• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

580 SLI - reference or non-reference?

W

wubikens

n00b
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
7
I've posted this question on a couple forums to try and get some advice on which I should go with, but I'm hoping that I can get a few more opinions on which one might be better before I go ahead and pull the trigger.

Basically, I was thinking about getting two 580s for SLI, but I was wondering if it would be better to do this with two reference cards or two non-reference cards. I'm wondering because I'm worried about the temps that a non-reference card can put out (generally lower gpu temps, but exhausting heat into the case) as opposed to the heat that a reference card puts out (generally higher gpu temps, but exhaust heat outside of the case).

More specifically, I'm wondering if I should get x2 MSI Lightning 580 cards or x2 EVGA SC 580 cards. I plan on using the two cards on a Maximus IV board in a HAF X case, so I would only end up having about 1 empty slot of space between the two cards as well.

So for both questions, which one would cool better?
 
You will be fine with reference cards. I have two GTX580 reference cards in a Rampage II Ex mobo and there is literally no space between my cards and even though the idle temps are really high for the top card (70* C) the temps never go past 88* C when playing demanding games. With the Maximux IV you will be able to have one slot of separation between your cards which means the top card will have cooler temps than in my case. Only get non-reference cards if they are at the same price.

Also, EVGA offers a lifetime warranty, so I never worry if my cards burn.
 
Thanks for the advice.

That MSI Lightning card is only just slightly more expensive than the SC (the SC is currently on sale @ newegg for like $490, but the normal price is like $510) by like $15-$25.So it isn't too much more expensive, and it is a really nice card (huge factory OC, great OC potential, a very nice cooler). But like I mentioned, I'm just really worried about how much heat is going to get generated by two of those things in SLI since it generates heat inside the case instead of exhausting it outside. So I am kind of leaning more towards the EVGA reference card (even though I'd prefer having the MSI Lightning cards), especially because of that lifetime warranty thing you mentioned.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top