6850 CrossFire Running HOT

[foodfightr]

I installed two Radeon HD 6850 graphics cards in an Antec Super Lanboy case. The case has two 120mm Yate Loon fans: One at the front in the bottom directing cool air in and one at the back near the cpu directing hot air out. Running stock (no overclocking) at 24C ambient temperature the top graphics card hits 78C and he bottom card hits 82C under load.

Taking the door off the side of the case reduces the temperatures of each card by about 4C. Not surprisingly when I aim a box fan into the case the temps drop another 6C or more. For these reasons I believe the case is being cooled inadequately.

I've thought about replacing the Yate Loon fans with high CFM panaflow or delta fans. Alternatively I've thought about drilling a spot for another fan in the case door directly over the graphics cards. What do you think?

 

[deimos3428]

Yup, if your temps drop that much by opening the case and pointing a desk fan at your GPUs, you have a classic insufficient airflow situation. Not that 80C is terribly hot for a GPU, honestly.

You can try modding the case or putting in higher CFM fans but I think you're going to be frustrated with the results. This case just wasn't designed to handle the heat that a couple modern GPUs in close proximity can produce. (The new Antec Lanboy Air series, on the other hand...)

Personally I'd spring for a new case with much better airflow if your budget allows it, preferably with a couple exhaust fans in the roof. I'm running a similar configuation in a Lancool K58.

 

[mindwreck]

what speed yate loon are you using? the low speed version will have a hard time pushing air through the front..

the front 120mm is very restricted by the looks of it. and the case also has a grill right behind that fan which didn't help either.

you can change the fans but it would be better to just get a newer case. there are plenty of good options under 100. hell even 50 bucks will get you a good one.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

probably changing your case to a HAF 912
or case modding it

 

[hgaunt56]

Before I got my HAF 912 I had this exact case! While it is awesome for traveling (I needed this feature back when I went between my parents' houses), it is incredibly restrictive in the airflow department. With as many hard drives as you have loaded up, I think that is really restricting any airflow you would be getting even with a more powerful fan.

I hate to say it, but I think your best bet is to just go with a more spacious case dedicated to better airflow. My GTX 260 ran on the hot side in my Lanboy case but with my GTX 580 in my HAF 912 I have no cooling issues whatsoever.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah there's a variety of things you can do. Getting rid of any hard drives that you can (so as to keep them from blocking air being pulled in). Adding some fans. Getting a different CPU cooler (its not moving air out of your case and so some of it is upping the air your GPUs pull in).

Modding your case or getting a different case could help quite a bit too.

Look around and see how much you can get a decent 120mm fan or two and see how much you can get that to work. I'd put one right by them (in between the GPUs and the HDD cage) so that the center lines up with the bottom GPU and so blows to both cards. Maybe rearrange or remove a couple of HDDs.

 

[ViviTheMage]

My 6950 are 90C-95C at full load...which is normal.

 

[blackened23]

You need to get either a 3rd party utility with better fan management, or set a manual fan speed in CCC. If you use 70%+ fan speed in CCC your card will be ridiculously loud but should stay very cool.

Do *not* use CCC auto throttling, as it is garbage. Your card will get ridiculously hot unless you set it manually or make a custom fan profile with msi afterburner. guru3d has a new version of MSI afterburner, the custom fan profile is pretty nice.

 

[Rvenger]

Personally, I would get a new case. If you can punch a hole out in that acrylic window and mount a 120mm fan right in between the graphics cards it should be able to decrease the temps by about 10c. Just have it exhaust out of the case.

 

[Tim]

has a new version of MSI afterburner, the custom fan profile is pretty nice.

+1 for going this route first to see if it helps.

You can set up your own fan delta curve to be much more efficient than what the ATI software does. I've found a great balance with my 6950. It's quiet as a whisper when there isn't a load, and ramps up to a paltry 45% fan speed under load which keeps my card in the 55-60 degree C. range when under load.

YMMV (especially since you're in crossfire ((hotter))), but you can easily play around with it and tweak it to find temperature to fan noise ratio you can live with.

 

[Zap]

It wouldn't be enough to just remove the HDDs. You will have to remove the HDD bay (probably drill out rivets). If your HDDs are older/smaller, you can just replace them all with one/two big HDD and mount it inside one of your empty 5.25" bays. Right now Newegg has 3TB Hitachi drives for $110. These drives outperform lower end 7200RPM drives even though they are 5400RPM.