would be far enough apart. Any ideas?Thanks
More about : alienware aurora 7950 crossfire question
clutchc
July 5, 2013 6:16:06 PM
Find out the length of the cards you are planning to get, then measure the distance inside your case from expansion slot cover to the first obstruction the card would come to... i.e. drive cage, HDD, etc.
Sometimes the 3rd PCIe X16 slot is not a full x16 (or even x8) bandwidth. Installing the card in that slot would degrade performance. Check your MB to see what the bandwidth of the PCIe x16 slots are.
Sometimes the 3rd PCIe X16 slot is not a full x16 (or even x8) bandwidth. Installing the card in that slot would degrade performance. Check your MB to see what the bandwidth of the PCIe x16 slots are.
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 5, 2013 11:16:20 PM
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clutchc
July 6, 2013 9:02:57 AM
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 9:04:43 AM
oh hey man. sorry for not adding the motherboard earlier I wasn't sure which one I had. I'm a noob. Here it is http://www.ascendtech.us/dell-4vwf2-ms-7591-motherboard...
And this is the card I have now http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
And this is the card I have now http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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clutchc
July 6, 2013 9:13:00 AM
If you already know the length is fine and your PSU has the capacity (and 4 x PCIe power cables), you should be physically fine for installing the cards. The top card is usually the only one that operates during normal 2D activity. The 2nd card will only come into play during heavy 3D work like gaming. If the top card gets a little too warm during gaming, you can always add extra air cooling in the case.
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 9:18:40 AM
Hmm right now just the one card gets to about 70 degrees while playing metro last light. That's at stock. If I raise the Core clock to 1100 and power to 20% it gets to about 75-76. Also I was going to ask about the power cables. I think I have only two
not sure what I can do about that. Is there a cable I could buy that would convert my two into four? I can only see the 2 cables that are in my card right now. The old cards only used one of them so they probably didn't feel the need to put in four cables.
Also the PSU is 875 watts and the case is an Alienware Aurora case with a big exhaust thing or w.e its called that sucks out the hot air. Hope it's enough.
not sure what I can do about that. Is there a cable I could buy that would convert my two into four? I can only see the 2 cables that are in my card right now. The old cards only used one of them so they probably didn't feel the need to put in four cables.Also the PSU is 875 watts and the case is an Alienware Aurora case with a big exhaust thing or w.e its called that sucks out the hot air. Hope it's enough.
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 9:22:11 AM
clutchc
July 6, 2013 9:28:30 AM
Usually, a PSU that is only equipped with 2 x PCIe power cables is not designed to supply enough power for a pair of cards that each require 2 cables. You better check the make/model of the PSU in your pre-built PC before adding a 2nd large card like that. The +12V amperage and wattage are what you need to be concerned with.
Each HD 7950 is a 200W (TDP) card. That relates to 16.7A on the +12V rail for each card.
http://www.hwcompare.com/11426/radeon-hd-7950/
Without sufficient power, the PSU will not be able to keep up with the demand and probably shut down or restart on you during demanding periods.
Each HD 7950 is a 200W (TDP) card. That relates to 16.7A on the +12V rail for each card.
http://www.hwcompare.com/11426/radeon-hd-7950/
Without sufficient power, the PSU will not be able to keep up with the demand and probably shut down or restart on you during demanding periods.
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 9:34:13 AM
Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 9:40:13 AM
So the PSU is totally blocked by metal and plastic and I can't see much of anything on it but I did manage this. OGM34R
Found this post about it http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/37... that help any? If not I will try to do something else
Found this post about it http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/37... that help any? If not I will try to do something else
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clutchc
July 6, 2013 11:58:23 AM
I'm not sure about the OEMs and the PSUs they put in their machines. They have a habit of using whichever vendor they get the best contract with at the time. But if you have an 875W PSU with 4 power cables, you are probably OK. Since you'll have to dig them out of their hiding spot eventually if you are going to add a 2nd card, might as well do it before you order the card... to be sure.
The CPU you can use is dependent upon the socket the MB has, as well as chipset, BIOS, etc. If that board in the link is like yours, you have an LGA 1366 socket. The only processors it will support are:
Intel Core i7 (9xx series)
Intel Xeon (35xx, 36xx,
55xx, 56xx series)
Intel Celeron P1053
Newer (and older) Intel processors are out of the question with that board. Which i7 CPU do you have?
The CPU you can use is dependent upon the socket the MB has, as well as chipset, BIOS, etc. If that board in the link is like yours, you have an LGA 1366 socket. The only processors it will support are:
Intel Core i7 (9xx series)
Intel Xeon (35xx, 36xx,
55xx, 56xx series)
Intel Celeron P1053
Newer (and older) Intel processors are out of the question with that board. Which i7 CPU do you have?
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 12:03:47 PM
I have the i7 920. It's only 2.6ghz and I think that it's a bit slow and bottlenecking my card sometimes. For example I can run Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider on max settings except shadows. I have to turn down shadows and I was told shadows rely on the CPU. I want to overclock the CPU first but if that didn't help it would be nice to have the option of buying a newer CPU open to me but I guess with this motherboard it's out of the question. Just can't seem to keep up with the times =/
About the PSU having 4 power cables... I'm not sure that it does I will check again now. Last I looked there was another cable inside there but It was only a single one and not sure if it's even the same.
About the PSU having 4 power cables... I'm not sure that it does I will check again now. Last I looked there was another cable inside there but It was only a single one and not sure if it's even the same.
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clutchc
July 6, 2013 12:22:21 PM
Yeah, the i7-920 is about the equivalent of the faster Phenom II X4s when it comes to gaming: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-o...
