2 way SLI, overclock only one card

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JohnTheOriginal

JohnTheOriginal

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Jul 26, 2014
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Hello community!

As mentioned in the title I want to know if it's possible to have a 2 way sli with only one card overclocked.

Background story:
I have a pc with an AMD FX 8320 @ 4,6GHz and a GTX 970 from EVGA and I am planning to put an all in one watercooler on the CPU and also one on my 970 so I can overclock it like crazy.
I dont want to do a custom loop because i like how easy all in ones are to mentain. I'll use the bracket from NZXT with which you can use a normal CPU watercooling block on a GPU.

Now I'm wondering, if I was to overclock this 970 and add another later on (without watercooling because of clearence issues) with stock speeds, will the overclocking of the first card affect the 2nd one?

Pretty confusing I know but thanks in advance.
 
Solution
Littlesackninja
SLI, Or scaleable link interface, requires that both cards run at the same speed, if they do not they will run at the speed of the slowest card, but you will be running 2x970s so you will already get amazing performance, but if you want the most you need to cool both of them, in that case a custom loop would be better by taking up less space (perhaps) but it would give better performance, you only have to maintain custom loops every 4-8 Months.
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Littlesackninja

Littlesackninja

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Jun 15, 2014
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SLI, Or scaleable link interface, requires that both cards run at the same speed, if they do not they will run at the speed of the slowest card, but you will be running 2x970s so you will already get amazing performance, but if you want the most you need to cool both of them, in that case a custom loop would be better by taking up less space (perhaps) but it would give better performance, you only have to maintain custom loops every 4-8 Months.
 
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Solution
JohnTheOriginal

JohnTheOriginal

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Jul 26, 2014
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Thanks for your answer!

Yeah a custom loop would be the logical solution for many reasons but I just don't want to have to maintain it every 4-8 months, that's the point and that's why I want to go with an all in one. I just don't have any room left for another radiator for the second card because I want to have a dual 120mm radiator for the CPU on the top of the case and one 140mm radiator for the GPU in the front (Case: Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-03 red + I added 2 140mm fans in the front)
 
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JohnTheOriginal

JohnTheOriginal

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Jul 26, 2014
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Right now there are 2 140mm fans in the front pulling air in, then there are 2 120mm fans on a cooler master hyper 212 evo in push-pull und finally another 120mm fan in the top back, cpu cooler and back fan all transfer the air out of the back of the case.

I'm planning on adding the GPU radiator on the top 140mm in the front pulling air in (maybe add another fan for push-pull but I'll decide when I see the temps) and ditch everything else when adding the 240mm radiator in the top, most likely pushing air out.
I want slightly positive air pressure for less dust build-up.
I also don't know jet i I'll be able to install a fan in the rear top with the radiator on top installed...
 
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