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SLI Noob Questions

J

Jim-H

n00b
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
37
Recently built a computer for a friend to use for work and some occasional light gaming. Computer has a 980Ti which drives three 4K monitors. After a few days of so called light gaming, he wants to add another 980Ti to get better graphics. The current EVGA model comes with water cooling attached to a single fan & radiator. Adding a second one there is no easy place to put another radiator. One of the requirements was to make the system somewhat quiet. The cpu is also water cooled. The psu (AX860i) should be able to handle a second card.

Now to the questions,
Adding a second card that is air cooled, will this increase the noise of the system by a lot?

Is the second gpu only used during gameplay so it would essentially be quiet unless playing a game, which would be ok?

Would I leave all three monitors plugged into the first card so the other can be used only as needed for sli gaming?

Is there a way to enable/disable the second card through a control panel?

Thanks in advance for any info.
Jim
 
1) Yes. Typical SLI/Crossfire setups with one space in between (xx0xx, not xxxx) tend to have the top card be ~10 degrees hotter during load. Either you live with that heat or you let the default fan curve ramp up and be a little noisy (or a lot noisy, depending on the cooling solution).

2) Yes. It sits idle when not in SLI/CFX use (pretty much most 3d applications).

3) Yes. I think in only a few cases would you ever plug into the second card, such as for more than 4 monitors.

4) Yes (sorta). You can disable SLI or Crossfire in their respective control panels. The second card will still be on (as it is powered and connected -- I'm not sure at the top of my head if there's a physical power off function from control panel/BIOS).
 
Dayaks said:
Jim-H said:
The psu (AX860i) should be able to handle a second card.
Click to expand...
As long as he doesn't overclock at all.
Click to expand...
860W is enough room for overclocking, so long as you don't push the cards with a custom BIOS that ups the TDP to 425W or something crazy like that. Overclocking within the constraints of the stock BIOS limits will be fine.
 
My system has 2 mechanical drives, 3 SSD, a USB drive, overclocked 6700k and 3 AIO pumps with 8 fans and two 980 Ti overclocked to max stable (1500 core ) @ stock volts. At the wall, the entire PC takes ~700 watts at full load ( Firestrike Ultra - combined test ) on my Seasonic 860. Also includes a gigabit switch and an external soundcard/headphone amp.

What case does he have? The tubing on the hybrid cards is very flexible. I was readily able to route the tubing on my pair in a Carbide 540. I do have the gap between the two cards in SLI on my mobo, though.
 
The case is a Cosmos II. Currently the CPU is cooled with a HT110i (280mm) at the top of the case. The GPU has a 120mm radiator attached to the back.

Ideally for best performance and low noise I should get him another EVGA Hybrid, but where to put the radiator is the question. The top of the case can take 3-120s or 2-140s. I could maybe swap the HT110i for a HT100i and move one of the GPU coolers to the top. Or is there another option? Or just go with an air cooled version, but the clock speeds would not be the same.
 
Armenius said:
860W is enough room for overclocking, so long as you don't push the cards with a custom BIOS that ups the TDP to 425W or something crazy like that. Overclocking within the constraints of the stock BIOS limits will be fine.
Click to expand...

True. Not touching the BIOs and voltage you can get away with it. Also depends on the margin you want on your load vs capacity.
 
Jim-H said:
The case is a Cosmos II. Currently the CPU is cooled with a HT110i (280mm) at the top of the case. The GPU has a 120mm radiator attached to the back.

Ideally for best performance and low noise I should get him another EVGA Hybrid, but where to put the radiator is the question. The top of the case can take 3-120s or 2-140s. I could maybe swap the HT110i for a HT100i and move one of the GPU coolers to the top. Or is there another option? Or just go with an air cooled version, but the clock speeds would not be the same.
Click to expand...

It looks like there are lower side panel fans in the front bottom compartment? Just put the rad down there.
 
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