Heat effect of 2x2 vs 1x4 graphics card

ggonline01

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Mar 22, 2012
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I have a 4 monitor setup using 2 graphics cards and am worried about internal GPU temperatures. They are 2 PNY Quadro NVS 300 [PNY VCNVS300X16-PB Quadro NVS 300 512MB] and run between 45C idle to 60+C with normal load (CPU 38-45C). Are these temperatures safe? I prefer 40C or less, but read just tonight that some think up to 80C is safe/normal. As these are only passively cooled via large heatsinks, I was wondering generally if replacing 2 dual-port cards with 1 quad-port card would materially/significantly lower the heat?

This is a trading computer (no gaming) so I only need 2D graphics and I like PNY for the noiseless operation, but I'm worried about the box in the summer. I think I have good airflow, CoolerMaster HAF-22 case, but have difficultly/lack of control of the room A/C. I had system freezes/crashes I believe caused by previous cards overheating (at 80-90C for 1 passive = PNY VCQ295NVS-X16-DVI-PB Quadro NVS 295), so I prefer having the redundancy of dual cards but if a single 4-port card is cooler I might switch if more stable. My upgraded/replacemnt NVS 300s may draw less electricity, but I'm not convinced they run cooler.
 

pazsion

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Feb 9, 2009
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Well typically putting more on to one card generates more heat. Depending on it's power and thermal monitoring features. Generally lower wattage cards will run cooler. This would open up a slot for a new gigabyte network card, or a Nice pci slot fan that can be run on a low speed to reduce noise.

You could try a card that uses a mobile chipset.

Also weither or not 2d is desired...the software used could beneifit from directx 11 computeing abilities...Or cuda cores. Check with the devs of the software used.

Browsers generally take advantage of any gpu computeing ability. And even post-processing. And various things a 2D dedicated card just won't support.

Quadro cards should have this ability. Regardless of being marketed as a 2d dedicated card or not.

Yes your temps are within range. You could get significant gains by simply adding fans to the huge heatsinks. Particularly with stock trading, I'd imagine getting as close to real-time as possible is desirable. Adding a fan to a card that's designed to run hot. Could return some impressive results.

Have you enabled sli features? Shareing the load should help reduce temps as well.
 

ggonline01

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Mar 22, 2012
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thanks for the reply.

Does SLI cancel the way MS Windows allows different windows to be maximized/docked to different monitors? or must windows maximized across all monitors? I really like the maximize to a single monitor vs all monitors.

Are there any aftermarket fans that could be attached(how clips or glue?) to the GPU heatsink (assuming there is space)?

GG
 

pazsion

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Feb 9, 2009
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Right assumeing you have space, and this is your pc...and you've opened it before...

SLI is a physical paathway to the cpu, thus must be supported by the motherboard. It shares these pathways with multiple cards.

The nvidia settings should dictate what your desktop configuration is, the best.
unless you can find better xD

12v fan, Black and red or 2-wire..consider the heatsink and space you need to work with, and how your gonna hook it up. Use red from fan to yellow. and black to case...or black wire. These must be secure and should use some kind of harness if possible. If not get "shrink wrap" or rubber/ducktape/gorilla tape hehe you'd have to remove the isolation and plug it in...be very careful nothing from the yellow goes any where near those black wires...twist those mothers tight.

These things spin fast. so screws...small enough to fit snugly in between the fins of the heatsink....most fans can mount clean on a flush/flat space on the heatsink...check this by spinning the blades before powering on. any ticks scrapes or binding...could shatter the blades when you turn it on...

BTW you should be doing this with the tower unplugged...when you plug it back in...the PSU should do a test and this will spin the fans too...If it doesn't do this something isn't hooked up right. check it. If it's never done this...nvm...

when/if you wanna get crafty...you can always get a device to adjust the voltage or find a pinout from your mobo to do this. there are sometimes 2 or more places. but not always. The manufacturer sometimes makes this info handy to it's customers. Sometimes =/
 
Let's just say that the temps are good and live with it, because they are.

It is not economically sound to consider replacing two cards to attempt to increase the life of your cards. You are spending money now as if the cards did wear out, when you could have waited a couple years or more for them to actually need to be replaced.