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GTX980 SLI temps

J

Jd007

Senior member
I'm building a 2x GTX980 rig, but a bit worried about the temperatures because I will only have one slot of spacing between the cards. I chose the MSI Gaming series which does not use the reference blower style cooler.

I'm curious, for people who are running similar 2x GTX980 SLI setups on air (non-reference type cooler), what kind of temps are you getting and what case do you use? Thanks in advance.
 
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I'm always for the idea of building a custum watercooling with SLI/Xfire or extreme PCs, it runs all cooler and it looks very tidy, but there's a problem: it's expensive and pretty difficult to build if you don't know anything about it. So, your solution wouldn't be a problem, we'll see.
 
the reference blowers work pretty well in SLI, my 780's run at 1202 and stay under 80C the majority of the time.
 
I havent thought about only reference cards ahah.
The only thing you have to care about is that custom coolers use more than 1 pci.e slots.
 
I prefer reference blowers for multi-card since that heat is out your case, easier to manage without requiring lots of extra fans. The reference design on the 980 is pretty damn good.
 
If it helps....I have (2) EVGA 780gtx's w/ ACX cooler.....I just loaded up Metro last light a few days ago...Both cards run around 90% usage...top card hovers 77 - 80c.....botton card 68-70c.

I have an NZXT Phanton which has great airflow.....I did have to take my side 230mm fan off which would blow right on the cards... (it wont fit with the H80i radiator.) I'm trying to mod that so it will fit and I'm guessing that will cut those temps a few degrees. I would guess the 780's run hotter due to higher power consumption over the 980's?

also...my basement temp is around 65-70
 
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I have 2 GTX 780s sandwiched in a SG10 case with no room to breathe and still have decent temperatures. You will be fine.

EDIT: I realized you asked about non-reference coolers. If you case has good air flow and the cards are seperated by at least 1 slot, you should be fine. If you sandwich them with non-reference coolers you may have a problem.
 
As GTX 970s didn't come with proper reference coolers (just those crappy ones) outside of a few limited premium priced models, I now have two Gigabyte 3 fan non-reference cards in my system.

You have nothing to worry about. My previous 2x ASUS DCII GTX 770 rig got way hotter (usually creeping near the 80 degree limit on load for one of the cards) and I currently have no issues with my BIOS modded (for lower fan speed at idle) Gigabyte Windforce 3X OC cards.

If your case has a position for a side fan, install it. It helped with temperatures a lot even when running at silent speeds.
 
I remember running 6950's in SLI. One was reference, the other was an MSI twin frozr 2 (two fans). I tried them in several configurations, including with them next to each other with no space. What I found was the reference cooler handled no space far better than the Twin Frozr 2. From my tests, which was limited to 1 aftermarket style card to test, reference cards appear to be better when sandwiched.
 
thx guys for the responses!

i just ordered the parts last night, two msi gtx980 gaming 4g cards, and on the mobo there will be one slot of gap between the two cards so hopefully that'll be fine (if no gap i would've gone reference i think). the case is a define r5, and i plan to add a 140mm fan, so it'll be 2x140mm front intake, and one 140mm rear exhaust. i'll remove most of the hdd cages too to have better airflow.
 
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