How to test a new GPU before watercooling it.

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druppes

Honorable
Sep 7, 2014
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Hi,

I have just purchased another GTX 780 to go SLI,

I want to test it to see if it works before I put my water-block on and add it to the loop. However I don't want to have to dissemble my loop more than once. I would like to just pop it above the current water-cooled GPU and test it rather than remove the current GPU set up a CPU only loop and then test it.

Is it possible to properly test a gpu when another is in the slot below? Could I go SLI and see if that works? Or should I plug the display port into the new gpu and leave the old one alone? Could I just unplug the power of the old one?

Then once its working I would add it to the loop knowing at least its not dud straight from the box. If it helps the 780 i'm buying don't have any void if removed warranty strips!! (pretty awesome)

Thanks for any help.
 
Solution
Vexillarius
Just plug it in, plug the DisplayPort cable in the new one, boot up, install extra drivers if necessary and fire up a game or benchmark. Should work fine if the new card is in a slot above the old one. If it isn't automatically selected as the primary though you can usually do that in the game's or benchmark's settings screen, or through the Nvidia configuration screen.

I wouldn't remove the power from the old one while you're doing this. It will still get some power from the PCIe slot, but it won't be enough, causing things to shut down.

If you'd rather test things in SLI you can do that too, no problem.
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VincentP

Splendid
Oct 18, 2013
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Unless the card you have bought is specifically designed for water cooling, you can test it with the factory air cooler first. This can be a full SLI setup, in which case you connect all monitors to either of the cards (but only one of the cards).

Once you are happy with it you can go about removing the factory cooler and adding your water block.
 
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Vexillarius

Vexillarius

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Aug 23, 2014
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Just plug it in, plug the DisplayPort cable in the new one, boot up, install extra drivers if necessary and fire up a game or benchmark. Should work fine if the new card is in a slot above the old one. If it isn't automatically selected as the primary though you can usually do that in the game's or benchmark's settings screen, or through the Nvidia configuration screen.

I wouldn't remove the power from the old one while you're doing this. It will still get some power from the PCIe slot, but it won't be enough, causing things to shut down.

If you'd rather test things in SLI you can do that too, no problem.
 
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Solution
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druppes

Honorable
Sep 7, 2014
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Okay great thanks!

I have heard SLI is pretty much plug and play however you mentioned drivers. Will I be fine with the existing driver or do I need to reinstall it so it goes to both cards or is that done automatically? It never crossed my mind before.
 
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unknownofprob

unknownofprob

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Oct 3, 2013
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no need to reinstall drivers, it should appear and sometimes may automatically enable, if it doesn't enable it yourself. See this image below to how to enable SLI manually -

sli_622.jpg


"Maximise 3D performance is enabling SLI.

If your having troubles, the easiest way is to google it and your answer will come to you in a matter of seconds.
 
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Vexillarius

Vexillarius

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Aug 23, 2014
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When you plug in a new card Windows will typically automatically install some generic drivers.

When I plugged in my second GTX660 half a year ago I had to reinstall Nvidia's drivers as well because they weren't recognized anymore, but that may have been a fluke.

To enable SLI you plug in the second card and connect the SLI bridge, install drivers if needed. You then have to manually enable SLI in Nvidia's configuration screen, under something like Surround, PhysX and SLI. You'll recognize it when you see it and there will most likely be a popup stating that the system is SLI-capable.
 
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