CrossFire - Higher ASIC Quality as Master GPU?

[Ryanrenesis]

Should I place my higher ASIC quality R9 290 as Master GPU?

I did 3DMark11 Extreme benchmarks and...

With 76.3% ASIC quality as Master GPU I get:
7355 Graphics Score
7330
7347
7350

With 71.7% ASIC quality as Master GPU I get:
7375 Graphics Score
7289
7367
7311

Seems to be a lot more inconsistent with the lower ASIC quality as Master GPU, but at times I get higher scores.

Also, I noticed the top master GPU gets 5-10C hotter than the bottom GPU, should I be switching them every few months or so, to "balance" out wear-and-tear?

 

[Rvenger]

Those ASIC scores are relatively close to the point I wouldn't bother too much. Just max out the power limit and you should be fine. No need to switch out the gpus every few months either. Get a fan on the side of the case blowing cool air in between the cards if you can. That is an awfully small case for two high powered graphics cards though.

 

[Ryanrenesis]

Yeah, I know the case is small but I do have 6 case fans in there for lots of ventilation though.

+ one side fan blowing in on the two GPUs
*the back + CPU fan's speed automatically adjust based on CPU temperature
**The GPUs are so long that I couldn't fit my SSDs in the SSD cage lol, I had to stick them on the back of the case with some double-sided sticky tape lol.

For some reason, ever since I got these two cards, the increased case temperature has caused my CPU overclock to become unstable while gaming. So I've since dropped it down to 4.5Ghz to attain stability at much lower voltages (1.21V vs 1.27V).

 

[Rvenger]

Add another fan to pull on that NH-U14S. It is likely your overclock was on the edge to begin with. The extra GPU horsepower shifted the bottleneck to your CPU causing added stress on the CPU.

 

[Ryanrenesis]

Add another fan to pull on that NH-U14S. It is likely your overclock was on the edge to begin with. The extra GPU horsepower shifted the bottleneck to your CPU causing added stress on the CPU.

You're definitely right. I noticed higher and more sustained CPU usage during Far Cry 3 than I did with my 780.

 

[Headfoot]

That, plus the Tri-X puts your heat back into the case so the CPU cooler is working with hotter air to begin with. +1 on adding a second fan to that NH-U14s

 

[kasakka]

ASIC quality has no bearing on performance really. Have had several GTX 770s with different ASIC quality (one had to RMA due to fan issues) and there was no real difference in performance or temps.

 

[guskline]

Ryanrenesis: I agree with the idea of getting more airflow. I noticed that you rear exhaust fan is probably 50% blocked by the grilling in the rear. A neat trick is to cut out a hole in the rear so the exhaust fan is unimpeded. I would also agree to run push pull on the noctua. The simple fact is that 2 Sapphire Tri-X gpus drop a ton of heat in the case and you simply are not getting enough out.

Another option would be a bigger, better breathing case.

 

[Rvenger]

Phanteks Enthoo Pro Best case for the money.

 

[guskline]

Phanteks Enthoo Pro Best case for the money.

Excellent recommendation.:thumbsup: