MoBo temp drastically increased with SLI

[akutz]

Here's my system:

- LianLi B10
- Intel SandyBridge Core i7 3960 (3.8GHz, 6 Cores, 12 Threads, 15MB Cache)
- Noctua NH-D14 CPU Heatsink (http://bit.ly/bQbNMy)
- 16 GB DDR3-1600 MHz RAM
- 2xNVIDIA GTX 670 (SLI)
- ASUS P9X79 Pro MoBo
- 90 GB OCZ SSD (OS)
- 1 TB WD (Data) + OCZ SSD (SSD Cache for Mechanical Data Drive via ASUS SSD caching)

I added the SLI this afternoon and my MoBo temp skyrocketed from staying in the 40-50 celsius range into the territory of +65 degrees. I have to assume it's the second GPU causing the heat increase, but the GPUs and CPU are running well below worrisome temperatures.

My thought is that since I moved the first GPU to the top slot and the second (new) GPU to the bottom slot per my MoBo's instructions the GPUs may be interfering with the MoBo's DTS.

My case is a LianLi B10 and I've replaced the front 140mm stock fan with a Noctua 140mm fan and replaced the 120mm intake and exhaust fans with Noctua 120mm fans. However, I'm beginning to think my case may simply not be well suited to exhaust the heat the SLI configuration is producing. That's on theory I have anyway.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Oh, and I'm using the ASUS Temperature monitor for the MoBo temps. The ASUS Temp Mon lines up pretty well with the values from RealTemp GT, so I trust it.

 

[clutchc]

The 2nd card should be at idle when not being needed (like gaming). So, I would think the sudden high temp difference would be the placement of the temp sensor or poor air flow. Is the cable managemant such that it is not blocking air moving from intake to exhaust? Or the 2nd card? Some temp increase is normal simply because there is now another heat producing device in the case.

 

[akutz]

I apologize for not providing more detail earlier. The MoBo temp idles at around 47 celsius with the second card in the system. When I play Skyrim at Ultra High the MoBo temp rises to 58-59. However, when I play Arkham the temp shoots closer to 70 (which I assume is because of Arkham being PhysX capable and therefore drives the card more?

The primary card does now sit (because of the MoBo SLI requirements) over the MoBo chipset heatsink, so I wonder if its sensor is thrown off?

Honestly, it never occurred to me before, but I don't really know whether the MoBo temp is the ambient case temperature or the temperature of one or more components on the MoBo itself.

As for airflow, there are some cables, but not a nest or anything. There *is* the case's HD cage in front of the front 140mm fan, but 120mm fan on top of that is unobstructed.

 

[clutchc]

As far as I know, the location of the board's temp sensor depends on the motherboard. And I have no idea where yours is located. That is something that would be nice to have indicated in the owner's manual. One trick to locate it (sometimes it is embedded within another chip), is to take a can of compressed air and gently spray areas of the board and watch the temp read-out.
Caution: But be careful not to let the can tip so it sprays liquid. And don't 'freeze' an area.

 

[akutz]

I did download the ASUS manual for my model and they don't point that out. I was pretty disappointed. Thank you for the suggestion. I do believe you're correct in that a new GPU has added to the ambient temp, but a high-end case from Lian-Li and a MoBo designed for 3-way SLI should be able to cope with 2-way SLI without excess MoBo temps (I would think).

 

[clutchc]

Actually, I don't think 65C -70C when stressing the system gaming is anything to worry about. The 2 cards are then putting more demand on the south bridge. (The sensor may even be located there) Covering the south bridge with the top card probably traps a bit more heat as well. Perhaps you could move the HDD high or low in the drive cage to keep from blocking the most needed air flow, and remove the unused drive caddys.

 

[jaquith]

Well the Lian-Li PC-B10 is a nice 'Desktop' case but not ideal for gaming. I assume the (2) GTX 670's are installed in the correct BLUE PCIe 2.0 x16 slots i.e. Top & Bottom slots.

The 'problem' with the Lian-Li PC-B10 is it's lacking of top-out ventilation. Both Tecmo34 and I are running SLI on ASUS X79's MOBOs. Specifically Tecmo34 has an H100, Corsair 500R, EVGA GTX 670's in SLI and in particular the ASUS P9X79 DELUXE which essentially is the same MOBO. He did not report high temps even @ 4.8GHz.

