Crossfire GPU cooling and case cooling help/recommendations

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Sippinpurple247

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Feb 10, 2015
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Hey guys,

I'm looking for some help regarding my PC and obtaining efficient cooling, specifically to my crossfired vapor-x r9 290's.

The problem is that my 1st r9 290 in the first PCI-E slot is running almost 15-20 degrees hotter than my 2nd gpu in PCI-E 2nd slot under load. The cards are super close together, and with my motherboard, is the only way I can get 8x / 8x crossfire. The 3rd PCI-E slot can only run x4 max speed.

My case is a cooler master HAF 912 (http://us.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/case/mid-tower/haf-912.html).

I'm currently running a 120mm stock rear case fan as exhaust, a 200mm cooler master megaflow at the top as exhaust, two stock 120mm intake fans in the front, and a 120mm intake fan on the side that I took of another pc case from an older build. The power supply is mounted at the bottom of the case with the fan facing down towards the dust cover opening at the bottom of the case (Acts as another intake).

I believe as it currently is, my pc is running a positive airflow setup w/ more intakes than exhausts. I've heard negative airflow is generally better, however, when running dual gpu setups. Is this true?

Anyways, as it currently is setup, i need to find a way to cool down "GPU 1" because I've seen it nearly hit 90 degrees Celcius under load. Highest I saw it hit was 89 degrees Celcius while GPU 2 remained around low/mid 70s. GPU 1 was my original vapor-x r9 290. I just got a second one and it is in PCI-E slot 2. Should I just swap the cards positions hoping that the newer card has better thermal coating, etc. to
handle the first slots extra heat absorption? I must note that I did not see temps this high when I originally ran the GPU1 currently in slot 1 by iteself before I had a 2nd one. Max it got by itself in the case, no crossfire, was ~75-80 degrees celcius.

I've also been considering replacing the stock 120mm fans where I can to improve cfm ratings in the case. I was also thinking maybe I should just do one 200mm on top for exhaust, one 200mm on front as intake, one 120mm non stock fan on rear as exhaust and a 120/140mm on the side as intake or exhaust.

Do you think one 200mm is better than 2x 120mm in the front as intake? Also what aftermarket fans are the best bar none as far a cfm/noise/etc? I was looking at these cougar vortex ones and they seemed pretty decent looking.

Anyways, this is driving me nuts. I don't know what to do and I'm up for suggestions.
 
Solution
Robert Cook
The first thing I will point out, is that it is not the first cards fault, as it fans are right up against the back plate of the other, it cannot get enough air.
I would Highly recommend replacing the stock fans (cooler master stock fans are rather bad), A single two hundred moves a lot of air, however, two high speed and possibly loud 120mms can beat it, as it seems there are few high speed 200mm fans.
I would recommend ignoring positive or negative pressure, and focus on moving as much air straight though the case; those cougar fans are very good for that, so are the corsair high airflow ones, and the undisputed king is the DELTA FAN, which warrants all caps due to its unheard-of ability to move 250 CFM while only...
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Robert Cook

Robert Cook

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The first thing I will point out, is that it is not the first cards fault, as it fans are right up against the back plate of the other, it cannot get enough air.
I would Highly recommend replacing the stock fans (cooler master stock fans are rather bad), A single two hundred moves a lot of air, however, two high speed and possibly loud 120mms can beat it, as it seems there are few high speed 200mm fans.
I would recommend ignoring positive or negative pressure, and focus on moving as much air straight though the case; those cougar fans are very good for that, so are the corsair high airflow ones, and the undisputed king is the DELTA FAN, which warrants all caps due to its unheard-of ability to move 250 CFM while only being a 120mm fan, the problem is, is that these fans are very loud, the manufacturer does not even try to hide it. If you are ok with annoyingly loud fans, about 55 decibels, or are willing to spend an extra $30-40 on a fan controller that can handle the amperage, then get them, but be warned, they are about $25-35 per fan.
If it is possible to have a fan on the case door right next to the GPUs blowing out of the case, along with fans drawing air out the back, while fans draw air in the front, you should get some lower temps, however, the top card will always run hotter. My friend who air cools, uses a 200mm fan right on the case door next to his GPUs, along with exhaust out of the top, as his card is on the top of his case, and achieves about 4-10 degrees lower temps on the cards. while not much, it will stop throttling, and perhaps prolong the card life slightly compared to letting it hit 90 regularly.
I hope that answered your question.
 
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Sippinpurple247

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Feb 10, 2015
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Hey Robert,

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post. I went ahead and bought a few new fans to start out and I'm pretty impressed at the difference over the stock fans/old fans I took off some of my previous pc build cases.

I bought two 120mm cougar CF-V12HB's for the front intake and one 140mm cougar CF-V14HB for the side panel as an intake. I left my cooler master megaflow 200mm fan as an exhaust up top and also left one of the stock cooler master fans in the top rear as an exhaust. That's roughly 190CFM (60 + 60 + 70 cfm) as intake and 160CFM (110 + ~50 cfm) as exhaust, which, I believe, would create positive pressure. Adding those new fans FOR SURE dropped temps at idle and at load by like 5-7 degrees!

Do you think the temps could even get any better than that if I changed the side 140mm to exhaust (Gpus feel like they blow heat upwards, so this would be better than side intake?), left the two 120mm's as front intakes, flipped the 200mm top to intake, and left the rear as exhaust? What are your opinions on that?

I also added another 120mm fan on the opposite side of my heat sink to put it in a push pull config, just cause I had the extra fans to be able to do so. I had a question about that though: if I set up my heatsink (Evo 212) in push pull config with the airflow exhausting towards the rear, do I really need the other rear case exhaust or should I just remove it?

Also, If I decided to get rid of both r he single fan that came with the Evo 212 and the stock fan I just added to the other side to make it a push pull configuration, what are some super awesome 120mm heatsink fans for push pull configuration, or one single fan for pull only?

Thanks!!!

 
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Robert Cook

Robert Cook

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Ok, Ideally you can put the 200mm top one on the side right next to the GPUs and have it exhaust, you could also keep it on the top and exhausting, and put another fan preferably a 140mm or larger right on the side of the case where it is directly lined up with the graphics card, this will suck even more hot air away form the cards. keeping the rest of the fans the same will balance out the pressure a bit, which will let the intake fans move ever so slightly faster as there is less pressure to fight. with the heat sink you do not really need another fan, but if you motherboard supports is jut plug in a stock fan, and have that exhaust, as that will do something, if you don't want to, or can't, it is not a real issue.
for you heat sink, you will want a static pressure fan, corsair makes good ones, so does noctra,however, these are not exactly cheap, silverstone makes ones called air penetrators which are cheaper ($15), and are pretty good to, though I find you cant go wrong with the corsair ones, the noctra ones may be slightly quieter, but they tend to cost more. If you are willing to spend a bit, get two, as this will help cooling a bit more, however, as singe static pressure fan will more than suffice.
 
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