Crossfire Temp Creep?

Thermite Paste

Thermite Paste

Supreme [H]ardness
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Dec 17, 2003
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I've been struggling with this issue and figured I would ask [H] for advice... I have two XFX 7950 DD's in Crossfire, and no matter what I do card 1 (the top card I'm assuming) will keep increasing in temperature until it hits ~100c and everything crashes. The problem doesn't seem to follow the card as I've swapped them and it's still always card 1 that heats up. In addition, neither card is overclocked (aside from the small factory boost that AMD released a while back) and the fan ramping is set much higher than stock via afterburner.

I don't think there is an airflow problem, as the intake is unobstructed and the 120mm fan blows the air directly into the cards. Everything I do only seems to slow down the temperature buildup, but even when playing something that doesn't push the cards past ~50% utilization like Borderlands 2 is enough to make the system crash after enough of a marathon. Any game that makes 100% utilization on both cards is enough to cause the temps to max out within 15 minutes. All of the things I've tried (mesh side panel with fans, etc) only slow down the problem, but no matter what i do the top card has a noticeably higher temperature than the bottom. I'd love to go with a full watercooling solution, but I simply don't have the $300+ that it would take to do it properly right now.

Pic of how things are currently set up:

 
What voltages are the cards running at? And calling that fan inside the case as an "intake" fan is wrong, all that fan is doing is recirculating hot air that's inside the case (coming up from the hard drives/SSD). Or is there an actual intake fan at bottom front of the case?
 
Even its are pushing warm air over the cards (c'mon how much temp can throw a HDD?).. It make a good airflow over the videocards.. And shouldn't be as higher to reach 100C.. As most people know Xfire setup make the first card a big increase in the temps from 10-20C.. As far i know its a driver related issue... But don't know the specific number of driver that help with the OP issue.. He said its stock so the voltage should be untouched too, also discard any PSU problem as in the image its visible the HX850.. What deliver more than enough power for those cards..
 
Lorien said:
What voltages are the cards running at? And calling that fan inside the case as an "intake" fan is wrong, all that fan is doing is recirculating hot air that's inside the case (coming up from the hard drives/SSD). Or is there an actual intake fan at bottom front of the case?
Click to expand...
The intake fan I mentioned is the 200mm fan at the front of the case, which is just beyond the border of this picture. The 120mm fan shown is just to ensure that the air in the case gets pushed to the cards. Everything including voltage is stock, the cards are just running the factory overclocked bios (900mhz core speed).

Araxie said:
Even its are pushing warm air over the cards (c'mon how much temp can throw a HDD?).. It make a good airflow over the videocards.. And shouldn't be as higher to reach 100C.. As most people know Xfire setup make the first card a big increase in the temps from 10-20C.. As far i know its a driver related issue... But don't know the specific number of driver that help with the OP issue.. He said its stock so the voltage should be untouched too, also discard any PSU problem as in the image its visible the HX850.. What deliver more than enough power for those cards..
Click to expand...
Agreed, this is why I'm at a loss for a solution. The crashes are definitely from the temperatures, as I can watch it creep close to 99C before the system locks up. Sometimes the video driver will crash and recover, and other times I'll have to forcefully reset the system. If it helps though I'm running Catalyst 13.1.

Here's a theory... could the heat be building up on the PCB itself? Would a backplate help at all or are they just for aesthetics?
 
Backplate help offer a kind of of passive cooling when are included with thermalpads that have to be located at the back of the chip die and memory modules... And help with 2-3 degrees.. I found very usefull when are attached fans in the front cooling the gpu and the backplate but ins't much more than 5 degrees.... I'll ask some friends that had solved the overheat issue and keep this topic refresh...
 
Thermite Paste said:
I've been struggling with this issue and figured I would ask [H] for advice... I have two XFX 7950 DD's in Crossfire, and no matter what I do card 1 (the top card I'm assuming) will keep increasing in temperature until it hits ~100c and everything crashes. The problem doesn't seem to follow the card as I've swapped them and it's still always card 1 that heats up. In addition, neither card is overclocked (aside from the small factory boost that AMD released a while back) and the fan ramping is set much higher than stock via afterburner.
Click to expand...

You have a very nice setup. I also have crossfire setup myself, and don't have this problem with massive temperature increase as you are exhibiting. I did replace the stock white TIM of my 7970s to IC Diamond 7. Maybe you need some new thermal paste?
 
What makes this strange is you said either card in slot one will eventually over heat. This makes me wonder if the heatsinks are seated properly on your cards. Maybe check to see if any of the screws are loose, or try swapping out the thermal paste and reseating the coolers yourself to see if that helps (only if it doesn't void your warranty of course) Another thing to check would be to try the cards in a different machine to see if the problem still occurs.