No slouch, but would probably hold back 2 x HD 7950s a bit. You'd still see an improvement in graphics that are card related. But like you say, anything requiring CPU processing won't change. But HT is usually a benefit with modern games, and that processor has 8 threads/4 cores. Here is some info on your CPU: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core%20i7-9...
You can always try ebay for one of the faster 1st gen i7/1366 CPUs.
No slouch, but would probably hold back 2 x HD 7950s a bit. You'd still see an improvement in graphics that are card related. But like you say, anything requiring CPU processing won't change. But HT is usually a benefit with modern games, and that processor has 8 threads/4 cores. Here is some info on your CPU: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core%20i7-9...
You can always try ebay for one of the faster 1st gen i7/1366 CPUs.
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clutchc
July 6, 2013 12:26:37 PM
Btw, if that processor has the stock cooler and hasn't been ever removed since day 1, it might be time to clean/replace the thermal paste between processor and cooler. That stuff dries out after awhile and loses some of its heat transfer ability. Especially if it has been run hot a lot. As you can see from the link I sent, 68C is about as hot as you want to let it get. It will start throttling down after that and probably is doing that for you now. That will make it even less powerful.
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 12:31:43 PM
Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 12:40:59 PM
clutchc
July 6, 2013 12:49:46 PM
Pavel Pokidaylo said:
It's liquid cooled. I'm not sure about the temperature. The thermal thing says 33 CMy bad on the temp comment. I just scrolled back up and saw it was the card that reached mid 70C's, not the CPU. That is an OK temp for a gfx card. And 33C at idle for the CPU is fine also. But what really matters is the CPU's temp when stressed.
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 2:35:35 PM
so I have this program called Alien fusion. It basically tells me the temperatures of the different sensors in the computer among other things. There are 3 sensors and at idle they were all at 17 degrees. After playing Metro for about 20 minutes 2 of the sensors went up to 30 degrees.
I'm assuming atleast one of those sensors is the CPU?
I'm assuming atleast one of those sensors is the CPU?
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clutchc
July 6, 2013 2:44:50 PM
I don't know anything about that software temp pgm or what you are reading. But 30C in the midst of heavy gaming is way too low. I would suspect its accuracy. Try Real Temp.
http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/
If it shows the same temps for CPU, there is something wrong with the sensor. Or you have one hell of a good cooler.
http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/
If it shows the same temps for CPU, there is something wrong with the sensor. Or you have one hell of a good cooler.
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 2:59:02 PM
Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 3:15:54 PM
Best solution
clutchc
July 6, 2013 7:45:51 PM
Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 9:13:31 PM
Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 9:13:31 PM
Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 9:16:05 PM
Hey check this out, I posted the question about the PSU on the Alienware/dell forum and got a reply. http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/37...
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 6, 2013 9:19:47 PM
clutchc
July 6, 2013 9:41:14 PM
Pavel Pokidaylo said:
Hey check this out, I posted the question about the PSU on the Alienware/dell forum and got a reply. http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/37...Seems like what I said.
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clutchc
July 6, 2013 9:44:55 PM
Yeah, a gfx card is a real furnace, especially big ones. A card's shroud design used to be such that the fan intook air at the fan, blew it across the heat sync, and exhausted it out the back. But now with open shrouds, the air just goes anywhere after cooling the heat sync... including back into the case.
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 7, 2013 7:10:15 AM
Pavel Pokidaylo
July 7, 2013 8:32:23 AM
So a few days ago I overclocked my card. I raised the Core to 1100 and RAM to max and Power to 20% and I noticed the card was heating up when I saw it hit 83 degrees I set it back to default and asked whats up on here. two people basically told me that maxing the ram like that is like suicide and also not needed. So I raised just the Core and power but the card was still heating up. It wasn't going over 80 but it was at 79. At default the card was at 70. The back of my PC is close to the wall so I figured moving it away from the wall might help and it did. The heat was hitting the wall and I guess some of it was getting back into the case. Now with the PC about 10 inches from the wall the card is only getting to 74 degrees 3-4 degrees above default. I noticed my CPU is starting to heat up though I think. That thermal paste you spoke of earlier, does that apply to CPUs that are liquid cooled?
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clutchc
July 7, 2013 10:51:09 AM
You learned all good points about eliminating heat associated with your card and the PC in general. If your PC is on the floor, be sure it is not sitting in the nap/pile of the carpeting. Set it on a flat board if it has to sit on the floor. Keep the PC clean, inside especially. Dust can make the temps really rise. A can of compressed air gently blown around components will usually do the job. But do it from a distance so as not to loosen any components from the MB, card, etc. with the force of the blast.
Yes, any heat sync surface contacting the CPU's heat spreader surface must have thermal paste. It fills in the microscopic metal pores with highly conductive (thermal) compound, thus increasing the transfer rate of heat from CPU to heat sync. This is one of the best: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
I like to use a cleaner and a purifier before applying a small dab of thermal paste in the middle of the CPU and let the cooler spread the stuff itself naturally.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Yes, any heat sync surface contacting the CPU's heat spreader surface must have thermal paste. It fills in the microscopic metal pores with highly conductive (thermal) compound, thus increasing the transfer rate of heat from CPU to heat sync. This is one of the best: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
I like to use a cleaner and a purifier before applying a small dab of thermal paste in the middle of the CPU and let the cooler spread the stuff itself naturally.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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Pavel Pokidaylo
July 7, 2013 11:25:32 AM
When I got the new card I use an air can to clean out the dust. There was not much dust in it except on mesh of the thing that sucks the hot air out. I try not to get too close with the spray. I wouldn't mess with the thermal paste stuff myself but I will see about getting someone to do it for me. Only things I know how to install/remove are the GPUs and RAM modules lol
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