NEW CONFIG with 9800 GTX'S in SLI

[Hauk]

We all know the 9800 GTX story, so please don't be a hater. I just want to share some pics of these puppies in a P182.

I wanted to completely seal off the lower chamber and opted for aluminium duct tape to seal the cutouts.

Due to the 10.5" card length, I was unable to use the upper drive cage as a fan duct. So I fashioned a ghetto fan duct with several layers of the same tape. Dual 120mm fans for intake blowing into the card area.

EVGA 9800 GTX's in their new home.

These things run quite a bit hotter than my G92 GTS setup. Time to add another 120mm fan! A little Velcro goes a long way.

Upper chamber area.

The whole rig.

To complete things, a new computer desk and a Dell 2408WFP 24" LCD! I've only seen and used TN panels so I didn't know what to expect. I'm in love.. :heart:

 

[NoStateofMind]

Nice job with the aluminum tape. Looks like a decent cabling job. What are your complete system specs?

Edit: Also, with all those fans, do you get any "hum" sounds during normal use? Gaming?

 

[MarcVenice]

Wow, NICE setup dude! I'm probably looking for a black desk as well for in my new room. It'll look great with the p182 and my PUNY 20" screen. If you could ship me your 24" dell I'd be gratefull

Awesome rig too, haha, a little DIY can go a long way eh ?

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Nice job with the aluminum tape. Looks like a decent cabling job. What are your complete system specs?

Edit: Also, with all those fans, do you get any "hum" sounds during normal use? Gaming?

There is a hum from the case, but it's very tolerable. Case fans are fluid bearing s-flex's at 1600rpm, cpu fan is a tri-cool on medium, spot-cool for memory on medium. The noisemakers unfortunatly are the GTX's! During gaming (esp Crysis) they spin up to like 90%. I compenstate with more volume.

Asus P5N-T Deluxe 1001 bios
Thermaltake Toughpower 850w psu
8GB Muskin Redline DDR2 1000 5-5-5-12
Q6600 @ 3.2 w/TR Ultra 120 Extreme lapped
EVGA 9800 GTX's @ 752/1890/2250, 174.74 drivers
WD 150GB Raptor
SB X-FI Fatality X-Gamer
Logitech Z-5300e system

Was concerned about performance hit going from 1680x1050 to 1920x1200, but it's blazing better than ever. Haven't done any benchies yet but The Witcher is maxed and very smooth, Crysis on high is very playable. I'll try to run some benchies this weeked.

 

[angry hampster]

Great looking system. I like the wind tunnel with the duct tape...I may do the same to blow a little more air across my north bridge.

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Wow, NICE setup dude! I'm probably looking for a black desk as well for in my new room. It'll look great with the p182 and my PUNY 20" screen. If you could ship me your 24" dell I'd be gratefull

Awesome rig too, haha, a little DIY can go a long way eh ?

Here's the desk, $129 at Office Depot. Pretty easy assembly, quality is okay (for fiberboard).

Can't help with the monitor. I've resolved to never suffer another hearbreak.. :brokenheart:

 

[Keysplayr]

Beautiful Setup SteelSix!!! I like what you did with the case! What CPU are you running under that monstrosity of a CPU cooler?!

If you have a Q6600 under there, we are running very similiar rigs!

:thumbsup:

 

[n7]

Kewl, thanx for sharing the pics!

I love the look of the P182s from the outside; despise the interior layout though, so kudos to you for making it work not badly.

 

[stepone]

Haven't you got that sflex 120mm fan (the ghetto ducted 1) in the front of your case orientated to suck air out rather than draw it in?

If all the other fans are extracting air out the rear of the case then the front fan should be drawing air in or you're messing up the airflow & increasing your case temps (remember the 2x9800gtx's which are directly behind the ghetto fan are trying to extract the heat out the back of the case).

 

[Hauk]

No, they're pulling air into the case. I believe it's true for most case fans, the sticker or support structure side is the exaust side. If in doubt, there should be arrows on the fan frame somewhere..

 

[stepone]

My bad... I've got a scythe kaze with stickers on both sides & I didn't look at the zoomed in pic to see the detail. Good job.

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Beautiful Setup SteelSix!!! I like what you did with the case! What CPU are you running under that monstrosity of a CPU cooler?!

If you have a Q6600 under there, we are running very similiar rigs!

:thumbsup:

Thanks! I'm running a Q6600 G0, but keep it at 3.2. I could go higher but Crysis seems to be the only game that benefits and I refuse to cater to it.

Keys, what are you able to clock your GTX's to without issue in Crysis? Anything above 720 core 1782 shader and I get a checkerboard looking video corruption after a few minutes. Cards are hot and fans are blasting. Doesn't crash, just have to exit game. I'm over Crysis..

 

[Tempered81]

Nice pics of a sweet rig, steelsix!!!

How is it working in the games, most notably, Crysis!!!????

My favorite:

Originally posted by: SteelSix
So I fashioned a ghetto fan duct with several layers of the same tape.

Originally posted by: SteelSix


Keys, what are you able to clock your GTX's to without issue in Crysis? Anything above 720 core 1782 shader and I get a checkerboard looking video corruption after a few minutes. Cards are hot and fans are blasting. Doesn't crash, just have to exit game. I'm over Crysis..

Are the artifacts red, yellow, or multi-colored? It could be your memory speed, is it overclocked also?

 

[Hauk]

Memory's only mildly oc'd to 2250 (2200 stock). Corruption is either a washed out grey all across the screen or a checkerboard pattern, with game still visible in the "background." Game doesn't crash right away, I can sometimes get out before it does. All other games run just fine with a decent OC of 752/1890/2250.

 

[Hauk]

I just completed an interesting experiment. Bear in mind that at 752/1890/2250 or higher, Crysis is the only game where I see video corruption or have issues of any kind..

Turns out if I leave core set to 710 or below, I can crank shader to 1900 and memory to 2350 or more. But as soon as I take core past 710 I get video corrpution after a couple minutes. Even tried it with shader and memory at stock. So with Crysis, I can run the hell out of shader and memory but must leave core under 710.

Now this is SLI, with a lot of heat and whatever weakness AFR rendering may introduce. I keep thinking of the 9800 GX2 core(s) topping out around 700. Commonalities? Heat and SLI. What do y'all think?

I'm perfectly happy being able to run the cards where I can with Crysis; hell I've had the game for months and haven't even played it. Should I run it with one card at a time and see where I can take cores to individually?

(Using 174.74, Vista 64 sp1, Crysis 1.2, Rivatuner 2.8)