Also, how does it run with only 1 card in? Does one card still over heat? If so try only one card in the second slot and see how that does. Something could be jacked up with that first slot.

Something strange is going on. A backplate may help a bit, but I don't think it will be the solution to your problem.
 
Here are 3 options you could try.

1. Replace the video cards paste, would be recommended. (Pk-1 always does the trick).
2. Reseat the cooler.
3. Rma it.

The top card is usually the hottest in x-fire/sli, however those temps are way too high. Xfx's coolers have a bad reputation in most parts, but I doubt they're that bad.
 
Thanks for the responses, I'll replace the thermal paste and re-seat the heatsinks since XFX's warranty allows for that and test things later tonight.

The thing that worries me is that if threre's a problem with cascading heat, and the top card simply can't cool itself plus the extra heat from the bottom card, that I won't be able to do much. One card in the system by itself in that slot was perfectly fine, but I had little headroom for overclocking when I tried it because of heat issues. Maybe the coolers are just crap... :(
 
I think I actually figured out the problem...

Before I went to replace the thermal paste I did a few benchmarks with Kombustor, first I set the fans to 100% in afterburner and let it run for 25 minutes, and the temperatures topped off at 65/55C for the first and second cards respectively. Then I ran it at the automatic fan ramping, and the temperatures leveled off at 71/59 respectively. I didn't see the typical temperature creep that was occurring previously.

The only difference from previous experiences is that it's much colder in here than usual because of the weather... I think I've overlooked ambient temperature entirely as a factor. It gets pretty warm in here during long gaming sessions, and it doesn't help that this room has almost no circulation with the door closed. It's around 70C right now, but it's usually much hotter... I'm probably going to re-do the cooling anyway, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is why. I'll just have to crank up the AC a bit more in the future :p
 
Replacing stock pastes can drop as much as 10C if you're willing to spend money on good paste.
 
I did some further experimentation and I believe I can conclude that the cooler on the top card is simply garbage. I swapped the cards around again and the temperatures are MUCH more in line with what they should be. Now there is a variance of 1-2 degrees instead of 10-15. In addition the top card was sent back to XFX in the past for a grinding noise in the fan and is starting to exhibit symptoms again, so I think I'll have to have a word with them. I'm not sure why I didn't catch this before, but it's probably because I wasn't really testing with as much dedication.

I also added an NZXT 140mm in place of the 120mm fan for more than 2x the airflow, which helped a lot but did not solve the problem nearly as well as swapping the cards did.
 
Your case doesn't have a fan on the side door does it? I put one on my case as an exhaust and it helped immensely. Pulls out the hot air that builds up between the cards. I also set one up behind like you have to force cool air into them.
 
Johan45 said:
Your case doesn't have a fan on the side door does it? I put one on my case as an exhaust and it helped immensely. Pulls out the hot air that builds up between the cards. I also set one up behind like you have to force cool air into them.
Click to expand...
I have the mesh side panel for my case, but it has some issues... arrived from Corsair extremely warped, I bent it back together but it still doesn't sit right, waiting on a replacement from them. I tried it briefly with a 200mm fan and it didn't help that much, but it was intake instead of exhaust so I'll have to try that once I get my replacement.

The main reason I don't have it on now is that I like the idea of a global dust filter, which would be wasted with a permeable side panel. Plus my temps are actually stable after swapping the cards, and I don't have to leave their fans on 100% now :)
 
Final update... received a replacement cooler from XFX for the card with issues, after replacing it I decided to clean the other (good) card. And I found... this...





What in the actual fuck? I don't even... did they use a spray applicator for the thermal paste? That's the only explanation I can think of for it having somehow found its way onto the thermal pads and the rest of the cooler.

Anyway, with an ambient temperature of ~75F my cards are topping off in the low 60C's without even having to turn the fans up. Might even have some overclocking headroom with these things now.
 
LOL. Ya I've dealt with this many time. Zotac AMPS 670s had an issue with cooler pressure. I'd be around 75C no matter what fan speed so i knew it was the cooler. I replaced the paste and added some washers for pressure and temps went to mid 60s at 40% fan. As for having cards with 2 different temperatures, it always happens. I test it right away now. Mostly with cards that vent into the case. Everytime I seam to put the wrong 1 up top first and get 10-15C difference. Then I roll my eyes and switch them and they're within 3C lol. I modded my Switch 810 and put 2 120mm in the side now and my cards run at exact same temp. Bottom 1 would be cooler but my sound card blocks 1 of the fans.
 
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