So I've got a small problem with my 6850 crossfire setup... and that's temperature on one card in particular. Below is a snapshot of the temperatures from both cards after running the Heaven DX11 benchmark for 10 minutes or so.
As you can see, one card maxes at 89C, while the other at 99C. Now you may think is an airflow issue. Below is a picture of my setup.
The card that is reaching 99C is not the bottom card, but in fact the one at the top. Yes, there is a sound card sandwiched in between the two cards, but with the way these coolers are designed, its making little difference whether the sound card is there or not. I have an exhaust helper fan (what you see in front of the cards) to help exhaust the hot air in the area, which actually does the job pretty well. In comparison, a single card would reach 75C. I could have maybe understood if the bottom card was the one hitting 99C... but it's perfectly fine all cramped down there.
So, I was lead to believe the issue was with the thermal compound of the card. However, when I took the card out and was getting ready to remove the heatsink, I saw stickers over the screws that said "void if removed". What the hell? Has it always been like this for XFX? If that's the case, and I cannot do this without voiding warranty, I don't really care. I'll just leave it as is and wait for the card to break and send it in for a replacement because I don't see it lasting very long at that load temperature. But maybe it will just fine... who knows.
As you can see, one card maxes at 89C, while the other at 99C. Now you may think is an airflow issue. Below is a picture of my setup.
The card that is reaching 99C is not the bottom card, but in fact the one at the top. Yes, there is a sound card sandwiched in between the two cards, but with the way these coolers are designed, its making little difference whether the sound card is there or not. I have an exhaust helper fan (what you see in front of the cards) to help exhaust the hot air in the area, which actually does the job pretty well. In comparison, a single card would reach 75C. I could have maybe understood if the bottom card was the one hitting 99C... but it's perfectly fine all cramped down there.
So, I was lead to believe the issue was with the thermal compound of the card. However, when I took the card out and was getting ready to remove the heatsink, I saw stickers over the screws that said "void if removed". What the hell? Has it always been like this for XFX? If that's the case, and I cannot do this without voiding warranty, I don't really care. I'll just leave it as is and wait for the card to break and send it in for a replacement because I don't see it lasting very long at that load temperature. But maybe it will just fine... who knows.