ASUS GTX660 Direct CU II overheateing problem

[DemiGoth]

I've just bought an ASUS GTX660 Direct CU II to run SLI in my system. I have been running SLI for quite some time now with 2x GTX460 (one EVGA, one ASUS) with full success and no heat issues at all

Now I have an EVGA GTX660 (stock settings) and I wanted to add the new ASYS GTX660 to my system. But in whichever slot I put it, at the least GPU usage the temperature sky rockets and the fan goes to a full 100%. Because of the build of this card, the temperature never exceeds 97C (that with only 75% GPU usage), but that still is way too hot. When I compare the ASUS to the EVGA GTX660 at the same performance, the EVGA card reaches a maximum of 65C at 100% load.

Checking the heatsink of the ASUS card I notice it's not getting hot, just a bit warm (prolly around 40C), but when I check the heat vent of the card, it blows extreme hot air out of the PC, a lot warmer than the EVGA card does.

I'm 100% sure that airflow is no problem in my system, with that, the ASUS card is set in the 'slave slot' and is just above my PSU fan, giving a bit of extra cooling (worked with the GTX460 SLI setup too).

My guess is that the cooling of the GPU is kinda defective, but I'm wondering if it's only a matter of applying new cooling paste or that I should RMA the card (well, return and get my money back, I bought it yesterday). If it's only a matter of cooling paste I could ask the store to apply it and use it normally.

 

[coozie7]

Run the system with just the Asus installed, if it's still running hot the card is faulty-don't be tempted to replace the thermal paste yourself, you'll void the warranty-so do as you planned and return it.

 

[unknownofprob]

try using one card like coozie7 said, I would like to ask what your doing when the GPU's get to 75% usage and fans 100%?

 

[unknownofprob]

so you want to have an Asus GTX 660 and Evga GTX 660 is the same case in SLI? why not just use the same brand?

 

[DemiGoth]

I've ran the ASUS GTX660 alone and it worked as it should. No overheating or any weird stuff at all. After that I added the EVGA GTX660 (in the 'slave slot') and again, the ASUS card is working as intended without overheating.

I'm really confused now here. I started out with ASUS+EVGA and I had the ASUS overheating. I then changed to EVGA+ASUS and still the ASUS card overheated. Now I'm back to where I started with ASUS+EVGA after the ASUS ran alone and all is working perfect. Okay, the EVGA card is running a bit hotter than the ASUS but that's because of the casing design...

What I was running to get the ASUS card to 75%+ performance and 100% fan? Just the Valley benchmark. The EVGA card kept 'cool' at ~65C while the ASUS went to 97C in no time, only to cool off just as quickly. That's what puzzled me so much and why there were alarmbells ringing.

Now with the ASUS+EVGA setup, the ASUS runs as 'hot' as 60C and the EVGA hits max 69C with the Valley benchmark.

Why not to buy an other EVGA card? Well, stock EVGA still costs €220 for me (exclusing shipping) since there's no Dutch retailer selling them anymore (and thus I have to buy from EVGA.com direclty), while the ASUS card is €40 cheaper and is faster...

Thanks for helping guys!