MSI R6970 in Crossfire, did i make a bad choice?

coryjac0b

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Jul 1, 2011
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Well I purchased 2 of these cards to run in crossfire in a brand new system i built. Got everything installed, hardware and software. Latest drivers installed.

I start up furmark, run it for about 30 minutes. Average fps was 61. Highest temp was like 55 C. I thought the fps was a little low, but whatever.

The purpose of the new build is well, i was in need of an upgrade. Also to play BF3.

I turn on cpuid hwmonitor to keep track of temps.

I start up BF BC2. Set the video settings to High. Playing on 1080. Thinking(Hoping) it should be able to handle it. As soon as i load into the game the fans kick in on both cards at 100%. After about 30-45 minutes of play i close the game to go review the temps. It says the max recorded temp was 92c. I was kind of shocked to see this. Before i think about returning these cards as i have read mixed reviews of temperature problems.

1. Are the settings set to high?

2. Does a secondary fan need to be used blowing air across the cards?

3. Did i shoot myself in the foot buying 2 of these cards?

4. Should i return these and run something else in crossfire/sli or keep one card?

Specs:

Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Gigabyte Z68
I5-2500k (4.2 Ghz ATM)
Thermaltake Frio
16gb Corsair Vengeance
NZXT Phantom Full tower Case.
PSU: Corsair 850tx modular
Single Monitor: 23" 1080 60Hz


That's the pertinent info ATM. TIA


-Cory
 

benski

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Jun 24, 2010
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With your furmark score I'm guessing you had vsync on, thats why it didn't get very hot and your FPS was so low.

I would be worried about brand new cards hitting 92 since thermal paste tends to degrade over time. 92 isn't going to hurt the cards but add a few months worth of dust and degredation and I think you could have some problems.

I would try downloading MSI afterburner and set a little more agressive fan profile and see if you can keep your temps lower than that. An additional fan might help but shouldn't be neccesary as those cards have pretty good coolers on them.
 

phishy714

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May 16, 2011
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what board do you have exactly? One thing that will not be helping at all is how far apart the two cards are spaced. If there is only 1 slot in between the two PCI-E ports, and the cards are RIGHT next to each other, then yeah.. you are going to have very very hot cards. Not to mention that your case is not well known for its cooling, so all that could very well add up in a dual card setup.
 

w_willgress

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Sep 13, 2010
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I think that the problem is like the previous posts say that your 6970 are too close together , although your case is very GOOD at keeping things cool and is actually quite well known for its great airflow.