Skybuck says NOOO to SLI ! ;) :P =D

[Skybuck Flying]

Hello Peeps,

I noticed how gpu1 was running 10 degrees hotter than gpu2.

When I shutdown the system gpu1 heatpipes were very hot... the north bridge
heatsink was very hot... the mosfet was a bit warm too.

The cpu heatsink/cooler fins were cool.
GPU2 heatpipes were cool.

So I have decided to remove one graphics card ! Therefore I say NOOOO to SLI
!.

SLI might work with water cooling but not with air cooling when there are
pci cards sandwhiched between them ! I don't even know if it works if there
is free room... maybe it would work... but I choose to keep my x-fi elite
pro soundblaster ! =D

Yeah... I am done with dieing systems... this system better not die
anymore... I am gonne be a litttttttttttttle bit pissed off And then it
will be my last high end system if it dies ! * =D

Hopefully this will also cool down the north bridge a little bit ?!?!

Here is a picture of the new setup:

http://members.home.nl/hbthouppermans/DreamPCThirdBuild/DSCN1167.JPG

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[Skybuck Flying]

Ok,

Apperently that setup doesn't work well...

Apperently the graphics cards must be in pci-e slot 1...

Otherwise the graphics are weird.

Gonna try different setup.. with graphics card in pci-e slot 1...

and sound blaster far away under it...

Then hopefully temperatures still 43 degrees otherwise me not so happy
camper

Then maybe later I try sli without the x-fi... and with the onboard audio to
see how to sounds... but don't count on it... I like the x-fi a lot !

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[Craig Sutton]

Ok,

Apperently that setup doesn't work well...

Apperently the graphics cards must be in pci-e slot 1...

Read your manual..

 

[Skybuck Flying]

Yo,

I removed one graphics card.

I keep one graphics card in the case... in the top pci-e slot. (pci-e 1)

One soundblaster on the bottom.

The temperatures are now... much much much much better:

Room temperature is 25.5 degrees celcius. There is slight breeze from
outside.

The antec 1200 case fans are all spinning at medium speed.

While playing quake 3, the frame rate was capped at 90 fps, and it was 90
fps all the time.

The cpu temperature was: 40 degrees to 41 degrees celcius.

The motherboard temperature was: 40 degrees celcius.

The gpu temperature was 48 to 49 degrees celcius.

This is definelty a huge improvement over previous situations.

Previously the motherboard could get as hot as 55 degrees... and graphics
cards up to 90 degrees... even 100 or 110 degrees or so..

Now only 49 degrees for graphics cards...

At idle it's currently 43 degrees..

So this more or less proves that have an pci slot in front of the gpu fan is
bad...

However I like the sound from the x-fi probably too much... maybe later I
try onboard audio.. but I am pretty content with the current situation.

I am not super happy... but just content... I am kinda relieved that my pc
will now probably have a long life... though I am not yet 100% convinced...
since the case fans were on medium... what would happen on low ?

But medium is far enough since it's summer time

Idle temperature of cpu is 39 degrees... so cpu got hotter just 1 degree !
wow that's nice....

Idle temperature of gpu is 42 degrees... so that's only 7 degrees hottor
under quake 3 load.

Motherboard is 40 degrees on idle... so it's not heating up under quake 3
load.

Well seeing only small temperature rises... makes me more confident the
system can take a higher working load now...

Later I shall try doom 3, quake 4, call of duty 4... bf2 or so... and see
how that goes.

I MAKE A BIG LONG NOSE TO NVIDIA: *************************

Stick SLI up your bums ! =D

Or give us gamers larger motherboards for more space between the cards
!!!!!!!

Finally a picture of the better setup and temperatures:

http://members.home.nl/hbthouppermans/DreamPCThirdBuild/DSCN1169.JPG

http://members.home.nl/hbthouppermans/DreamPCThirdBuild/DSCN1171.JPG

Goodbye for now =D

Bye,
Skybuck =D

 

[Skybuck Flying]

Ok,

Read your manual..

According to the manual both slots should have worked.

But when I tried single card in pci-e slot 2, windows xp 64 bit had problems
with it... don't know why... maybe it was because sli-mode was still on...
or maybe it s just a problem.

PCI-E slot 1 did work !

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[Craig Sutton]

According to the manual both slots should have worked.

Read page 4-28

 

[Skybuck Flying]

Performance with a single card looking pretty good.

Doom 3 in hell level 60 fps all the time.

I think it didn't even achieve that with two cards ?!?! which makes me
wonder ?!?

Maybe one card was being throttled back in performance... and the other card
because of overheat maybe too... or maybe I am just delirius... by doom3 was
no match for my single 7900 gtx card... it made swiss cheese out of doom 3
lol.

Call of Duty 4 the proligue level played pretty well as well on one card
with all high... except anti aliasing off... and textures at auto.

Frame rate was an acceptable 40 fps.

GPU temp was 54 degrees which is much better than the 90 degrees it used to
be or so, 11 degrees above idle.

CPU remained steady at 1 degree above idle which was 41 degrees.

Motherboard remained steady at 40 degrees which was same as idle.

It almost makes me wonder what would happen if I go back with sli setup and
remove the x-fi card... but I don't want to know lol.

Or maybe I do... just for cod4... cod4 doesn't have that good sound...
onboard audio might be acceptable... but I am done with messing with my
computer for a while..

Though I do smell a burning smell... maybe that's from outside... or maybe
it's the newishness that needs to get aired out...

But it's probably the stickers at the back melting/vaporizing a bit..

Hope that stuff will hold... and I hope that smell ceases soon without my pc
dieing ofcourse =D

Venting new pc is always good... get rid of nasty thingies in air

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[Skybuck Flying]

Well the stickers are not melting thank god for that... I checked that
side...

Probably just the case smell... and the new motherboard smell... and the new
zipang smell... and maybe the artic silver that's maybe a little bit
vaporizing.

Bye,
Skybuck.