help with 4850 xfire heating issues on maximus extreme mb

the card slots are so close that the cards almost touch and the top one registrers 80 degrees in idle state. the bottom one around 55. tried installing akasa vortexx neo on the top one and now not only do they actually touch but i see no change in temperature.

both cards work fine - tested them separately
the akasa cooler is installed properly as the expected temperatures when using the card alone check out

i dont know what to. i got 1 card in a bag trying to sell it cuz i just dont think ill ever get it with those pcie slots so close to one anothere

any suggestion or help is more than welcomed cuz i just wanna get my xfire up

i got a thermaltake soprano middle tower case fitted with 3 fans but none hitting the graphic cards

asus smartdoctor and techpowerup gpuz - and it certainly wasn't an error since when switching the cards for testing i would clearly feel the top one way hotter then the bottom one.

since i installed the akasa cooler the boards would actually touch if i didnt remove one of them. the fan from the vortexx drilling into my second hd4580... ((

I had the same issue with the same board as well.

I cut part of the plastic away from the cards heatsinks so they were not as insulated by the plastic and also mounted a fan to act as an inducter to the cards near the power supply cable end and this sropped them from 81deg idle to 42deg approx.

To me there was too much plasic covering the copper for looks rather than being any use to the cards.Hope this gives you some help.