SLI GTX460

[P3wP3w]

Hi Guys

I have a Gigabyte X58-USB motherboard and have since decided to SLI 2xGtx460. According to the manual If I want SLI/Crossfire I need to use the first two Pci-e slots. However the top card runs significantly hotter than the one at the bottom.

Top card: Idle: 41 / Load: 80
Bottom card: Idle: 29 / Load: 61

Is this fine? Can I perhaps use the 3rd Pci-e slot instead? The airflow in my case (Xpredator) is decent but these temps make me uneasy.

Thanks.

 

[Pada]

I'd say run 3DMark or another kind of benchmark utility and check if the performance is the same when you run the bottom graphics card in the 3rd PCI-E slot.

I'm currently using an MSI X58A-GD65 motherboard, which has 3 PCI-E 16x slots: 16x, 16x & 4x

I'm running my 2x GTX460 in the top & bottom PCI-E slots, which means that they're running at 16x + 4x, otherwise the top one is running way too hot in my opinion. My performance is otherwise the same as running the cards in the 2 top PCI-E slots.

So now my cards are running at like 66'C (top)/60'C (bottom) instead of like 85'C (top)/62'C (middle)

 

[P3wP3w]

Thanks Pada, I have just done that. I'll check the numbers in a bit. When they are too close the temps are ridiculous. Silly they still make the Pci-e slots so close.

 

[Pada]

Yeah it is silly that they make them so close, but then again it is the only way to go if you want to run triple SLI/CrossFire.
In those kind of setups the people usually use blower kind of coolers and not the kind that the GTX460 reference design uses.

 

[P3wP3w]

Yeah it is silly that they make them so close, but then again it is the only way to go if you want to run triple SLI/CrossFire.
In those kind of setups the people usually use blower kind of coolers and not the kind that the GTX460 reference design uses.

True . The 3rd slot runs @x4 now, and the temps are more reasonable: Top 73/ Bottom 64.

Scores are meh: 22828 Vantage (Sli Gtx460) vs 20861 (Single Gtx 560ti Top).

With full lanes: 25812 Vantage. Don't have a choice really since I would like the cards to still actually work lol.

 

[Pada]

That sux. Then my MSI X58A-GD65 says it is running at 4x when it is in fact running at 16x.

Go and look in your motherboard's BIOS and check if you can find anything related to the PCI-E speed allocation. I haven't read your motherboard's manual, so it is possible that it doesn't even have an option under its BIOS for something like that.

You might be able to adjust it so that the bottom one can actually run at 16x speed, but the odds are that you can't and that you'll need another motherboard.

 

[P3wP3w]

No luck on being able to change the speeds. Even if I overclock the cards the score isn't even near 25000. That x4 slot really kicks it in the (what squirrels' eat). Perhaps putting a fan near the gap of the two cards in the x16 slots might help.

Can't say this is great though lol.

 

[Pada]

Before I got my X58A-GD65, I bought an Asus P6T Deluxe v2, which was pretty expensive at about R2000 second-hand. The 1 PCI slot inbetween the cards make a huge difference in terms of the temperature - way more than an additional fan on the side-panel will ever make.

The other issue that I have with putting fans on the side panel is that the side panel will rattle and make much more noise than any fan could make - or at least this was the case with my Coolermaster 690 II Advanced (with the transparent side panel).

 

[P3wP3w]

My side panel is solid so I reckon I'd get away with it. Getting another board with a PCI slot between them might work so long as I can get rid of my current one and find another which won't break the bank. That, or get rid of SLI lol.

Thanks though Pada.