PCI fan between xfired cards? Good or bad?

[Jared701]

I have a P5Q-E motherboard which has one pci slot width between where the cards would touch. I've read and listened to reviews stating 2 6970s in crossfire is incredibly loud. I recently upgraded to a 6970 and an eyefinity setup. I've also heard that having space between the 2 cards helps keep the volume of the fans down and reduces heat. Right now the 6970 doesn't usually bother me but sometimes in games it ramps up to 40% fan speed or around there which is definately audible and starting to get annoying. I'm wondering if crossfiring these cards would be unbearable soundwise to me? Would having a pci fan between the cards help or hurt the heat level? I'm looking at this page on newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
if that link doesn't work then a card like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835114024

This would move air between the cards but then the cards and this fan would be sandwiched together with no room between the 3. Would the space between the 2 cards either with a fan or without one make the cards not be louder than 45% fan speed on a single card? It would be nice to have 2 cards running for 5760x1080 resolution but I'm somewhat sensitive to having a loud computer.

 

[RedTalon19]

Not a good idea. Having a space between the cards allows for more air to the fan. The fan doesn't have to work as hard, can spin slower and is therefore more quiet. If the cards are close together, air flow is more restricted and the fan must work harder for the same amount of air (or even less).

A PCI fan might actually make it louder (than even a close 2nd vid card) since both fans would attempt to suck air in from the same space forcing both fans to work overtime and probably reducing the air flow to each fan (making the problem worse). This is if both fans were facing each other and directly lined up, which is unlikely looking at the depth of the PCI exhaust fans.

Its easy to test this yourself, take a fan and slowly move your hand closer to the intake side. As you start to get really close the noise will increase and air flow will decrease.

 

[tangoseal]

Get an extended xfire bridge cable and that will help immensely. That is what I did.