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GTX 670 SLI confused like anything

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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hi people, my first post on here so please be gentle.

i have recently finished building my rig after a year of contemplation on whether or not i should and i must say that now that i have, i cant believe i was without it.

here are the specs

cooler master cm-690 II nvidia edition.

Asus p8-z77 m-pro motherboard.

i7- 3770 ivybridge

corsair dominator 16gb DDR3 ram 1600mhz

1TB seagate HDD

120GB sandisk SSD

cooler master GX 650 psu

KFA2 GTX 670 (reference cooler design)

now my question, i am thinking of adding another KFA2 670 to it for sli but im confused.

this is whats confusing me, firstly which pcie to plug it into? the board has 2 pcie 3.0 x16 slots, and one of them is presently occupied by the gfx card.

1 - if i was to slot in into the second pcie 3.0 slot directly underneath it would mean that the second card is touching the other, will this mean the top card will overheat and is not a good idea?

2- there is a 3rd slot at the bottom of the mobo labelled as PCIE 2.0 X16, should i plug it into this instead allowing a good 1.5 inch gap between the card for cooling?

im not sure what is the best option? can i still sli with one card plugged into pcie 3.0 and the other into pcie 2.0?

or should i connect to the second slot and heat will not be an issue as the cards vent air through the rear? however it would still mean that the intake fan is completely covered by the second card?

its annoying as its an sli certified board but the design is terrible. any advice would be great.


thanks.

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I have seen people do SLI with adjacent slots. Maybe the cards vent out the back of the card (to the outside air.) But I wondered how it gets fresh air.

If the card takes advantage of the PCI 3.0 bandwidth, seems better to not use the 2.0 slot.

Mousemonkey said:
Use slots 1 & 2, slots 1 & 3 share IRQ'S and are not what the manual recommends.


this is very correct in what what manual recommends, my worry in doing this is that the 2 cards will be stacked causing overheating. do you feel that this may be an issue with the reference cooler?

sorry to sound dumb, but the does "slots 1 & 3 share IRQ'S" actually mean?

thanks for the prompt reply.

also, i have a feeling that my cooler master gx 650watt bronze plus psu is not adequate for 2 cards so im looking to upgrade it unless someone can verify that my current psu is capable? wont be overclocking at all by the way.
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Graphics card Master

ghummy said:
this is very correct in what what manual recommends, my worry in doing this is that the 2 cards will be stacked causing overheating. do you feel that this may be an issue with the reference cooler?

sorry to sound dumb, but the does "slots 1 & 3 share IRQ'S" actually mean?

thanks for the prompt reply.

also, i have a feeling that my cooler master gx 650watt bronze plus psu is not adequate for 2 cards so im looking to upgrade it unless someone can verify that my current psu is capable? wont be overclocking at all by the way.

It means "Issues may occur"! :lol:  Such as SLi not being able to be enabled due to the option not appearing in the Nv control panel. At 170w each a 650w PSU should be OK, I'm running a pair of 170w cards on a 620w PSU, albeit a Corsair HX model.

thanks, if i place the cards in 1 and 2, is heat going to be a major issue with the reference cooler?

i only ask ive heard some horror stories about card with non ref coolers hitting 100 degrees when next to eachother, however can find no info on this with regard to the reference coolers.

thanks again
Graphics card Master

ghummy said:
thanks, if i place the cards in 1 and 2, is heat going to be a major issue with the reference cooler?

i only ask ive heard some horror stories about card with non ref coolers hitting 100 degrees when next to eachother, however can find no info on this with regard to the reference coolers.

thanks again

I've no idea on that, this is one of those reasons why I don't recommend SLi or Xfire as an afterthought or upgrade path because little things like "How close are the cards that I finally settle on going to be to each other?" get forgotten about. You have left yourself with the option of "Suck it and see" mate.
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