Triple crossfire 5850 - heat issue at full load

[Asad_A203]

Hi guys,

Well I decided to pick up three 5850s (Sapphire 5850 Extreme 1GB) primarily for folding and I am having a pretty big problem with heat at full load.

As the cards are not reference (they are the new, cheap $150 5850s), the fans don't exhaust the heat out of the system. At idle; my temps are as follows:

Top: 45C @ 39% Fan
Middle: 52C @ 50% Fan
Bottom (right above power supply which is acting as an exhaust): 42C @ 39% Fan speed

At load (100%):
Top: 81C @ 84% Fan speed
Middle: 88C @ 99% fan speed (and rising)
Bottom: 72C @ 64% fan speed

How it looks:



My case is an Antec 902 with an additional 120MM side intake case fan added (right above the GPUs). Every single fan is running at it's highest setting inside the case.


As I do not feel comfortable having my GPUs at 85-90C 24/7 with the fans at 80-100% power, what do you guys recommend I can do? Should I turn the side intake fan directly across from the GPUs into a exhaust? Should I add another 120MM fan in my hard drive bay?

I am also currently monitor the videocards through ATI overdrive (not MSI afterburner).


Thanks in advance.

[BFighter]

I find it good temps for triple crossfire, but hey, that's just me.

[BrutalGreen]

the problem is obviously the top 2 cards chocking, not much you can do that would be worth while...

if you are lucky at the silicon lottery u might be able to reduce the voltage while keeping stock clocks and that might reduce the temps just a bit...but the analogy here no matter if you breath slowly or heavily under water you will eventually run out of air...ok maybe I shouldn't try to act like a philosopher but u get my point...

basically you problem isn't internal exhaust, rather no room to intake on the top 2 cards! I could be wrong but it does seem more logical to me...

[BFighter]

Maybe you need to watercool those. As they will not choke eachother, but having 3 cards needs a good rad and stuff and is expensive.

[_dangtx_]

really easy. have some 120's or larger close by flooding the place with airflow. front and top work wonders. top one can be sucking or pushing

gl :)

[Asad_A203]

Originally Posted by BFighter

I find it good temps for triple crossfire, but hey, that's just me.

Do you think these are good temps running the cards at 24/7/365? That is why I primarily bought them for but I am not sure if 90C is goode for these cards for that long. If I was gaming, I wouldn't be too upset.

Originally Posted by BrutalGreen

the problem is obviously the top 2 cards chocking, not much you can do that would be worth while...

if you are lucky at the silicon lottery u might be able to reduce the voltage while keeping stock clocks and that might reduce the temps just a bit...but the analogy here no matter if you breath slowly or heavily under water you will eventually run out of air...ok maybe I shouldn't try to act like a philosopher but u get my point...

basically you problem isn't internal exhaust, rather no room to intake on the top 2 cards! I could be wrong but it does seem more logical to me...

Well that is exactly it. The other issue is the heat is not being pushed out the case but rather they all exhaust ontop of each other.

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

really easy. have some 120's or larger close by flooding the place with airflow. front and top work wonders. top one can be sucking or pushing

gl :)

I'll have to give this a try. I am thinking I will put a 120MM in the hard drive cage or just slap it directly behind the video cards and force the air out of the case. Maybe I will also ziptie a fan on the back of the cards and outside the case so it can act as an exhaust.

[Asad_A203]

Originally Posted by BFighter

Maybe you need to watercool those. As they will not choke eachother, but having 3 cards needs a good rad and stuff and is expensive.

Very true, unfortunately watercooling makes these cards unfeasible.

[Phill]

about as "unfeasible" as a AMD folding rig TBH. If you wanna fold perhaps sell the AMD cards and buy two Nvidia cards and heat will not be an issue.

[Asad_A203]

Well a semi update, I just slapped the 120MM intake on the side directly beside the GPUs (exhausting, probably be more effective if it was blowing in, I will change that when I turn the PC off) and put a household fan on the side blowing on the video cards. I am going to go by dangtx suggestion tomorrow and throw a bunch of 110CFM fans all around the graphic cards but I am pretty impressed with this setup so far. Here is before and after @ idle:

Before:
Top: 45C @ 39% Fan
Middle: 52C @ 50% Fan
Bottom (right above power supply which is acting as an exhaust): 42C @ 39% Fan speed


After on new setup:
Top: 38C @ 21% Fan
Middle: 42C @ 27% Fan
Bottom (right above power supply which is acting as an exhaust): 37C @ 21% Fan speed <-- This is higher than before because the power supply is not getting enough heat/draw to activate it's fan

I am going to go do some load testing and see how much it drops or rises.

[Asad_A203]

Here it is at full load now:

Top: 83C @ 89% Fan (Slight OC to 825Mhz and downclock Memory to 975)
Middle: 81C @ 90% Fan
Bottom (right above power supply which is acting as an exhaust): 64C @ 80% Fan speed (Slight OC to 850Mhz)

So do you guys think these temps are alright for 24/7/365 folding? Many people seem to say these cards are good until 90C but I am uncertain if this is true or not.