Heat issue with MSI N460GTX in SLI

Forum Graphics & Displays : Graphics Cards Heat issue with MSI N460GTX in SLI

Hi guys, I have two MSI N460GTX Hawk (1 gig GDDR5) cards in SLI installed and I have a serious issue with the heat they generate.

At out of the box, clocked at 780 core 1560 shadow 1800 mem set in SLI. When testing with Kombustor the top card gets to 86c and the bottom card gets to 72c after 7 minutes, then stays steady at that temp.

When I test with FurMark the top card gets to an AMAZING 98c (I turn off FurMark at this point as the card makes a buzzing warning sound) and the bottom card gets to about 78c.

I took both coolers off the cards and replaced the termal paste with Arctic Silver 5 (First using arctic cleaner to clean up the old paste), this did NOT help at all. I still see the same temperature ranges.

Anyone have any ideas? Because I heard the normal for these is to top out at about 60'ish c....

Personally I think it might be the case not having enough airflow, it's a clear blue acrylic case with 1x 80mm front fan, 2x 80mm side fans (left most fan almost directly over the ends of the video cards), 1x 80mm exhaust fan. But wanted to ask your opinions before getting a new case....this one was a Christmas present from the wife a couple years ago...

Other facts about my computer:
1000w seasonic 80+ Platinum PSU
Asus P6X58-E Pro Mobo
i7 960 CPU clocked at 3.72ghz
8 gigs of DDR3 2000 mhz ram

Reply to jacekring

yeah....your hunch is right......

you'll need to invest in a proper case if you want to continue with your sli setup.....

one with a gfx card downdraft fan would help.......

im rather smitten with this one atm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811553002

som'n like this w/cppl xtra fans will solve your issues

good luck

bTx

------------------------------ i5 2500K@4.8GHz/Asus P8P67wsRevo/ 2xasus 6970 in cfx/ 8g mushkin 2133MHz /CorsairH60/ 2x Crucial M4's in RAID0 128gb/ 1000w nzxt/ http://i1084.photobucket.com/album [...] rx/153.jpg http://i1084.photobucket.com/album [...] rx/148.jpg
Reply to badtaylorx

Unfortunately the clearence I have for a computer case under my desk on the PC stand is 18.75" and that case is 20.6"....So it would have to come off my desk side stand and go on the floor (carpet)....

Also if I end up doing that, I would go with the Silverstone RV03, that comes with 2x 180mm bottom intake fans, 1x 120mm top exhaust fan...and the option to add up to 4x 120mm front fans, 1x 120mm rear fan and 1x 120mm side fan...Now that's air flow

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] one%20rv03

Sigh, I just wish you weren't right....I know in my heart the only thing I can do is replace the case but like I said...X-Mas present...I even replaced all the Thermaltake fans I had to Nactua fans hoping to increase the airflow a little....

Reply to jacekring

And that case is a bit strange btw...it's a side mounted, meaning everything is 90' rotated inside the case...all your cables come out the top, PSU is in the bottom front, LOL...it's kinda wierd looking, but probably gets great cooling as heat rises and the air flow direction is generally upward in the case.

Reply to jacekring

ok ordered that Silverstone RV03 case and 5x cougar 120mm fans to install as the case only comes with 2x 180mm and 1x 120mm fan.

cougar 120mm fans: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835553002

Reply to jacekring

WTF???

I just assembled my new case, ran FurMark for 3 minutes and was hitting 90+ on GPU1 with the stock clock settings. I now have a Silverstone RV03 case with 2x 180mm fans and 6x 120mm fans. It can't be an insufficient airflow problem now, thing is like a F'in leaf blower now.

Anyone have any idea's why I would be hitting 90c+ on GPU 1 and 68c on GPU 2 with my setup?

Are they defective cards maybe??? Should I look into warranty return, only had these for less then a month.

Reply to jacekring

Why did I receive an e-mail saying my question has been answered??? After about a week waiting for anyone to help me. The only advise I got was to get a new case and I did. But my primary card still gets to 99c when I run FurMark, so a new case did NOT solve my heat issue. New drivers did not solve my heat issue, as I tried them too. Nobody has answered my question either on here or overclockers.net.

sigh, I don't know what else to try except water cooling and I rather stay air cooled and no install a water cooling solution as it shouldn't be necessary. Reviews say these cards should work at 60c under load. I know an SLI configuration will make it hotter, but I don't expect it to be by such a large margin.

Reply to jacekring