Alternate Cooling Solution ideas

[cdla315]

I just finished a build and I'm realizing that I have a serious heat problem within my case.

First aspect of the problem are the cooling of the video cards. The cards that I bought do not have the best cooling stock cooling solution, (Palit 1 gb sonic edition 460 gtx (non platimum)), as they do not come with heatsinks over their vram. Updating to the recommended new bios distributed by Palit did not solve heating problem.

I'm running two of them on an asus premium p6x58d board, (which the two x16 pci slots are the top two, and the bottom one runs in x8 only if there are three cards inserted, otherwise only x1). Therefore, there is not a lot of space between the cards (if at all), causing the top card to run much hotter than the bottom one. As mentioned, trying to load the second video card in the bottom port leads to drastic performance drops. Loading the video cards with Kombuster leads to temperatures in the high 90's Celsius. Extended run without cancelling the problem can cause the top video card to reach failing temperature (which is 104 degrees Celsius).

I have limited experience with after market coolers, but I'm pretty sure I'm in dire need of an alternate solution than the stock cooling solutions provided. I would also like any information on how to increase the distance between the two cards. It surprises me that the premium board that boasts SLI leaves such little space between cards that take up dual slots on their own. However, that's probably more due to my niavette rather than product quality.

I'm not quite sure what more information is required that's relevant to heat, but the case is an antec 300. I have both of the case fans on high. I have cooler master v8 cooler on the cpu

 

[i4yue]

my only suggestion to this problem would be to get a watercooling setup just for your cards. watercool the parts of the board that need them to most and then buy passive heat sinks or something for everything else.

OR buy a full cover waterblock and cool everything.

 

[cdla315]

my only suggestion to this problem would be to get a watercooling setup just for your cards. watercool the parts of the board that need them to most and then buy passive heat sinks or something for everything else.

OR buy a full cover waterblock and cool everything.

Yep, I've spent some time doing the reading up on water cooling and I'm definitely intrigued. Unfortunately, premium watercooing kits seem to come at high costs (300$). I guess I want a quality water cooling solution that hits the sweet spot in terms of performance/price. also, with how much heat I'm getting off the cards, I'm guessing that if I were to get a full water cooling rig, I'd need a separate one for the gpus and 1 for a cpu.

The beginner's resource on water cooling that I've been reading is dated 2005 (the one on this site). Have things changed since then, or is this information still applicable?

Is there a crowd favorite in terms of an "all in one" set, that has the parts and then I buy blocks that fit my cpu (i7 930) and gpus (palit 460 gtx 1 gb sonic edition)?

 

[ortoklaz]

try to install 2x40mm or 80mm fans on the back of your case to help suck up hot air through the mesh of your cards

 

[Jak_Sparra]

hi, sorry to hear about your problem, i had something similar with my 2 x 5870's. They are so damn close together that the one above cant draw in air properly as the fan on the side is only a few mm's away from the back of the other card. The other wierd problem was that the fans never seemed to go about about 30% of the speed that is available.

Solution:-

I mounted a 120mm fan on the side of my case sucking fresh air into the case directly over the cards AND I installed MSI Afterburner. This allows you to regulate the fan speed with an easy to use drag and drop graph.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/MSI-AfterBurner-download-2392.html

I simply created a profile, and set so when the card reach (x) temp the the fan ramps up to speed. Now this did make for noisier graphics cards but they are still quiet until about 55C, then the fans gradually get faster and faster. Now my cards never get above 68-70c on full load!!! (I could even mess around with the graph and bring these temps down further)

Also I read that the Nvidia gtx460 and family are designed to run at higher then normal temps.

 

[rubix_1011]

^Agreed. I'd be willing to be his case airflow is causing the problems.

OP...please respond about case fans, or simply pull the case side and blow a house fan inside and see what your temps are. I'd be willing to bet that adding some (better) fans would take care of your issues. Think small and simple, first.

 

[cdla315]

Hey,

Sorry. For the late reply, I know its been awhile since my original post was listed. I have this thread on email subscription and I only just in the past thirty minutes received the notifications for the messages since I last posted.

Yes i did install the fans in the optional 2 slots in front as well as an additional fan facing the interior of the case. the temperatures did go down quite a bit, but they are still higher than the reported temperatures from other users. I definitely appreciated the help from those who offered advice.

And to zipzoomflyhigh, whose willing enough to post more messages in this thread than I did since it got started, the internet loves your attitude.

 

[cdla315]

Best answer selected by cdla315.