MSI GTX970 high temps in mATX case

[Daedalus454]

I've been using my MSI GTX970 (the black 4GD5T OC version) since November with no issues in my Silverstone TJ-08E mATX case, running everything at pretty much max settings at 1920x1200. It got a little warmer than most reviews showed the TwinFrozr V getting, but I figured it was natural to run a little warm in a mATX case.

Well, I bought myself a 21:9 3440x1440 monitor a few weeks back, and now my GTX970 is running at a pretty consistent 80-81 degrees per MSI Aferburner (I thought these cards would throttle at 80 - no idea how I got to 81) in demanding games like Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite. The aluminum side panels of my case get hot to the touch right around the video card.

I knew the extra pixels of the new monitor would force the card to work harder, but I wasn't expecting this.

Granted my den/office tends to sit around 75F / 24C ambient temps in the summertime (the AC in this place is def. lowest bidder junk), which might be a contributing factor.

I double-checked the manual for my case, and Silverstone does recommend using only blower style video cards in this case.

So my question is, is this actually a problem? If it is a problem, would buying a card with a blower style cooler be likely to help?

 

[Unknown-One]

So my question is, is this actually a problem? If it is a problem, would buying a card with a blower style cooler be likely to help?

The dual-fan cooler on that graphics card is filling the case with hot air faster than the case fans can evacuate it.

It's effectively recycling its own exhaust heat over-and-over, wrecking cooling for pretty much everything in the case...

I double-checked the manual for my case, and Silverstone does recommend using only blower style video cards in this case.

That would be my recommendation as well. A blower-style cooler would result in most odf the heat from the card getting blown directly out the back of the case. EVERYTHING in the PC would run cooler.

You could also go with an AIO water cooler, but those take some fiddling if you don't want to hear the pump...

 

[defaultluser]

1. Have you turned up the 180mm fan to high? I think there should be a way to change the fan speed to give you more airflow. It may come form the factory set to low.

2. Have you installed a rear 120mm fan, or are you just using the front 180mm fan?

You really need both if you want it to handle non-blower video cards. You need to create a wind tunnel here

 

[Daedalus454]

1. Have you turned up the 180mm fan to high? I think there should be a way to change the fan speed to give you more airflow. It may come form the factory set to low.

Yeah, I'm running the 180mm at it's max speed.

2. Have you installed a rear 120mm fan, or are you just using the front 180mm fan?

I'm using an AIO water CPU cooler, and I have the radiator installed on the rear 120 fan. Right now it's the standard cheap Cooler Master high static pressure fan, I've considered swapping in something pricier like a Corsair SP120 or a Gentle Typhoon AP-15. The fan is PWM controlled, but I have my fan curve set up to run it fast even when the CPU is cool since it is my only exhaust fan.

 

[defaultluser]

EDIT: wrong because I didn't research your stupid-assed case design well enough. See my post below.

 

[Unknown-One]

I'd personally move the AIO to your graphics card, and air-cool the CPU. That's how my current system is set-up, and I've had zero issues with case temps going into run-away.

 

[defaultluser]

EDIT nevermind. Silverstone ruined this otherwise awesome case idea by flipping the motherboard/graphics card upside-down, and placing the graphics card completely out of the cooling flow zone.

All that cool air flows out the bottom, because the PSU is isolated from the rest of the case, creating an airflow dead-zone around the GPU. This is only corrected if you have a blower cooler (see in the picture below), which generates enough negative pressure to draw cool air in from the intake, and blow it otu the back of the case!

Forget my recommendation from earlier, it won't help with this crazy-assed case. You sure you can't take that GPU back, and grab a blower cooler?

 

[Daedalus454]

I'm not completely convinced that adding exhaust fans is going to help.

Here's a picture of the inside of my case:


As you can see, the video card itself makes a pretty decent airflow divider in the case. The intake fan is just barely blowing any air into the area above the card at all. It seems to me that increasing the exhaust airflow is only going to serve to create a low pressure area below the video card, pulling even more air down and away from the fans on top.

A blower-style card seems like it would create a low-pressure area above the video card, drawing cool air towards it.

FWIW, I played around with the fan curve tonight. I set a straight line from fans off @ 30C to 100% at 80C and fired up Tomb Raider. The card made a lot of noise (fans ramped up to 85%), but managed to stay at ~73C after a half hour.

I'm not super in love with the case I've got - quiet 180mm fans that still move air are pretty much non existent. I could see swapping it out for a mATX case with a bunch of 120mm fans.

I really like the idea of AIO cooling my 970. I'll have to look into that.

 

[Daedalus454]

Heh, I see you said the same thing I did while I was typing.

Since I've been using this video card for around 6 months, I'm guessing I'm not going to be able to return it or exchange it for a blower-style card.

 

[defaultluser]

Sorry for the complete screw-up on my part. I thought you had a more traditional case layout here

You can probably buy a replacement blower cooler (they do exist for the 970), or possibly try slot blower cards (not sure they will help much, since they don't typically move much air).

 

[Tony Ou]

If you haven't already, try flipping the PSU around so that the PSU fan can help pull air toward top half of the case. And if you installed an exhaust fan at the rear, try unplugging it too, this will help balance the airflow through your case to not be so CPU-biased (this is also the reason why we do not include a fan their from the factory).