Aftermarket VGA Coolers?

[3|ink]

Just bought a second Radeon 5800 series card for crossfire. However, now my main video card is running at 90c in games. Before it was around 80c. I've already replaced the thermalpaste. This had little effect. When I turn my fan up to 70%, I'm able to keep the card below 80 (just barely). But 70% is freakin loud. I'm looking for other options.

1. Would it be worth it to invest in an aftermarket VGA cooler? Are they generally more effective than the fan/heatsink that comes with the video card?

2. Should I consider water cooling?

 

[Conumdrum]

Your problem is the 1st card now has no airflow. Aftermarket coolers are usually not able to fit so close, so no go there. Can you put the 2nd GPU in a 3rd slot? making room for airflow.

It's a common problem. Lots of case airflow, a 4000 RPM fan blowing air into that teeny slot can help somewhat.

Watercooling those two OLDDD cards will cost you ohh $300+ easy. Best to get a much better single card, sorry.

 

[nightelph]

They do make them, but like conundrum said they're not gonna fit. Your best option, and cheapest is to buy better quality case fans that can be quiet AND move a ton of air.

 

[3|ink]

Thank you both.

There is a slot between the top and bottom card. See here:

Are aftermarket coolers really so big that I couldn't fit one in there?

I do have a fan around that area. The fan can go up to 9000rpms, but my fancontroller won't let it go past 3200. But it doesn't seem to help much anyway.

 

[mmcx125]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186067
Much cheaper than going all out water loop, but you need room for the rad. You wont have much luck with an aftermarket cooler, like it has already been said you don't have much airflow. You could put a 120mm fan right at the end of the cards to get some fresh air to the first one. Have you tried to undervolt a bit to try and control the temps?

 

[3|ink]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186067
Much cheaper than going all out water loop, but you need room for the rad. You wont have much luck with an aftermarket cooler, like it has already been said you don't have much airflow. You could put a 120mm fan right at the end of the cards to get some fresh air to the first one. Have you tried to undervolt a bit to try and control the temps?

I have just the fan for the job, but I won't quite know how to prop it there.

And I haven't tried adjusting the voltage yet. I'm honestly not very familiar with over or underclocking video cards. Would I have to do that in bios? Would I also have to reduce the clock speed to maintain stability?

 

[mmcx125]

Granted, I have very little experience with GPU overclocking and the like, but I imagine in Catalyst Control Center you can adjust voltage. Lower it in really small increments until it is unstable, then up it 1 or 2 notches. That is just general advice, for something more specific there are many more people with much more experience than me who can answer. As for the fan, cable tie all of those PSU cables back and angle the fan so it blows on the top card, like this:
----- <--- top card
//
// <--- Fan
----- <--- bottom card
It might not be pretty but you get the idea .

 

[manu2b]

First, I would do some cable management...

With such a "plate of spaghetti" (joking), I am sure you have a very limited airflow in your case.

 

[Conumdrum]

Wow you do have a lot of room between the cards, your mobo is good for that.

Yea you got case airflow issues big time.

Placing a fan is as easy as figuring it out, try it. Got Velcro?

 

[3|ink]

Good idea. Going to the store to buy some velcro strips.

So you think this may be salvageable if I can place a fan there and organize some of my wires?

 

[manu2b]

Cleaning up the wire will already do some good!

 

[mmcx125]

Just get the wire part situated and then the fan may not be needed. Airflow is essential and the time spent on cable management is well worth it. Cable ties would be a godsend in your case, pun intended.

 

[3|ink]

Thanks for the help all. I spent the night working on my wiring. It looks better, but there's only so much I can do because my PSU has a lot of extra cables that are not detachable. I tried that first, but the top card was still overheating to 90c. The odd thing is that on some games the top card stays cool and the bottom card up to 90c instead. Not sure how to account for that.

I also tried attaching a fan to push air inside of the space between the video cards. That was not very successful.

I think my next best move is to cut a hole in the side of my case and put 3 fans right on top of the gpus.

 

[mmcx125]

Tie the unused cabled together and put them on the bottom of the case or an unused drive bay. Angle the fan so it is blowing on the blower fan, since it isn't axial you need to hit the fan itself with fresh air in order to get a good effect.

 

[bburrill2012]

If your case allows it, run most if not all of the wires behind the motherboard inbetween the other side panel and go from there.

EDIT: And yes alot of aftermarket vga cooler take up 3 pci slots with the card/cooler and everything installed.

 

[3|ink]

Thank you all once again for the help. Thanks to MSI afterburner, I'm now able to run all of my games between 60-68c. (BF3 being the 68). But even at 100% fan speed, my top GPU gets to 90c within 1 minute of running the furmark burn-in test. Not sure if that's normal or not.

I currently have 6 fans in my case. 2 on the roof (120mm @ ~900rmp & 80mm @ ~1500rmp.) 1 on the top back of the case (120mm @ ~900rmp.) 1 on the side of the case. (80mm @ ~1500rmp). 1 sitting directly on top of both video cards. (120mm @ ~2200 rpms.) Lastly, 1 on the bottom of the case. (80mm @ ~1500rmp.) So I should have pretty good airflow. Not sure why everything is still running so hot. If my CPU is any indication, it idles around 45-46 and go between 50-55 in games.

 

[nightelph]

I didn't realize you had a PCI slot in between the cards, an aftermarket cooler could very well fit if the cable management/ airflow project isn't enough for you, but it sounds like you found what you're looking for.

 

[3|ink]

I didn't realize you had a PCI slot in between the cards, an aftermarket cooler could very well fit if the cable management/ airflow project isn't enough for you, but it sounds like you found what you're looking for.

But would it be effective? Assuming the aftermarket cooler is even slightly bigger than what I have now, that'd mean even less space between the two cards and even less good air as well.

 

[bburrill2012]

Depends on the cooler. Most aftermarket vga coolers have better heatsinks.

Like this one for example http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426026

The heatsink is thicker and also has copper plate and pipes (unlike my 560 ti, which doesnt even have a plate, the heatsink just sits on the gpu (fins n all) and pipes run through it toanother heatsink) which has better cooling options and the fins are more spaced out (unlike my 560 ti, so tight and air can barely get through) which allows for better heat transfer/dissipation and air to flow through better from the fans.

 

[3|ink]

Depends on the cooler. Most aftermarket vga coolers have better heatsinks.

Like this one for example http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426026

The heatsink is thicker and also has copper plate and pipes (unlike my 560 ti, which doesnt even have a plate, the heatsink just sits on the gpu (fins n all) and pipes run through it toanother heatsink) which has better cooling options and the fins are more spaced out (unlike my 560 ti, so tight and air can barely get through) which allows for better heat transfer/dissipation and air to flow through better from the fans.

That cooler takes up 3 drive bays according to the reviews.