The Corsair 500R is a purposed 'Gaming Case' ; 240mm side in, 2x120 low-restriction front in, 120mm rear and 2x120 (H100) top-out.

Therefore, try to remove the SIDE panel and compare temps. IF there's a huge difference -- my guessing there will be -- then either rework the case or replace it.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

One thing I noticed is you said you were using two temperature monitors ... using two at the same time can throw them off.

I have to agree though, if the card is over one heatsinks, it's probably blocking air flow.

1. Use OCCT and run the GPU test .... it will load the system and do temperature monitoring at the same time....make sure Asus Temp and Realtemp are not loaded.

http://www.ocbase.com/index.php/download

2. As was said above, take off the side panel and use a desk fan to blow air inside the case, if temps return to normal, that's your issue.

3. If a new high air flow case is not in the cards, perhaps one of these will help for spot cooling

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product3.php?id=MTI2MQ==

 

[akutz]

Well the Lian-Li PC-B10 is a nice 'Desktop' case but not ideal for gaming. I assume the (2) GTX 670's are installed in the correct BLUE PCIe 2.0 x16 slots i.e. Top & Bottom slots.

The 'problem' with the Lian-Li PC-B10 is it's lacking of top-out ventilation. Both Tecmo34 and I are running SLI on ASUS X79's MOBOs. Specifically Tecmo34 has an H100, Corsair 500R, EVGA GTX 670's in SLI and in particular the ASUS P9X79 DELUXE which essentially is the same MOBO. He did not report high temps even @ 4.8GHz.

The Corsair 500R is a purposed 'Gaming Case' ; 240mm side in, 2x120 low-restriction front in, 120mm rear and 2x120 (H100) top-out.

Therefore, try to remove the SIDE panel and compare temps. IF there's a huge difference -- my guessing there will be -- then either rework the case or replace it.

This is what I was leaning towards. Yes, the two cards are in the top and bottom slots. When I had a single card it was in the middle, and not an impediment to front-to-back flow. Okay, sounds like it is time to get a new case. A pity -- it's a great case. I like the simple aesthetic that LianLi retains for their cases that many vendors, including my old favorite, Silverstone, has abandoned. Thank you for your sage advice.

 

[akutz]

The 500R is actually rather pretty. Thank you.

 

[akutz]

Best answer selected by akutz.

 

[jaquith]

The alternative is to Mod your Lian-Li PC-B10 and cut-out holes, there are plenty of How-To's on YouTube. I've done it with painters tape, a Dremel & Jigsaw, and then some fan dust covers and it looks perfectly fine. Cutting perforated holes isn't anything I'd do myself and instead take to a shop with CNC.

My 500R (added a 120mm @ bottom blowing on GPU):

 

[akutz]

I ended up reducing the temperature by 10-14 degrees by:

- Turning the hard drive cage around so the cables were all threaded through the back, and provided no impediment to cooling.
- Generally better cable management.

Here are pics: http://imgur.com/a/vcI0U#0.

I'm personally thinking of upgrading to this case, the Corsair Obsidian 650D and getting the H100 cooler (like you have in your picture).

 

[cbrunnem]

I ended up reducing the temperature by 10-14 degrees by:

- Turning the hard drive cage around so the cables were all threaded through the back, and provided no impediment to cooling.
- Generally better cable management.

Here are pics: http://imgur.com/a/vcI0U#0.

I'm personally thinking of upgrading to this case, the Corsair Obsidian 650D and getting the H100 cooler (like you have in your picture).

you have just 1 fan exhausting hot air???

 

[akutz]

Believe me, I'd love to have more, but the case isn't exactly spacious. For all the talk of negative airflow, many case manufacturers have way more intakes than exhausts.

 

[jaquith]

A good pun - Cool!

