ASUS GTX 670 DirectCUII (2xSLI) Heating up

[primeg]

Hi,

I have the below configuration:

Intel i7 3770K 3.5 Ghz
ASUS GTX 670 Direct CUII (2 in SLI mode)
Cosmos 2 Ultra Tower

The issue I am facing is that when I try to run the Unigine Valley benchmark, temperature on both the cards start rising and keep going up. I kept it going for some time and one of the cards reached 85 degrees Celsius. I stopped the benchmark at this point as I did not see any signs of the temperature dropping.

I have tried installing extra fans, configuring the fan profile via GPU Tweak. However, I am not able to keep the temperature for the graphics card in check.

Is there anything specific I can do to keep the graphics card temps in check?

 

[bigshootr8]

You have a pretty large case normally with the larger cases they are built with water cooling in mind. How would you say your case airflow is the air coming out of the case? Have you installed aftermarket fans or just stock fans. Fans like the Notcua, Corsair, and Cougar air flow fans.

 

[primeg]

I have installed Cooler Master Silent S2 120 mm fans. In the below config:

-- 3x120mm on top - exhaust
-- 2x120mm on side panel - exhaust
-- 2x120mm against the bottom HDD cage
-- 1x120mm at mid HDD cage facing the graphics cards

Apart from the above, there is 1x200mm in the front - intake and rear 1x140mm - exhaust. I am not sure if this is a good config or not, I have done this based on what I understood from trying to search for a solution online.

 

[bigshootr8]

I see, and have you ever took off your side panel to see if things would drop?

I can't seem to find your fans but I want to make sure they were pushing quite a bit of air. I know cooler master 200mm fans are pretty good though. I have 2 of them on my Cooler Master Sniper case.

What motherboard are you using?

 

[smorizio]

prime try downloading msi afterburner and set a fan profile. also check that the fans will spin up to max speed.

 

[EzioAs]

You either have trapped heat inside the case or some faulty cooler. Your airflow optimization doesn't seem wrong though.

EDIT: Hold on, wasn't the DCuII cooler known to have some issues recently?

 

[bigshootr8]

^That is where I was going heat trapped I don't know if you guys have seen the Cosmos 2 in person but its freaking huge

 

[EzioAs]

I have seen the case in person and I have to agree, it's darn huge. I don't think airflow and heat is much of a problem for a case like this though.

 

[primeg]

Sorry for the confusion, I use Cooler Master Silent Fan 120 SI2.

I have not kept the panel off while running the a benchmark. I will check that. I tried opening the side panel to check the air flow inside the case. However, I felt that the space between the fan and the graphics cards was quite cold while the temps were higher around the cards. Also, I felt the case side panel with my hands, it was cold compared to the air around the cards.

The motherboard I am using is, ASUS Maximus V Extreme.

 

[bigshootr8]

Well he is running a sli system and the only concern I'd have is the ability to push the air out. Sure there is a ton of space within the case but where that air goes is all dependent on how strong his fans are at pushing the air out. The cosmos case's were designed originally as a water cooling centered case.

 

[EzioAs]

As smorizio posted before, try using MSI Afterburner (or similar tools) to try and push the fan speed to maximum and see how it goes.

 

[primeg]

prime try downloading msi afterburner and set a fan profile. also check that the fans will spin up to max speed.

Currently, I am setting the fan profile with ASUS GPU Tweak. I also downloaded MSI Afterburner and checked it out before I started using ASUS GPU Tweak.

 

[bigshootr8]

Your fans for example push out 44 CFM (thats your air flow) and the fans I use the Cougar fans I use push out (70/120 CFM) So, maybe that could be a contributor. Also it looks like my fans are quieter to :X

http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=121

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553002

 

[primeg]

Your fans for example push out 44 CFM (thats your air flow) and the fans I use the Cougar fans I use push out (70/120 CFM) So, maybe that could be a contributor. Also it looks like my fans are quieter to :X

http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=121

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553002

I know Courgar fans are better than the ones I have. Those were my first choice, but they are not available here in India.

 

[EzioAs]

Apparently, there's around 21% people on Newegg having dead cards in 6 months or less. Do what bigshootr8 said, try running the Uningine benchmark again with the side panel open. Monitor temps at and if it doesn't drop, I would think you have faulty cards...either that or the new Uningine Valley benchmarks stress card like mad.

Before that, I'd like to know whether you installed the cards with some extra slots (space) between them or are they running close without any extra slots?

 

[primeg]

Apparently, there's around 21% people on Newegg having dead cards in 6 months or less. Do what bigshootr8 said, try running the Uningine benchmark again with the side panel open. Monitor temps at and if it doesn't drop, I would think you have faulty cards...either that or the new Uningine Valley benchmarks stress card like mad.

Before that, I'd like to know whether you installed the cards with some extra slots (space) between them or are they running close without any extra slots?

I will check that and report back. On a side note, I have already RMA'ed one of the GTX 670 as it was overheating/crashing like crazy when I tried to run Far cry 3.

 

[bigshootr8]

Far Cry 3 I swear EZ have you seen as many threads on this as I have. There have been tons of people saying they have had overheating cards with that game.

 

[EzioAs]

Haven't tried FC3 yet so I wouldn't know it's issues. Maybe I'll get the game in 2-3 weeks and see for myself how stressful this game is. Heard good things about the game (gameplay, graphics) but who knows? I'm not such a big fan of FPS games. I only like BFBC2.

 

[primeg]

Far Cry 3 I swear EZ have you seen as many threads on this as I have. There have been tons of people saying they have had overheating cards with that game.

I believe that is also partly because of the NVIDIA drivers. Because I noticed that with the current 310.90 drivers the GPU utilization was almost always at 99% while in the game. But with the 313.96 beta drivers I noticed that it is not stuck at 99% all the time now.

 

[primeg]

I ran the Unigine Valley Benchmark with the case panels open and I noticed that the cards remain at 64 degrees Celsius and 74 degrees Celsius respectively. To double check, I ran the benchmark 3 times back to back. Are these good temps?

 

[bigshootr8]

Those are good temps yes. That is what it should be at.

 

[EzioAs]

Yes, those temps are much more normal. Clearly your case fans doesn't push air as much as you'd hoped. Would you try installing the side fans as intake instead as exhaust and close the side panel to see how it goes?

 

[babernet_1]

Just a thought, set the side fans to blow inward? It seems you have too many exhaust fans.

 

[primeg]

Yes, those temps are much more normal. Clearly your case fans doesn't push air as much as you'd hoped. Would you try installing the side fans as intake instead as exhaust and close the side panel to see how it goes?

I have tried that, at first the fans were setup as intakes but as that did not work out well, I switched them into exhausts as I thought that would help take the hot air out of the case.

 

[primeg]

Keeping in mind the airflow problem, what kind of fans would you suggest for a case like Cosmos 2?