Are the AMD GPU's heating issues being overblown?

vikingsteve · Jun 14, 2011

I was just wondering if the AMD GPUs really do run much hotter than the nVidia GPUs. I've seen some tests indicating that AMD's cards are louder, and I've seen people state that the AMD cards run hotter, but I've never actually seen proof of this. I don't use watercooling, but I know a lot of people do these days. Basically, I'm looking for a link that can shed some light on how hot the top end GPUs from AMD really get.

I've been planning on running Trifire, but have recently read that it is almost impossible to run Trifire effectively without watercooling (due to the 6990). I then started to wonder if dual 580s were any cooler than a Trifire setup (considering they're in the same price range)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

vixro · Jun 14, 2011

I thought the known facts were that all nvidia gpus ran hotter, not amd gpus..?

Either way, any crossfire/sli setup and 3way setups are hotter due to the extra heat and cramped space.

Seebs · Jun 14, 2011

I think nVidia cards are still the hottest running cards on the market... Some of the newer models have been improved on that area, but they are still hotter than the AMD cards.

What you may have read were the reviews on the HD6990; that particular model does seem to run quite hot, but if you compare it "oranges-to-oranges" with its nVidia counterpart, teh GTX590, you will find that both those cards run extremely hot... And that is to be expected as they are dual GPUs crammed into a single card.

As far as you going Tri-Fire... Once you go with multiple cards; the temperatures on them will get higher because the layout on the motherboard makes it so that part of the heat from the bottom card goes up to the top card; and if you move up to three cards, the middle and top cards will get hotter than the bottom one for the same reason. I'd say that you could get away with dual cards on air and still get decent temperatures, provided your case has good enough airflow... But if you go with three of them; I think watercooling them is the way to go.

Think about it this way; You're already spending a crap-ton of money on GPUs so why not go the extra mile and watercool them?

vikingsteve · Jun 14, 2011

xXSebaSXx said:
I think nVidia cards are still the hottest running cards on the market... Some of the newer models have been improved on that area, but they are still hotter than the AMD cards.

What you may have read were the reviews on the HD6990; that particular model does seem to run quite hot, but if you compare it "oranges-to-oranges" with its nVidia counterpart, teh GTX590, you will find that both those cards run extremely hot... And that is to be expected as they are dual GPUs crammed into a single card.

As far as you going Tri-Fire... Once you go with multiple cards; the temperatures on them will get higher because the layout on the motherboard makes it so that part of the heat from the bottom card goes up to the top card; and if you move up to three cards, the middle and top cards will get hotter than the bottom one for the same reason. I'd say that you could get away with dual cards on air and still get decent temperatures, provided your case has good enough airflow... But if you go with three of them; I think watercooling them is the way to go.

Think about it this way; You're already spending a crap-ton of money on GPUs so why not go the extra mile and watercool them?

I have zero experience with watercooling. I suppose I could try it... but I know literally nothing about it.

Are the AMD GPU's heating issues being overblown?

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