ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z SLI question

[gunnersrock]

ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z SLI question ?

1)Will two MSI GTX 580 Lightning Twin Frozr III cards in sli fit on the Gene-Z ?

2)Will two Gigabyte GTX 580 Super Overclock cards in sli fit on the Gene-Z ?

thanks for your replies......

 

[chesteracorgi]

They may fit, but there will be issues with heat dissipation. The fans will have no room to breathe on the upper card and you will have issues with overheating unless you mod to watercool the top or both GPUs.

 

[gunnersrock]

They may fit, but there will be issues with heat dissipation. The fans will have no room to breathe on the upper card and you will have issues with overheating unless you mod to watercool the top or both GPUs.

thanks for the quick reply. I won't use water cooling so it seems like the gene-z is a no go and the extreme-z is out of my price range, So can you recommend a z68 mobo that is in the price range of the gene-z and oc friendly and accommodates two msi gtx 580 lightning cards in sli without causing heat problems.

note - evga and asrock products are not available where i live...

 

[frogo369]

Actually these cards will fit and while the previous poster is correct that you will have elevated temperatures due to reduced airflow the heat can be dissipated effectively by the cooling solutions on those cards. Keep in mind that one of the card will run at a higher operating temperature than the other ( but this is generally the case in SLI regardless ). Overall in our testing using standard reference GTX580 cards there have not been issues in running SLI. These cards heatsink and fan assemblies actually have lower dissipation performance than the non reference design of the competitors you noted.

Overall I see now issue in using the cards you have noted. Be advised though you will need to ensure you micro tx chassis has enough clearance for the length of the cards you are considering.

 

[bwrlane]

They may fit, but there will be issues with heat dissipation. The fans will have no room to breathe on the upper card and you will have issues with overheating unless you mod to watercool the top or both GPUs.

This is a very interesting point and one that's causing me serious trouble atm.

Your mobo will definitely accommodate 2x580 but if your experience is anything like mine, you'll have problems with heat.

My setup is Asus Rampage II Extreme x58/i7 920/560 Ti in SLI.

My upper card gets to 100 degrees in heavy gaming and there is no space - literally none at all - between it and the lower card (which hovers around 60 degrees).

This seems a huge design flaw in the mobo. Is there some reason it has to be like that, or are some different?

So far, my 560 Ti doesn't seem to mind running at 100 degrees and I've had no crashes or artefacts. But I'm extremely uncomfortable with it running at this temperature and am exploring creative solutions to improve the air flow.

 

[chesteracorgi]

I run two GTX470's in SLI (similar in power draw andheat to the GTX 580) and even with a good cooling case, three slot spacing between GPU1 and GPU2 there is a significant problem with the heat dissipation. Before I went to the mesh window with two (and soon four) fans pointed to cool off the GPUs I was getting idle temps on the top card of 47 C. If you do intense gaming (and I assume that is what the dusl GTX 580s are for) your GPUs will run @ 75 C + and your rig will be running at 50 C +. These temps are marginal and will shorten the life of your components significantly.

 

[chesteracorgi]

This is a very interesting point and one that's causing me serious trouble atm.

Your mobo will definitely accommodate 2x580 but if your experience is anything like mine, you'll have problems with heat.

My setup is Asus Rampage II Extreme x58/i7 920/560 Ti in SLI.

My upper card gets to 100 degrees in heavy gaming and there is no space - literally none at all - between it and the lower card (which hovers around 60 degrees).

This seems a huge design flaw in the mobo. Is there some reason it has to be like that, or are some different?

So far, my 560 Ti doesn't seem to mind running at 100 degrees and I've had no crashes or artefacts. But I'm extremely uncomfortable with it running at this temperature and am exploring creative solutions to improve the air flow.

The design flaw is to put two PCI slots where they should use 3 slot spacing. Without a good draw of cool air the blocked GPU (top slot) hovers at extreme temps. I would recommend that you get a windowed side panel with fans blowing down on the GPUs, and switch your monitor to hook up to the bottom card. (The problem with hooking up the moniotr to the second card is that if you want to access BIOS you will have to switch the monitor to the first video card).

 

[bwrlane]

So, the card the monitor is hooked to affects the temps? I've not heard that before, interesting.

Also, re windowed side panel, I wasn't aware that you can do this without replacing/modding your case. Do they have generic/standardised fittings?

 

[gunnersrock]

Best answer selected by gunnersrock.

 

[chesteracorgi]

So, the card the monitor is hooked to affects the temps? I've not heard that before, interesting.

Also, re windowed side panel, I wasn't aware that you can do this without replacing/modding your case. Do they have generic/standardised fittings?

With my case, the Corsair 600T, they make a replacement door with a window/mesh screen option. I was able to order one directly from Corsair. With your case there may be such an option, or you may be forced to mod the case yourself.