GA-Z68X-UD7 - 2 way SLi with N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC

[funkus]

I bought this board very recently to be the base of my new future proof build but im worried that when i get a second GPU the fans arent going to have the clearance to cool effectively.

I want to use:
GA-Z68X-UD7-B3
with
2 x N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC

The two  PCI-E x16 slots are really close to each other, i think there will only be about 4/5 mm clearance for the downfacing twin fans on the top GPU.

Im suprised they are so close to be honest especially on such a high end board*.
worried im going to have to get a different GPU or Mobo but i really like the two im using tbh.

So 2 questions:
1. Has anyone tried a setup with 2 way sli on a card with this type of cooler and such little clearance between the pair? (sucessfully)
2. ive also read people say that using two x16 slots for sli provides little advantage, so is it worth using the PCIEx8_2 slot for the second card?

My frst sli setup so forgive me if im asking stupid questions ive done alot of searching but its only got me conflicting results

this is the gpu:


(ps yes i know research prevents this kind of thing i stupidly presumed that the two x16 slots would be far apart*

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome.

Firstly the 4 - 5 mm of space between the two cards isn't that bad as I have seen cards with less than that amount of clearance between them. The main thing is to put a bit of something non conductive between the cards to forcfully maintain the gap.

If you are not happy with this situation (the top card will always be warmer than the bottom) then by all means use the x8 slot. No graphics card will use more than the bandwidth available on this slot so it will perform fine.

[funkus]

thanks for the advice, took the plunge and they seem to be happy.

gotta do some testing tho

[Dark Mantis]

They are going to get very hot when under a heavy load anyway so don't be alarmed. The top card will probably be roughly 5 - 10 degrees hotter than the bottom one. You could of course water cool them, that's what I do and the closeness of them doesn't matter at all.

[funkus]

what kinda temps would you expect with air cooling?

i put the second card in the second x16 slot at first but got some high temps early on in my tests so i moved it to a x8 slot giving the fans more room

after that I maxed them out for about 10 minutes and got to the late 80c's sometimes into the 90c's but it took longer to get there

nvidia say Maximum GPU Temperature (in C)    99 C  should i be concearned?

running BF BC2 at 1080p with 8x aa and settings on high seemed to get me around 54 c so ill need to find something more demanding for another test

[Dark Mantis]

Temperatures sound fairly normal to me and so I wouldn't be concerned. I have seen them even higher than that.

[absic]

Hi there,

I don't know if things are the same with an SLI configuration as they are with Crossfire but if you are only running one monitor can you run it off of the lower card rather than the top one?

On my AMD system I am running a couple of 6770's in Crossfire and there was a 10°C difference between the top card and the lower one. During testing I found that if I ran a single monitor from the lower card the temps evened out a little on a  2-3°C difference. I actually run a 3 monitor set-up but have found that running one monitor from the top card and two monitors from the lower card keeps the temperatures about even.

It might be worth testing just to see what difference it makes on your rig.

[funkus]

thanks for the advice, ill give that a whirl
built many machines before but nevr messed with sli

(PS: totally stole your sig format and modified it btw Dark Mantis )

[Dark Mantis]

(PS: totally stole your sig format and modified it btw Dark Mantis )

Hey no problem, as they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! 

[lev]

I've noticed by this post that funkus was able to use his PCI 8 slot... I think I'm going to RMA my board.  I appear to be one of the only people who can't get that slot to work in SLI.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes if you are sure that your card is working correctly and it works in the x16 slot then it should work in the lower slots. If it doesn't work in the top slot go back to the retailer and get a replacement. If the card is working correctly then the motherboard must be faulty and the same applies.

[lev]

Thanks for the help.  I'll RMA the board.  Cheers.

[Dark Mantis]

Just come back and let us know how things pan out with the replacement motherboard then please.