Cayman Crossfire X Hot/Loud :-(

[Lord_Exodia]

In case you were interested in going this route I would strongly suggest either water cooling or spacing the cards further apart if possible. My curiosity was first piqued about this on launch day when one review showed that the square shaped design on the Cayman cards fan make the top GPU suffocate for airflow and the result is the card heats up at or above 90degrees and the fan speed ramps up to almost 50db which is louder than GTX 480 reference. I hope this information is helpful to anyone considering this as a solution. If noise bothers you, make sure that you can space the cards further apart in your system otherwise consider water cooling. I'll list the articles and their links to the findings in the order in which I have come upon them

Originally posted by Hardware Heaven

Where we were a little disappointed was the cooler design. In single card mode the cooler works well, even if the 6970 does get a little hot and runs louder than the GTX 570. Add a second or third card in CrossFire mode on the average board and things dont go so well though. The box shape design of the 6900s means that on motherboards where there is no extra space between PCIe slots (most boards) the two/three cards sit so close that airflow is affected and on the 6900 series this significantly impacts thermal and acoustic performance. A GeForce style slant on the end of the card would have resolved this issue and revised models with alternate cannot come fast enough for us, at least for multi-GPU configurations. Check out the noise videos on the previous page to see what we mean.

Source

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...eon-6950-graphics-card-review-conclusion.html

@ load in game (not Furmark)single card was @ 91c 3 card Crossfire X was 100c or more fans VERY loud

Here's videos

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...50-graphics-card-review-power-temp-noise.html

Originally posted by Guru3d

We deliberately put the cards close together in the system, as most of the motherboards currently in use will need to be configured that way. This means that the upper graphics card will get way less airflow. The one somewhat airflow blocked card heats up quickly, producing more noise.

In CFX mode we got pretty bad DBa levels returned once the GPUs really start to stress, on average the noise level was 44 DBa, however when the two GPUs really have a card time then things get worse fast. In the Crysis WarHead benchmarks for example the cards spun up fast and reached 49 DBa of sound pressure, that's just downright noisy.

We'd recommend (if possible) leaving and extra slot in-between the two cards and create good airflow. At that stage even at hefty gaming noise levels will remain acceptable.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-crossfirex-review/15

@ load in game (not Furmark) was 49db @ 89c in an efficient case single card in this case was 41db @ 77c

On a positive note the Scaling is amazing often averaging 1.8x- even 2x!!! A good suggestion can also be

waiting for non reference coolers

Update 12/19/2010

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/xfx-hd6970-3-way-cfx-hd6950-cfx-review/26/

60DB is what they found at over 100C I take it that's because they are using a Tri Xfire setup and the top 2 cards are running very hot so that adds to the noise even more.

Originally posted by KitGuru

In three way CFx, the noise levels are extremely high, due to the close proximity and raised ambient temperatures (to over 100c). We recorded around 60 dBa when all three cards were running 3dMark 11.

Here is a video of the noise levels of the system at full load with 3 cards in CrossfireX. Its not even remotely scientific, but turn the volume up to get an idea !

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPKaupfKMUI&feature=player_embedded

UPDATE 01/8/2011

A thread started on this exact topic has started and people already were making useless suggestions such as change the tim on the cards etc. At this point I want to make sure the forum is aware that the issue is not the tim it's the poor share shaped cooler on the reference 6900 cards. The blocky cooler shape starves the top card for air against the bottom card's pcb. Here is a thread started today http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1575240

 

[NKD]

Its really funny people bitch about noise, are they noisy when they are idle, if yea then I would never even look at them. I am sure that sound level will not even be audible if you are gaming.

Are your speakers silent when you are gaming, if yea then there is something wrong with you.

If you have headsets on, you still wont hear the cards.

I am not ati fanboy or nvidia, although I have nvidia, but it gets like rediculous when people complain about a few db's.

If they were running at like jet engine then I would really worry. if it becomes a little audible on when it is under load and specially when you sound are gaming.

One thing I dont understand is why doesn't just AMD get rid of one of the dvi ports, I am sure it is not going to kill someone if they do. I am sure you would see like 5-10c temp difference and less fan noise if they had full flow going out.

 

[SeegsElite]

Its really funny people bitch about noise, are they noisy when they are idle, if yea then I would never even look at them. I am sure that sound level will not even be audible if you are gaming.

Are your speakers silent when you are gaming, if yea then there is something wrong with you.

If you have headsets on, you still wont hear the cards.

I am not ati fanboy or nvidia, although I have nvidia, but it gets like rediculous when people complain about a few db's.

If they were running at like jet engine then I would really worry. if it becomes a little audible on when it is under load and specially when you sound are gaming.

QFT

 

[Lord_Exodia]

Its really funny people bitch about noise, are they noisy when they are idle, if yea then I would never even look at them. I am sure that sound level will not even be audible if you are gaming.

Are your speakers silent when you are gaming, if yea then there is something wrong with you.

If you have headsets on, you still wont hear the cards.

I am not ati fanboy or nvidia, although I have nvidia, but it gets like rediculous when people complain about a few db's.

If they were running at like jet engine then I would really worry. if it becomes a little audible on when it is under load and specially when you sound are gaming.

I highly suggest you listen to the videos for 6970 crossfire X and 6950 tri-fire from Hardware Heaven. I'm sure that will bother quite a few people. Anyway there are ways around it, I'm just getting the info out there.

QFT

You too http://www.hardwareheaven.com/revie...50-graphics-card-review-power-temp-noise.html

 

[FinalAura]

fan noise is way annoying when theres a scene thats supposed to be quiet or have quiet ambient music. Ruins the feel of the game hearing that loud fan whirring in the bg.

And I hate wearing headphones.

Just saying

 

[NKD]

I highly suggest you listen to the videos for 6970 crossfire X and 6950 tri-fire from Hardware Heaven. I'm sure that will bother quite a few people. Anyway there are ways around it, I'm just getting the info out there.

I really dont go by those videos. You got a bunch of people with a sound meter or microphone in a silent room. Ofcourse it is going to pick it up and all you are going to hear is the sound. move away from the card a few feet and then you will see the difference. It sounds louder then it really is in reality.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

fan noise is way annoying when theres a scene thats supposed to be quiet or have quiet ambient music. Ruins the feel of the game hearing that loud fan whirring in the bg.

And I hate wearing headphones.

Just saying

The noise will not bother everyone but there is no crossfire X review up on this site and there could be alot of surprised shoppers when they get their cards. I'm just trying to get the info out there for the [H] community to be aware before they take the 2-3 Cayman Card Plunge.

 

[NKD]

fan noise is way annoying when theres a scene thats supposed to be quiet or have quiet ambient music. Ruins the feel of the game hearing that loud fan whirring in the bg.

And I hate wearing headphones.

Just saying

I dont think they are that loud. I also read some of the reviews say they were silent. There were only a few that mentioned the fan noise. Fan noise is going to be different for everyone. You got good airflow even gtx 480 seems quite.

Again I am not surprised that they are a little louder then 5000 series since ati didn't bother cutting a dvi port. I would have just included a hdmi to dvi adapter, its not like you can use all dvi ports and hdmi at the same time.

 

[FinalAura]

Oh i wasnt talking about these specific cards, just video card fan noise in general.

 

[Roadhog]

The noise will not bother everyone but there is no crossfire X review up on this site and there could be alot of surprised shoppers when they get their cards. I'm just trying to get the info out there for the [H] community to be aware before they take the 2-3 Cayman Card Plunge.

They aren't that bad. They are hot and loud, not gonna lie. But that is mainly due to the retard who designed the heat sink and thought boxes stacked on each other leaves space in between...

They will be getting water cooling though. The performance is just too amazing to get rid of for a little noise.

 

[NKD]

I think its different for everyone so that is why spend money on what makes you happy and what fits your case and room temp the best.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

They aren't that bad. They are hot and loud, not gonna lie. But that is mainly due to the retard who designed the heat sink and thought boxes stacked on each other leaves space in between...

They will be getting water cooling though. The performance is just too amazing to get rid of for a little noise.

Some would agree, others may think they are too loud, I expect some better coolers very soon, I'm going water cooling on my purchase so this doesn't affect my buying decision. I can't wait for the surround/crossfire review from the [H]

 

[dook43]

I have 2 6950's, and I disagree completely. I got up to 88C in JC2 and didn't hear the fans ramp up at all.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

I have 2 6950's, and I disagree completely. I got up to 88C in JC2 and didn't hear the fans ramp up at all.

What brand out of curiosity? Hardware Heaven uses XFX and Guru3d uses Gigabyte, comparing these 2 reviews it would seem that the XFX are the louder/hotter cards while the Gigabyte are better or the case is simply better in the guru3d review than in the Hardware Heaven one.

