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cooling 290x cf

H

helios123

n00b
Joined
Jan 9, 2015
Messages
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After recently purchasing two 290x to drive my 4k monitor for gaming, I realise my top card is throttling at full load target temperature 85 degrees celcius even at 100% fan speed. I currently am using this case http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mid-tower/haf-912-advanced/ with the stock fans but no side fan which is optional. So now i'm considering purchasing a high quality one for the side e.g. this one http://www.mwave.com.au/product/noctua-140mm-nfa14-industrial-ppc-ip52-3000rpm-pwm-fan-ab55447 but I want to be relatively certain that it will be enough. I am willing to spend more money if its worth it e.g. watercool or something else. Does anyone have any advice on what to do to cool the GPU's down?


My specs: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/W3MLBm
 
The main problem with your setup its that you are using aftermarket cooled cards so all the heat (and is a lot) is pushed inside the case overheating causing higher temps not only in the top card but also in the rest of components.. that's why aftermarket cooled cards are never recommended to Xfire/SLI setups.

first recommendation set a custom fan to provide a aggressive fan curve and try to keep the heat down... second, sadly you have to increase the temperature target to ~90C to keep the card out of throttling.. third adding a side panel intake fan only will make things worse because all the hot air will be reverted against the cards so what can you do is, remove the top hard drive cage to provide bigger amount of fresh air to the cards and replace the stock 200mm fan with a couple of better 120mm fans I recommend to change it for Cooler master Jetflo but will provide higher amount of unrestricted fresh air to the cards... and also use a CM jetflo flan in the side panel as exhaust.. to help the cards exhaust the hot air faster from the case.. providing overall better cooling..

and as a note Change that PSU ASAP.. 760W not matter how high quality its a PSU are insufficient to feed both 290X.. so you are probably pushing that Seasonic PSU to its limits....
 
wow thanks for your advice. i got the 290x cards at a discount and in any case not sure where you get the reference cards. I have set an aggressive fan curve. Are you sure that a side intake fan will make it worse? This is very confusing I have had conflicting advice on this. I have already removed the top hard drive cage. If i go with getting the two faster fans which ones do you recommend?

And regarding the PSU, I have discussed this in another forum: http://www.overclock.net/t/1553466/...-290x-crossfire-no-overclock/30#post_23893359 for the most part the system is running stable I ran primetest and heaven for 1 hour no problem. I'm not too concerned about longevity of card, 2-3 years is enough but want to keep the warranty, if i set the target temp higher will this void it?

Please give more advice if you can you have been very helpful.
 
well lets start with the PSU.. when you buy a PSU the first thing you have to take into consideration is that you shouldn't never run at the maximum capacity, most sites tend to recommend to use a maximum of 80-85% rated capacity, first to keep efficiency, second to keep the heat down.. when a PSU its working truly hard it will make the components to work always hot making to reduce its lifespan, making of course degrade overtime and reduce properties, the problem its not the longevity of the cards but the PSU if you make a unstable PSU you can damage even your whole system.. also a thing that most people doesn't take into consideration is the fact that when cooled improperly 290X reference cards will throttle to keep the heat down but that also will produce to reduce the power consumption so if we take into consideration that aftermarket cooled cards tend to have a fixed clock and some even tend to factory overclock your cards are factory overclocked to 1040mhz so working both at full speed 1040mhz they will be much more power hungry than reference cards so with all those things taken into consideration the minimum PSU i would use for 290X Xfire would be a high quality 850W..

With regards of heat, this is strictly speaking about your cards.. with Reference Models a side panel intake fan its the correct choice because reference cards exhaust all the heat out of the case and they use blower style cooling so the more fresh air you provide the better and cooler they can work.. With aftermarket cooled cards and specially Gigabyte models all the heat go into your case and those cards are well known to have a design to remove the heat fast from the card with the triple fan configuration so that's a insane amount of heat expelled into your case which overtime can just increase.. so the only way to help its to use a side panel as exhaust, that way you can provide a constant flow of fresh air reaching the cards instead of hot air recirculating around inside the case making all the components to work hotter.. even in a single card configuration its always recommended to use side panel as exhaust to help the hot air to be expelled faster because if you use as intake you will push all of those hot air toward the card making it run hotter.. with multi GPU setup that issue just become worse..

you can test on your own.. open the side panel and run a game or benchmark loop for 10-15min then put your hands near of the cards you will feel a big amount of heat there..
 
Ok well i already have the two gigabyte cards now and hate selling things. At the end of the day whether a side fan is suppose to be intake or exhaust (i can always experiment and see) in your opinion would it help enough to warrant buying one or would it just screw up the airflow no matter which way the air blows. Obviously if its only gonna change things a few degrees then theres no point.

I have also asked about this in tom's hardware and the poster said it would help he said:

"Well stock it does not come with a side fan. These side fans are designed for 2 things: 1: provide a stock CPU cooler with fresh air. 2: to push air between SLI/Crossfire setups. This is the use you need. Your case can accommodate either a 120mm fan or a 140mm fan. The 140's can move the same air but do it quieter so I recommend that size (140mm). Get one with a minimum of 70 CFM or higher and one with a static pressure of 2.5 or higher. (CFM= Cubic feet per minute/ Static Pressure = the amount of force the fan push the air at.) replacing the stock fans at this point wont help. you have 2 200mm fans and a 120 rear. this will move some air if they are all running on high."

I'd also like to know what you think about a watercooling option?
 
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at this point you have the cards don't worry in sell it.. just improve the cooling in your case and you will be fine.. no need to sell anything.. buy one fan and test for yourself the best results..
 
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