Is it true Reference Design GPU's cool better than Non Reference GPU's in 3-way SLI?

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Cooler Master

Cooler Master

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Jan 29, 2012
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...or something along those lines...

These 2 say:

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I own 2 MSI Reference Design GTX 980's in SLI. I am considering 3 way GTX 980 SLI with no overclocking in mind using case fans of which I have 8 total. Water cooling will be an extra cost, I wouldn't even know where to start plus I don't want to OC.

Would mixing these 2 brands help, like having 1 NRD at the bottom and 2 RD at top as the top cards tend to get hotter anyway?

Just in case people wonder where I heard this, it was scanning thru different forums online...

My GTX 980 SLI setup:
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Hotthuizen

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Oct 20, 2014
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Yes and No , if you have a verry good airflow non reference will cool better. You will be fine with 3 way sli, you have a verry nice set-up, with good cooling. And maxwell doesn't run verry hot.
 
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Gam3r01

Gam3r01

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Jan 12, 2013
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What is your motherboard?
Based on your picture, you will be fine with whichever you choose. (I simply recommend getting matching cards regardless)

Hot does a pretty good job of explaining it. Reference cards do better in compact SLI systems, where if you can get the air to them, non ref do just as well.
Maxwell is very energy efficient, so it matters even less.
 
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Cooler Master

Cooler Master

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Wow still amazes me how quick this forum is!

Gam3r01,
My mobo is the ASUS P9X79 Pro, I believe it can support 3-way SLI.
I did a quick power consumption estimate and I got just over 800W with 3-way SLI.
With my XFX 1050W PSU I think I'll have enough to power whole rig.

Hotthuizen,
When Benchmarking or Stress testing with AIDA 64 in Single the GTX 980 got up to 76C and with the 2nd card installed in SLI it gets to 79C, is this considered OK?
By this logic it will reach around 82C in 3-way SLI?
One thing I still must do is exhaust the air thru the H100i rad.
I will also add another 120mm fan where the optical drives go.

My rig's cooling, for reference:

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Cooler Master

Cooler Master

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''SLi FAQ - GeForce'' site claims 2.8x performance increase with 3-way SLI, so 280% of expected 300%..
Not bad...but I though it was 250% on a good day?

Another thing, can someone explain the x16 thing to me?
I was told that running 3-way SLI will reduce all slots to x8?

ATM I am using the 2 blue x16_1 and _4 slots, in 3-way I'll be using the 2nd white also at x16_2.
So will my 3 GPUs run at x16? I'm very confused as to what it means...

Here is a pic of my board:
2736992_orig.png

 
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