Edit: Hardware heaven uses the Corsair 600T Case not sure about Guru 3d they don't seem to list it

 

[RadioActiveLobster]

waiting for non reference coolers could also be an option

 

[Lord_Exodia]

waiting for non reference coolers could also be an option

Good point I'll add this to the OP

 

[dook43]

What brand out of curiosity? Hardware Heaven uses XFX and Guru3d uses Gigabyte, comparing these 2 reviews it would seem that the XFX are the louder/hotter cards while the Gigabyte are better or the case is simply better in the guru3d review than in the Hardware Heaven one.

Edit: Hardware heaven uses the Corsair 600T Case not sure about Guru 3d they don't seem to list it

Sapphire, and I also overclocked them to 840/1325 (CCC limits)

 

[Lord_Exodia]

Sapphire, and I also overclocked them to 840/1325 (CCC limits)

If you dont mind, can you post a pic of your temp/clocks Idle/Load to help with this threads findings? Also mention your case if it isn't in you Sig I would really appreciate it.

Edit: BTW are your cards right next to each other or are they spaced far apart? I didn't ask before.

 

[dook43]

ABS Black Pearl. My load temps are very similar to his (88/89). The fans just didn't ramp past 37%.

 

[XacTactX]

Everyone has an opinion and that's fine, but I hope most of us can agree on this. It would have been wise for AMD to have made a cutout at the end of the card, like nVIDIA is doing with the reference 570/580 coolers. I have to admit, the boxy design looks really neat, but it seems to compromise on cooling in CF, and I don't like that.

 

[jeremyshaw]

If you dont mind, can you post a pic of your temp/clocks Idle/Load to help with this threads findings? Also mention your case if it isn't in you Sig I would really appreciate it.

Edit: BTW are your cards right next to each other or are they spaced far apart? I didn't ask before.

ABS Black Pearl. My load temps are very similar to his (88/89). The fans just didn't ramp past 37%.

For anyone curious, the case+mobo combo he has means they are sandwiched. I'm kinda sensitive to noise, so this is useful to me - I sold both my HD5770 CF and HD5870 CF setup (mATX) directly related to noise (HD5770 also went for other reasons), though I do have a nice pair of ATH-M50s, now, so maybe it's different. But I'm about to replace the best PSU I have (TPQ850) with a weaker TX650 because of the silly 80mm fan noise... it's the loudest thing in my case, even under heavy CPU load

 

[Lorien]

OP is full of bad information and assumptions. It's nice to see actual users of the cards with real facts.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

lol i sit in a room thats a constant 50+dB's. i think a couple 6970's will be pretty much silent for me damn antec tri-cool fans. but im use to them after 3 years and dont even notice it anymore.

 

[jeremyshaw]

lol i sit in a room thats a constant 50+dB's. i think a couple 6970's will be pretty much silent for me damn antec tri-cool fans. but im use to them after 3 years and dont even notice it anymore.

... I replaced my two 120mm trifans with 4 GT AP-15 (running 70%, ~ 1400 RPM) due to their noise...

seriously, tricools are noisey for the air they push. too bad at low speds they don't push nearly enough air to make them worth it.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

... I replaced my two 120mm trifans with 4 GT AP-15 (running 70%, ~ 1400 RPM) due to their noise...

seriously, tricools are noisey for the air they push. too bad at low speds they don't push nearly enough air to make them worth it.

lol i have 4 120mm tri cools on high and 200mm tri cool with only 2 fan blades because i dropped a screw through the top vent that snapped off a fan blade so i broke the rest off. funny thing is it moves the same amount of air and is 10 times quieter then it was before. go figure..

I'm so use to the noise though that i think if i replace them with quieter fan's ill nuts.

 

[jolli]

I'm not experiencing temperatures or noise that much higher then my non-reference 5850's I had before upgrading to 6950's. My motherboard allows for a large space between the two cards, so I'm not dealing with a lack of air flow.

Biggest bonus for me so far is that I can actually tolerably use Crossfire with Eyefinity now. With the 5850's it was a stuttery mess (far smoother with one card), but the 6950's are a moderate step in the right direction. I just really wish V-sync would work...

P.s. Long time lurker, good to be here

 

[Forceman]

OP is full of bad information and assumptions. It's nice to see actual users of the cards with real facts.

In his defense, those charts do show that Xfire 6970s are about the same loudness as a 480, which was one of the points he was making. If we are going to castigate the 480 for being hot and loud, the least we can do is admit that the 6970 can also be hot and loud.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

nvm...

 

[jeremyshaw]

In his defense, those charts do show that Xfire 6970s are about the same loudness as a 480, which was one of the points he was making. If we are going to castigate the 480 for being hot and loud, the least we can do is admit that the 6970 can also be hot and loud.

Yeah, two HD6970 are louder than a GTX480.
Woo hoo.


They also draw more power, and pound the living shit out of it.

One on one? Matched in speed, and the GTX480 doesn't stand a chance in almost every other realm.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

OP is full of bad information and assumptions. It's nice to see actual users of the cards with real facts.

And we should listen to you why? You spent the good part of a few months spreading nothing but fud about the 6900 series. Everything you said was bad information and assumptions. You tried to shill everyone to make Cayman be what you wanted it to be and honestly I think you owe the community an apology for your misinformation and tactics leading up to the launch. Major FAIL on your part. Please dont troll my thread or I'll report you to the mods.

 

[load81]

And we should listen to you why? You spent the good part of a few months spreading nothing but fud about the 6900 series. Everything you said was bad information and assumptions. You tried to shill everyone to make Cayman be what you wanted it to be and honestly I think you owe the community an apology for your misinformation and tactics leading up to the launch. Major FAIL on your part. Please dont troll my thread or I'll report you to the mods.

Lol you make me want to return my 570 .I miss AMD's sharper image quality anyways. How about you apoligize for the misinformation about AMD's image quality? It was one of the reasons I got a 570 but my 6870's textures are definetly sharper. Also go read what you was saying in the pre-release Barts threads. Talk about fail lol. Do you post on Anandtech under the name "Wreckage"? Ignore list time you are getting too silly. Report me you big baby this place is overrun by obvious Nvidia fanboys anyways. Yeah im angry i wasted 358$ on a 570 when i knew i should of stuck with the brand i enjoy more but the fanboys here convinced me otherwise. Bye hard forum ill miss what you used to be.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

Lol you make me want to return my 570 .I miss AMD's sharper image quality anyways. How about you apoligize for the misinformation about AMD's image quality? It was one of the reasons I got a 570 but my 6870's textures are definetly sharper. Also go read what you was saying in the pre-release Barts threads. Talk about fail lol. Do you post on Anandtech under the name "Wreckage"? Ignore list time you are getting too silly. Report me you big baby this place is overrun by obvious Nvidia fanboys anyways. Yeah im angry i wasted 358$ on a 570 when i knew i should of stuck with the brand i enjoy more but the fanboys here convinced me otherwise. Bye hard forum ill miss what you used to be.

K don't let the door hit you on the butt on the way out. No I dont post in that forum. As your post is pointless and your clearly barking up the wrong tree I'll not report you. Sorry your sad about your GTX 570. Not sure what else your talking about.

To everyone else who is enjoying a peaceful and respectful discussion, I apologize, if anyone is willing to take pics idle/load it would be appreciated as this information would be helpful for the community.

 

[Forceman]

I don't see what the controversy is about. The 6970, like other high performance cards, can be loud under certain circumstances. One of those circumstances, due to the card design, is side-by-side CrossFire. Something that people buying the cards should be aware of (although I'm not sure it warranted its own thread). Why are people so defensive?

 

[jeremyshaw]

Cause others are so ignorantly offensive.

I don't see what the controversy is about. The 6970, like other high performance cards, can be loud under certain circumstances. One of those circumstances, due to the card design, is side-by-side CrossFire. Something that people buying the cards should be aware of (although I'm not sure it warranted its own thread). Why are people so defensive?

Posted via [H] Mobile Device

 

[notarat]

All OP's post proves is that when you're planning to build a system, you can't just "throw shit together" and expect it to work at the level of "100% super awesomeness!"

Looks like that's exactly what the reviewers did. They threw crap at a wall and expected it all to stick and smell nice.

If you purchase a motherboard with crappy spacing between the video card slots, expect ANY manufacturer's card to run hotter in SLI/CF. That's not some earth-shattering epiphany, that's just common sense.

I remember a couple years ago I did a write up on the Scythe Musashi cooler on another site and heard several people complain that it was "impossible" to use 2 cards in CF/SLI with those coolers installed. Not difficult...impossible. "Cards won't even fit", they said.

5 minutes and 4 posted pics later, they went away to complain elsewhere. I'm no guru at this shit, but I have been around since overclocking consisted of removing the clock crystals and soldering in faster rated ones to get my 80286 up to 16MHz instead of 8MHz.

Doing your research before you start throwing stuff together pays off.

dook43 is a smart cookie. He has a helluva case that most overlooked when it was on the market. Sounds like he also bought a motherboard with adequate spacing between the slots to allow cooling air into the fans...

Here's those two 4870s Xfired in an ABS Black Pearl Case, with the top one passively cooled, no less.

If you don't have broadband, don't even consider clicking the link.

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/6183/30040040.jpg

That system never ran hot. The cards never exceeded 48°C on DispIO, 49°C on the shaders, and 59.5°C on MEM IO.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

Cause others are so ignorantly offensive.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

If that is directed towards me then let me publicly take this time to first apologize to anyone I inadvertently offended. I can be a bit blunt at times and I'm not trying to upset anyone. Plain and simply I'm looking for a solution for myself, perhaps 2 6970 water cooled may be the solution I choose, we shall know very soon. I find no need to with hold my questions, comments and concerns as we (for the most part) are all adults here. It doesn't cross my mind that if I post something somebody who truly loves the graphic card company will be offended so I shouldn't say or ask a legitimate question. This thread was meant to help the community here regarding the temp/noise aspect of crossfire x on the Cayman cards. I learned this reading reviews because I'm genuinely considering getting a pair. For my surround build that is in progress. Need proof here's my thread in the water cooling section http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1563932. Since there is no review up for Crossfire X I wanted to help the community see what some legitimate sites are reporting, and what they are reporting is that the scaling is great, up to 2x in rare occasions but commonly around 1.8x, that's exceptional. Also there is a thermal/acoustic issue in crossfire. I don't want any of my fellow [H] members to get burnt.

 

[notarat]

If that is directed towards me then let me publicly take this time to first apologize to anyone I inadvertently offended. I can be a bit blunt at times and I'm not trying to upset anyone. Plain and simply I'm looking for a solution for myself, perhaps 2 6970 water cooled may be the solution I choose, we shall know very soon. I find no need to with hold my questions, comments and concerns as we (for the most part) are all adults here. It doesn't cross my mind that if I post something somebody who truly loves the graphic card company will be offended so I shouldn't say or ask a legitimate question. This thread was meant to help the community here regarding the temp/noise aspect of crossfire x on the Cayman cards. I learned this reading reviews because I'm genuinely considering getting a pair. For my surround build that is in progress. Need proof here's my thread in the water cooling section http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1563932. Since there is no review up for Crossfire X I wanted to help the community see what some legitimate sites are reporting, and what they are reporting is that the scaling is great, up to 2x in rare occasions but commonly around 1.8x, that's exceptional. Also there is a thermal/acoustic issue in crossfire. I don't want any of my fellow [H] members to get burnt.

I've only been reading the threads regarding the 570/580 and 6950/6970 since Monday and I gotta be honest with you, I'm not trying to bust your chops, but from the tone of your posts, you come off as VERY fanboi-ish for Team Green...

 

[bezant]

Yeah, L.E. is a fanboi alright...

 

[Lord_Exodia]

Yeah, L.E. is a fanboi alright...

Think what you guys want , here is a pic of my collected hardware so far according to that thread




Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Using the 3rd monitor right now, waiting for Sandy bridge, the asus sandy bridge mobos and eyefinity real world testing @ 5760x1080 results. I prefer nvidia's drivers over AMD's so yes I lean towards nvidia but I will buy what makes me happier. Guess that does make me a fanboy... Fanboy of myself

 

[notarat]

I don't see what the controversy is about. The 6970, like other high performance cards, can be loud under certain circumstances. One of those circumstances, due to the card design, is side-by-side CrossFire. Something that people buying the cards should be aware of (although I'm not sure it warranted its own thread). Why are people so defensive?

It's not "defensiveness" you're seeing as much as it is a reaction to ignorance and misinformation.

Lemme explain...

Bob buys a motherboard with very little space between the video card slots, then he purchases 2 video cards to run them in SLI/CF (card mfgr does not matter)

One of the cards is definitely going to run hot and loud due to a lack of clearance between the cards to allow cooling air into it. You know it. I know it. Even this guy knows it:

http://www.performabilities.org/Chris Burke03a.jpg

Evidently though, the reviewers from OP's post didn't know it....

Now...is the problem:

A - A design flaw of the motherboard manufacturer?
B - A poor choice of hardware by that reviewer?
C - A poor design of a video card?

Since PEBKAC cannot possibly be the reason, the reviewers must say something else. Since the problem only started when the second video card was added, it "must" be the video card at fault, right?

PEBKAC is the cause, and OP's posts do not reflect the real reason.

You're absolutely correct in that this did not deserve a thread.