SLI on M2M SLI Deluxe is it worth it ?

[madbrit]

HI all, new to here, hope someone can help.
I have an ASUS M2N SLI Deluxe Mother Board, a friend has given me 2 x XFX (nvidia) 8800 GTXwith 766 of DDR 3.

At the moment i am running a single Nvidia 9600 GT 512 DDR 3 water cooled

Ok Question is if i put these two cards into my computer, the 2 x 16 slots will be reduced to 2 x 8 slots, will i notice any worth while change or stay as I am because altering the water system will be a pain, is it worthy it.

Other alternative is to put the cards on two PCIe extention cables I have to miss the water cooling pipes, will this alter the cards performance, cables are about 5 inch long, do i need to earth them to the chassis, PHEW

Any help would be great

AND sorry to mods for double post, put this as a discussion in eror oops

Thanks in advance

MaDbrIt

 

[rolli59]

Those cards in SLI will eat your 9600GT alive! Well worth it getting rid of the water cooling.

 

[madbrit]

Hi thanks for info, you talked me into it, wont be getting rid of water cooling, just have to alter it a bit to take old card out, do you know if the PCIe extention cable will alter the performance of the cards at all??
Thanks

MaDbRit

 

[rolli59]

No but I doubt there is a difference.

 

[madbrit]

Thanks, what is a good bench test to use now and after to see what gain i have??

 

[nforce4max]

A little so long there isn't any crease in the cables. If there is it will slightly degrade the signal strength and you should see any major drop but 5% to be conservative. It is better than you figure out how to re work your loops ect so that you do not need the pci-e extender cables.

 

[madbrit]

Its not any pipe loop, if you look at a picture of the M2Nsli Deluxe the chipset is right by the top pcie socket, and as it is watercooled it will hit the graphics card, can't take watercooling off as there would not be room for a fan either, catch 22, thats why i got pcie extentions, thinking abaout it though, might JUST fot a low profile fan in ???????

 

[nforce4max]

A stock M2N SLI Deluxe wouldn't block a 8800gtx. If the heatpipe is sitting to high then you could have dismounted the cooler as it is one piece after all and slightly bent the pipe at both ends to sit lower. Post a picture of your actual system so that may clear up things. You have to give out info when asked if you want the best advice from the community.

 

[madbrit]

ok will do, but the copper pipes were taken off and replaced with a waterblock, the small chips on top of the board are now air cooled,

Cant see how to add a picture???

 

[madbrit]

Ok found out how, bit of a mess at the moment, but you can see my problem??

 

[nforce4max]

OK now I understand your problem. Right now what comes to mind is see if you can locate a pair of blocks for a 8800gtx (isn't a easy task but maybe worth a shot) instead if taking risk with those extended cable. At least try to use one with a block but I don't know how to make use of two even with water cooling due to part of your loop. Going with one isn't going to be a problem for you if you can land a block for it but one part of your loop is going to need some work if you want sli. PS clean the rad and fans.

I am trying to think about we can figure this out.

 

[madbrit]

Think I know how to do it, what do you think ???
I have to take out the water loop you can see going over the card and one going into the card, and the ones going into the chip under the card, run the top cooling pipe direct to the top of the radiator, making this the only cooling loop and the pipe will not be in the way then, can make it longer if needed.
Then install a small low profile fan on the chip, this should make all the room i need.
(servicing the fans ands rad at the same time, as the motherboard has to come out to take the chip block off AAAAAAAAA)

Only problem is I will need a new PSU to run all this, I have a 650w 3 fan Qtec and looking up the data brings up some warnings about the stability and danger of overheating and killing my board.

Any thoughts on a good PSU

Thanks again

MaDbRit

So I am thinking of 800-900w with dedicated 4 graphics 6pin outputs, that cures the problem of using the other power out puts, as you know i would need 2 per 6 pin plug THATS 8 PHEW......

 

[nforce4max]

OK that will do a new psu, always get a new psu when there is issues. I think that it might be possible to keep the loop but it won't be easy. I will have to think about it, the best solutions usually come when you spend a long time thinking about it.

 

[madbrit]

Quite agree, just to give you an update if you interested, thought about it all day today, and for the extra performance I will get, I am going to do what I said above, I have just bought a XFX Pro 850W Core Edition Power Supply from overclockers UK
It's got good feedback and reviews, decated 12v rails, stable and got 4 dedicated PCI-E lines.Think that will do, what you think?

Thanks again for all your help

MaDBrIt

 

[nforce4max]

It is a good psu and I trust XFX very much as I got one of their boards and their service is good. I still think that you should give looking for a block for one of your new cards as a chance and figure out the loop later because I think that you should stay with liquid cooling as it has a lot to offer. I think that you could try to shorten the loop from the card to the chipset below and leave the second 8800gtx on air. Best of both worlds and if the the one on air is to noisy then you can find a second block and link them and finish a loop that way. Overall you have a decent system and don't let the rich university brats talk you down.

Good luck and let us know how it all goes first.

 

[madbrit]

Hi, all done now and looks much better, only problem is heat ??? how can i increase the fan speed on both my XFX 8800 gtx's to more than the standard 60%, tried nvidia cont panel, no good.

Thanks

Graham

 

[nforce4max]

msi after burner or riva tuner will work just fine.

 

[madbrit]

Ok thanks

Just done a 3d Mark with Vantage
System is Asus MN2 SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ @3200MHz
8 GIG Corsair 4X DDR2-SDRAM PC2-6400 (399MHz) - [DDR2-800]
2X XFX Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX (SLI)
Windows 7 Ult Pro

Before installing the 2 8800 GTX Cards and running an XFX 9600 GT Graphics Card
3D Mark of 5722

After installing 2 X GTR 8800 Not SLI
3D Mark 7850

Same but with SLI Enabled
3D Mark 12905

I dont know if this is a good score, but what an improvement on 9600
Thanks for all your help

MaDbrIt

 

[nforce4max]

NP and your are welcome. As for the scores I don't rely on bench apps that much and prefer actual game experience but even then you have done very well with your recent upgrades so good luck.

 

[madbrit]

Best answer selected by madbrit.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar