Phenom X4 and GTX 280 Coolers?

[rullingen]

Hey there, basically I finally got round to actually doing something about upgrading my now 6 year old system. As I'm not made of money I have bought some parts second hand and some parts new and ended up with something I'm rather happy with.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE @ 3.4 Ghz
4 GB of DDR2 Dominator Ram
BFG GTX 280 OCX

Now I know the graphics card is a couple of years old but it is still really powerful and still lets me play the latest games on full settings in full HD. My friend who has just upgraded his system (to dual 580's) has another BFG 280 card and he's offering it to me for £60 to run in SLI. Thing is that as I haven't got round to buying a case with a decent airflow yet I already get the odd overheating issue due to the BFG 280's running so flippin' hot. Also, I am looking to overclock the Processor once I get a decent motherboard to do it with.

So what I'm asking is: has anyone already run an SLI system with two of these cards in particular? Did you use after market coolers? If you have the CPU mentioned have you over-clocked it, and if so, which cooler did you use?

Ta in advance.

 

[Unheard]

I dont have those GPU's, nor your CPU, but from my personal experience, the Phenom II's OC very well.

I'm running a Phenom II X2 560 BE. Stock clock is 3.3ghz. With a +0.2v increase on the CPU, I hit 4.0ghz stable (24 hour Prime95 tested). This is using the Coolermaster Hyper N520 HSF. Picked it up at Microcenter for $32 (Newegg has it for $25 AR).

Edit: BTW, welcome to AT.

 

[superccs]

To run those card with that cpu you will need a decent PSU. Doesn't a 280 pull like 200W full load? http://www.anandtech.com/show/2549

 

[rullingen]

I've got a pretty decent Coolermaster 650Watt PSU which I'm hoping will be up to the job. Should be, my CPU only pulls 125W at full load. Otherwise I shall have to upgrade to a 750W or 800W. We shall see.

 

[Zap]

I've got a pretty decent Coolermaster 650Watt PSU which I'm hoping will be up to the job.

Which model Cooler Master 650W do you have? The GX series is probably their best 650W and I don't think it will power two GTX 280. There were reviews of the GX 750 out there that showed it was not very good (jonnyGURU 7/10, HardOCP FAILed, Hardware Secrets not recommended). Remember, each card requires a 6 pin and an 8 pin PCIe power plug. Additionally, overclocking the CPU or GPUs can make power requirements shoot up. I'd aim for a PSU that can do a combined +12v in at least the mid 50A range.

As for keeping the GTX 280 running cool, the first thing with it being a used card is to take some compressed air and blow out the fan blades and the heatsink. Then, if still running warm mount a 120mm fan blowing onto it from the side. What case are you using? Maybe you need more case ventilation.