SLI Graphics - Reference or 3rd Party?

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Ninjamilez

Ninjamilez

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Apr 30, 2014
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I built my first gaming PC earlier this week and I'd like to go SLI with the graphics cards but I'm not sure if it's best to go with a reference card or 3rd party one.

I'm going to get two cards from the new 900 series once they're released on Friday so I know that I can't ask the question "which 980 is the best 980?" it's just that I heard that reference cards are best for SLI because of the cooler design. Is this true? Price isn't an issue.

Thanks,
Miles.
 
Solution
faalin
the only downside to aftermarket coolers is they recirculate the air inside the case instead of a reference cooler that pushes the air out the back of the card. Any halfway decent case will be able to compensate for this so you will be ok.
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faalin

faalin

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Feb 22, 2012
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if your going sli and you know it, then go with an aftermarket cooler. The reference coolers are big boxes with 1 fan, when you stack two of them together the top card will starve for cool air and run 5-15*c hotter then the lower one.

Aftermarket coolers have 2-3 fans and the side of the card is open so it can pull air in form the side.


OF course all of this goes out the window if your wanting to water cool the cards. then you will need to do research and find out what water blocks are out there and what cards they fit, most of the time its only reference cards that the blocks will fit.
 
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Ninjamilez

Ninjamilez

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Apr 30, 2014
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Thanks for the response.

Going aftermarket is probably a better idea then.

I've done a crap-load of research into water-cooling already. I was actually going to go down that route at one point but decided that, for my first build, I'd rather keep the system simple.
 
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faalin

faalin

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Feb 22, 2012
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the only downside to aftermarket coolers is they recirculate the air inside the case instead of a reference cooler that pushes the air out the back of the card. Any halfway decent case will be able to compensate for this so you will be ok.
 
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Solution
Ninjamilez

Ninjamilez

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Apr 30, 2014
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Okay, that's good. I've got 3 fans blowing directly onto the GPU area in my 200R to keep cool air coming in and to move away warm air.
 
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