The 650D is a fine case, Corsair needs to update the USB 3.0 from a 'pass-through' cabling to a 20-pin or you'll need a USB 3.0 Y female to 20-pin adapter; e.g. Silverstone Tek 19 Pin USB3.0 Adapter Cable - http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-USB3-0-Adapter-Cable/dp/B005NGGKPU or HDE (TM) 2 Port USB 3.0 - http://www.amazon.com/HDE-Port-USB-Female-Cable/dp/B00695M56M

H100 vs NH-D14 - http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1801/12/

 

[akutz]

I cannot decide between the Obsidian series and the one you recommended. The 200mm on the side of yours is and exhaust, right? I'm leaning towards yours. It's $100 less and that extra $100 will pay for the H100.

 

[cbrunnem]

I cannot decide between the Obsidian series and the one you recommended. The 200mm on the side of yours is and exhaust, right? I'm leaning towards yours. It's $100 less and that extra $100 will pay for the H100.

if you wanna go water cooling there is better options then the h100 that perform much better for the same price.

 

[jaquith]

You can use 200mm side fan either way, by default it's an intake. So you can flip it around and make it an exhaust fan; the side fan is the only fan without a dust filter. Up top I didn't look at the specs and by error I said 240mm vs 200mm.

The only 'downside' is the widow if that's a big deal, for my purposes I preferred the additional cooling.

Here's Tecmo34's white 500R - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/310222-31-hardware-member-system-gallery I know he bought a 2nd GTX 670...and looking he has the ASUS P9X79 PRO (I thought he had the Deluxe) -- so much for my memory

 

[akutz]

if you wanna go water cooling there is better options then the h100 that perform much better for the same price.

You're not allowed to poo-poo and knock without then explaining the other options. So... ?

 

[cbrunnem]

You're not allowed to poo-poo and knock without then explaining the other options. So... ?

to get real good temps from a h100 you really need to have 4 fans in push pull which will put the cost of a h100 to about $130 which for that price you can get this water cooling kit.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11743/ex-wat-159/XSPC_Rasa_750_RS240_Universal_CPU_Water_Cooling_Kit_w_Updated_Pump_and_Free_Kill_Coil.html
which will run about 10*c cooler then the h100.

OR

you could go with any of these air coolers which are just as good if not better in some cases then the h100
noctua nh-d14
thermalright silver arrow
phanteks tc14pe

which range from $75-90

 

[akutz]

to get real good temps from a h100 you really need to have 4 fans in push pull which will put the cost of a h100 to about $130 which for that price you can get this water cooling kit.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11743/ex-wat-159/XSPC_Rasa_750_RS240_Universal_CPU_Water_Cooling_Kit_w_Updated_Pump_and_Free_Kill_Coil.html
which will run about 10*c cooler then the h100.

OR

you could go with any of these air coolers which are just as good if not better in some cases then the h100
noctua nh-d14
thermalright silver arrow
phanteks tc14pe

which range from $75-90

I have the Noctua NH-D14. Works great. But it's super large. You asked why I don't have additional fans? Have you seen a D14? It takes up the entire case.

 

[cbrunnem]

I have the Noctua NH-D14. Works great. But it's super large. You asked why I don't have additional fans? Have you seen a D14? It takes up the entire case.

i have a nh-d14 i just dont use it lol. its a good size beast but gets the job down is quiter and cheaper then the h100.

 

[akutz]

Again though, as long as I'm buying a new case for better airflow, I'm interested in upgrading to water-cooling (even if it *is* a lateral upgrade) in part due to to how much smaller the block is than the D14. I have a few questions/concerns:

- The recommended cases, 500R & 650D, both seem to lack negative airflow. The top fans would likely be dedicated to the radiator. Do those double as case exhaust fans? I know they are blowing out across the radiator, but how much does the radiator impede their usefulness as general exhaust fans?

- What is push/pull?

- The H100 seems like a good deal, but it has gotten several bad reviews on NewEgg due to its noise levels or failed pumps. I've seen the Thermaltake 2.0 Water Extreme recommended (http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1443&ID=2117). What do people think of this?

- I'm new to water cooling, and so I'm interested in a contained/all-in-one solution, at least for my first foray. I understand there may be better solutions, but if you recommend one, please acknowledge its level of installation difficulty.

Thanks!

 

[akutz]

Also, how much height does the radiator enclosure have in the 500R? It seems like it is designed for a slim radiator.

Oh, and I googled push pull. Seems like a good way to put my extra Noctua 120s to use, but only if I can mount fans to both sides of the radiator.