SLI, Heat and Sound Card

[scuzzy1]

I'm curious about how much a hot case/heat can hurt/kill a sound card. I currently have an ASRock P55 Extreme mobo and a HAF922 case. There is a MSI Cyclone 1GB 460GTX in the first blue PCI slot, and an Asus Essence STX in the bottom-most orange slot. Right now, maxing out my 460 with MSI Kombustor, I reach between 47 and 50 degrees Celsius on max settings.

I'd like to SLI the 460, but adding another card would put the new video card directly above the sound card. I'm unsure whether this will have any negative impact on the sound card. I was looking at the MSI Hawk, but would a video card with a rear exhaust be better (one of the EVGA EEs)?

 

[al360ex]

Hello,

47-50°C is really not a lot for air cooling. There's absolutely not problem : http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/264639-28-sound-card-safely
You can get another graphics card and run them in SLI without any problems.

Good luck,
al360ex

 

[scuzzy1]

Hello,

47-50°C is really not a lot for air cooling. There's absolutely not problem : http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/264639-28-sound-card-safely
You can get another graphics card and run them in SLI without any problems.

Good luck,
al360ex

Thanks for the link; I was looking for something like that, but couldn't find it. I'm still a bit worried that adding a second video card, especially one that exhausts inside the case, will push the case/card temp beyond 65C. I would think that could be harmful to the sound card since the second video card would basically be right on top of the sound card. Does the Asus Essence have a temp sensor?

 

[al360ex]

No, I've never seen a sound card with a temperature sensor.

As long as nothing reaches 80°C (except the video card, it can generally go into the 90°C, but its not reccomended if you plan on keeping it for a couple of years)

On one of my builds, I have a CPU reaching 78°C at full load after an hour of Prime95.
When I use FurMark, the temp of my video card reaches 75°C. It's not a problem.

If, as you say, in your computer nothing ever exceeds 65°C, that's really great. Adding a second card won't be a problem.

 

[wolfram23]

Long term I don't know but I haven't had the slightest issues with my AuzenTech Bravura sandwiched between a pair of overclocked 5850s.