How to cool Silent SLI/Crossfire video cards

mfeller · Post by **mfeller** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:46 am

I am looking for advice on cooling/noise considerations for running a pair of passively cooled video cards in SLI or Crossfire, such as

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA ... uctID=2235

I have a P180 case, with the three Tri-cools at low setting. I also have a couple of Nexus 120mm fans that I could add or swap in.

Does anyone have experience with this kind of setup?

One big question I have--will case fans have to be high-enough speed that I should consider an actively cooled (and possibly higher performance) single or SLI/Crossfire setup instead?

I am not sure where my threshold is on how much graphics power I want (more than I need) versus how much noise I'll tolerate. Two of the cards above in SLI might get me closer to a single, higher end card that requires active cooling.

Thanks in advance...

The Internal · Post by **The Internal** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:59 am

I'm also considering going SLI or Crossfire for my P180. I'm currently running four 120 mm fans on the case, with everything else being passive (other than my current video card).
My x2 4400 CPU at constant 100% utilization doesn't get much higher than 54 celcius, which is well within tolerance levels from what I understand.
I'm GUESSING that a silent SLI/Crossfire option would be fairly low heat considering the midrange cards are the highest you can currently get that are silent. They tend to be lower power consumption, which tends to equal less heat.
Lemme know what you decide on, I'm going to go post now so as not to hijack your thread ^-^

Stacey Melissa · Post by **Stacey Melissa** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:35 am

I'd go with a single 7900GT + aftermarket HSF long before going with dual passive 7600GT cards.

SLI/Crossfire is for FPS bragging rights, not quiet performance.

vitaminc · Post by **vitaminc** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 12:03 pm

XFX is going to release a passively cooled 7900GT

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 3:16 am

I agree with regard the 7900GT versus 7600GT SLI comparison, but Iâ€™m not sure why you completely dismiss dual VGA cards from a silence perspective!
More people are using screens with a resolution of 1920x1200 these days, which requires a lot of muscle to give playable frame rates with some games.
So given the choice between a 7900GS SLI setup versus a single X1900XTX, the SLI setup has certain advantages. The overall power consumption is fairly close I estimate, but cooling the two lower power GPUs quietly should surely be easier than cooling one monster GPU!
Getting the heat out of the case quietly is likely to be the biggest issue though. I wonder if this gives the single VGA card solution an advantage in that when devising a method for evacuating the heat, you only need to focus on one zone in the case rather than two? Maybe what you gain in one hand you lose in the other.

When you add in the cost of 3rd party VGA coolers to achieve low noise, both solutions have a similar cost. In terms of performance, I think the SLI solution will have the edge in most cases.

cyberspyder · Post by **cyberspyder** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:16 pm

vitaminc wrote:XFX is going to release a passively cooled 7900GT

i think you mean the 7950GT....I wouold certainly buy it, and SLI it on my P5WD2-E. hacked drivers RULE!!!

Brendan