R9 280X in CrossFireX heat issues

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sammy0025

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Jan 5, 2013
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Hi,
I have a rig with 3 R9 280Xes (and before you ask, yes, it's mining cryptocurrencies).

The problem with my rig that it gets extremely hot (in Singapore, the air temperatures hit 29C), and all cards run at 90+C, when operated at full capacity (no overclocking), the card in the middle automatically starts to downclock itself. The top and bottom cards stay floating around 95C.

The motherboard I'm using is the M5A99X Evo that has 3 PCIe x16 slots (electronically x8) and the casing I'm using is the Corsair Carbide 400R. I've already installed 2 120mm fans on the side, alongside with 2 preinstalled 120mm fans on the front of the case and one exhaust fan at the back.

My question is how can I cool the 3 GPUs? The most I can spend on cooling is $200, and water cooling looks too costly (a single water block costs a hundred bucks). Picture here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62567175/Photo%2018-1-14%207%2022%2028%20pm.jpg
Note that there are 3 GPUs, 2 Gigabyte ones on top and a Power Color one at the bottom.

Thanks.
 
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sancco

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I think most people who went ahead and crossfired the R9 series would be doing it under water. There were so many red flags that these cards were too hot and loud to run on air. Are you using the reference cooler, or an aftermarket cooler? Also, is there much space between the cards?
 
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sammy0025

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Two of the GPUs run Gigabyte Windforce coolers, and the last one runs the Power Color twin fan configuration. The spacing between the first and second card (from top to bottom) is 1 PCIe slot, and the spacing between the second and third GPU is almost non-existent. It looks something like this:

+-----------------------+
| Gigabyte
+-----------------------+
+-----------+
| Free x1
+-----------+
+-----------------------+
| Gigabyte
+-----------------------+
+-----------------------+
| Power Color
+-----------------------+
 
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sancco

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Try running them in a benchmarking program with the PC case's side panel off, and check the temperatures. That would give you a best-case-scenario of how much cooler you could potentially get the cards by adding fans and improving airflow. If they're still maxing out then you may have to just accept throttling as a reality.

I'd be interested to know the temperature difference as I'm interested in case airflow - I'm currently looking into new GPU and case fans configuration.
 
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Nefos

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If I were you I would get 3 NZXT graphics bracket (£30 here) and I would attach 3x Cooler MAster Seidon 120v (£37 here) Or better
So you could use your 3 cards at full speed and lower temp (95 is too high) and if necessary you can make the cooler push pull and these card wont heat themselves

anyway, does it worth to mine cryptocurrency? The reason why I ask because I do not know and I heard some bad stories
 
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sammy0025

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Actually, I was thinking the exact same thing too, using the Kraken G10 to easily water-cool the GPUs. Then I realised that it could not fit within 2 PCIe slots (take a look at some of the photos, this thing needs at least 2.5PCIe slots of clearance. The middle GPU is the one that needs the most cooling, since it is already downclocking itself.

On the subject of cryptocurrency, I've managed to earn back my monthly electrical bills for this rig, assuming $0.10 per kWh. I have made around $100+ by mining for slightly less than a month (Litecoins to be exact). However if you are selling them for money beware of scams. Buyers do scam sellers, and it also happens the other way round.
 
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sammy0025

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I've just done that. If I took off the side plate (alongside with 2 120mm fans) all the GPUs would not hit maximum speed. Looks like water-cooling, or trying to add even more fans (I still have 3 fan slots, 1 at the bottom and 2 on the top of the case) is the solution.
 
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Nefos

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I would WC the top and the bottom then, so the middle one could work better as other GPUs wont dump the heat to the case

So you earned $100+ with Litecoins that is equal to the electricity used?
 
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sancco

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Do you mean they didn't hit 100% fan speed or 100% clock speed? If they are still overheating, no matter of airflow short of a wind tunnel will likely make a difference. Good luck however it works out.
 
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sammy0025

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They soon downclocked after working at 100% for a while. The fans are all spinning at max.
 
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Nefos

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your only solution would be then the G10 brackets the top and bottom. the problem is that the radiators with the fans are just heating each other, you must bring minimum one of the radiator away from the with water cooling
 
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sammy0025

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Hmm, I've conducted multiple tests (by taking out GPUs at different positions and figured out that taking out the middle GPU proved to be the most effective). That means I probably just have to water-cool that one. The problem is, the spacing between the middle and the bottom GPU is too small. WAY too small.
 
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