Question regarding ATi 5970/Cross fire and aftermarket cooling

[StarFyreXXX]

Hello,

Was looking into a new PC soon (2-3 weeks most likely). Planning on an asus 5970 video card. Maybe crossfire, but not sure yet.

Anyways, I heard about some aftermarket coolers, so looked into it and it appears the only non-water cooling for the 5970 is the arctic Accelero cooler.

Looked up reviews, etc and it appears some have had issues with it as if you tighten it too hard, the board gets damaged, but not enough and you can fry the chip. The way it appears to be designed, there isn't an obvious amount of when to stop tightening, etc. It's mainly look and feel.

Now, I assemble my own PCs from parts, and have used aftermarket CPU coolers (which are much easier to use of course), but have never used after market video card coolers.

I am a bit affraid to take the risk on it. Given the fact that I will not overclock the GPU, atleast not anytime soon, do people think the 5970 (in single or Xfire mode) will be ok without an aftermarket cooler?

For the case, I will be getting the Thermaltake Xaser IV (black one) but with the extra 14 cm fans (including the video card fan they indicate on their website).

Just wondering if I can expect issues with such a hot video card over time. Have people here tried it with only the basic cooler?

Please let me know. Regards,

Sanjay

PS: about water cooling; wife and i don't know much about it. Do people think it's worth it for non-overclockers?

 

[Guest]

For non-overclocking, the stock fan the comes with the card is fine IF you have some adequate airflow coming to the card. Under load, 5970s can get a little toasty (90C and up), so as long as you have a decent 120mm fan blowing air, you should be fine with the stock fan. For Xfire, maybe get a ~90 CFM fan, or two. Water cooling isn't a must, unless you're worried about the card's durability. It's expensive, but its your choice. A great guide can be found here: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=54331. Good luck on your build

Eugene

 

[unclefester]

From my experience with the ASUS 5970 I don't think you need to worry about After-Market cooling. I have never been above 75C stressing or gaming. I've even upped the voltage without much of an increase in temps. Currently idling with an ambient temp. of 26C
Here's an SS (GPU3 is the temp of the EVGA GTX 260 "underneath" it)

Note: I have a 120MM Antec fan 2" away force feeding air to it.

 

[hunuok]

You won't have heat issues @ stock.

Extra cooling (2x120mm case fans facing cards) helps.

I have installed on Rampage II Extreme (cards were touching) and currently Rampage III Extreme (cards are separated).

As Unclefester (lol) said, my cards reach mid 80s MAX under load.

Good luck.

PS. Be aware of microstutter when using quadfire. TBH, driver support lately (Cat 10.5, 10.6 and 10.7) IS WOEFUL. Cat 10.3 and 10.4 are most stable.

 

[StarFyreXXX]

Oh, sorry forgot to mention. Mobo I will be getting is the Asus Rampage 3. I know it's for massive O/C, but reviews for it are good in general and in the future, may O/c the CPU.

Power Supply will be Enermax 1250 (if that makes any difference).

Thanks for replies. People here mentioned fans pointing at the cards, but the case I will be getting (as of now), appears to have only 1 fan for the cards (as per their website).

Anyone have the Xaser IV case?

Humok - to make sure I understand, are you saying you crossfired 2 5970s on the rampage 2, and the video cards were actually touching each other? That....can't be good.

Sanjay

 

[Griffolion]

Overclocking a 5970 will be fine to an extent, improving case flow is the best way to keep the card cool without resorting to messing with your card for better cooling.

Don't bother quadfiring as x4 x4 x4 x4 will be massively bottlenecked and won't see the potential of two 5970's being reached even if they tried.

Catalyst 10.4 FTW

 

[StarFyreXXX]

Quadfiring = 4 5970s???

I was thinking of 2 max

Sanjay

 

[StarFyreXXX]

Strange...i can't see a submit button so I have to use quick reply.

I looked it up. Not sure why, but quadfiring is a term for dual vid cards? seems strange.

Anyways. The reason i was considering x-fire was the new monitor wife and i will get is the samsung P2770H but it has a native 1920*1080 res. So wanted to run SC2, Crysis, and Unreal Tourney 2007 at that resolution; crossfire seemed best way to do it without too much trouble...

Sanjay

 

[hunuok]

Not sure why, but quadfiring is a term for dual vid cards? seems strange.

The term quadfire is confusing at best. As each 5970 has TWO GPUs on a SINGLE board, quadfire means 2x5970s. ie, 4 GPUs. NOT 4x5970s.

4x5970s (8 GPUs total) is impossible, as crossfire supports a MAXIMUM of 4 GPUs.

Humok - to make sure I understand, are you saying you crossfired 2 5970s on the rampage 2, and the video cards were actually touching each other? That....can't be good.

YES! I had to place 2 120mm case fans facing the cards to keep temps down. Surprisingly, they weren't that high to begin with.

The Rampage III Extreme is an AWESOME MB. PCIe spacing is IDEAL for crossfire setups.

It's a pity I don't use ALL the features on it.

Good luck with your rig.

 

[Bullybreed]

I Put arctic cooling after market fans on my 5970's then I put the fans from a cooler master V10 on em, witch I know prob sounds crazy but they have a super high air flow, I also use them on a ECO coolit.