Vid Cards

[carrick58 23]

Just a Tech question : I will be ordering a new computer in Feb and had a question Should I get 2 Vid Card machine or One ?

[Slartibartfast 153]

When I have more cash I will be getting 2 Highend cards... but it depends on what you will be playing on your PC...

[Parky 8]

A lot of the newer motherboards sport at least two, if not three PCI-e slots. If you want to build with an eye toward SLI or Crossfire somewhere down the road, it would be wise to make sure you select a mainboard that features at least 2 PCI-e slots that are capable of running @ 16x when both are populated. Some of them will drop PCI-e performance to 8x when you add the second card, so shop wisely.

 

On the other hand, you could get real silly like I did and look at a single PCB/dual GPU solution like the ATI 5970. I've often toyed with the idea of dropping a second card into the mix, which would result in Quad Crossfire using only two slots...(or would that be "Quadfire"?)

 

If I were running a machine strictly to fly OFF, I'd go with the fastest single GPU solution I could find, as OFF will not benefit from either Crossfire or SLI arrays.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Parky

Edited December 15, 2010 by Parky

[carrick58 23]

:vampire:The main idea was towards SLI and add a second Card later. In that way I could cover OFF and Newer Games i,e, Storm of War if it ever comes out. I have heard of 3 Card machines that are water cooled and cost in the thousands ( 2 or 3):idhitit:If I had the coin.

Edited December 16, 2010 by carrick58

[carrick58 23]

Aint that the truth. However , the wife already got me for a computer so might as well get one for me. I like the New 580 card by Nvida <But dont know enough information about it.

[Parky 8]

 

 

These things run on the edge of burning out Normally.

 

 

 

 

No they don't.....not if you're clever enough to run the cooling fans at adequate speeds for the exisiting conditions.

 

You end up with a bit more noise in return for a card that will run at very acceptable temperatures even under the most extreme demands.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Parky

[BirdDogICT 3]

No they don't.....not if you're clever enough to run the cooling fans at adequate speeds for the exisiting conditions.

 

You end up with a bit more noise in return for a card that will run at very acceptable temperatures even under the most extreme demands.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Parky

 

I've had several cards that overheated when using the default fan speeds...or the cheap stock fans themselves overheated.

 

When the cards were out of warranty and acting up due to heat, I replaced the stock coolers with heatsinks and cooling fins by Arctic Cooling. I used high temp adhesive on the heat sinks, and added the optional fans to the cooling fins and was back in business. The fans are whisper quiet at full speed.

Edited December 18, 2010 by BirdDogICT

[Parky 8]

BD,

 

Oddly enough, I've never had a card die due to overheating. Maybe I'm just lucky, or perhaps it's because I've always been inclined to purchase top-end graphics cards, which from what I've seen, usually come with better stock cooling solutions than some of the mid-tier products. I did toy with the idea of replacing the HSF on a GTX280 I have here as it runs hotter than hell if I don't crank the fan up to almost 70%. At that point there's a pretty good hum from the fan. Doesn't bother me though, as I'm inclined to use a headset if I'm gaming and don't hear it at all.

 

I've never been a big fan (no pun intended) of leaving speeds on "auto" at the driver level. The fans never seem to spin up enough to keep the cards at reasonable temperatures. Both ATI's drivers and Nvidia's drivers seem to suffer from the same issue. In fact, it wasn't too long ago that Nvidia released a set of drivers that left fan speeds at low idle regardless of GPU temps. Several people ended up with toasted cards and I'm sure weren't too impressed.

 

Regardless, it's always prudent to monitor a card's temperatures and fan speeds under load for a while when you first set it up just to see what kind of adjustments it may need. It doesn't hurt to run through the same process after updating the drivers....and for obvious reasons as noted above. The entire process is easily accomplished by running any 3D app in windowed mode along with a decent montioring utility like GPU-z. All I do is stress the snot out of the card and watch GPU temperatures closely. Doesn't hurt to keep a close eye on VDDC temperatures while you're at it. At that point I'll manually adjust fan speeds to something more suitable than what the auto setting allows for. Typically, I like to see my GPU temps somewhere down around 60C under load, and I can usually accomplish that without jacking fan speeds through the roof. The 5970 I have here ran pretty hot right out of the box, but running the fan @ 55% while gaming keeps temperatures well within acceptable limits for this card. If I leave the fan speeds on auto and look at the temps, it gets downright frightening.

 

I think the bottom line is simply this; DON'T trust your graphics card drivers to keep your GPU at reasonable temperatures when it's taking a thrashing in a 3D environment. Chances are it'll run that way just fine......but for how long?

 

If I ever do run into problems with the 5970, I may just take your advice and go with one of these: http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/19/accelero-xtreme-5970.html?c=2182

 

 

I bet that thing would get the job done and then some

 

 

 

Cheers Mate,

 

Parky

Edited December 20, 2010 by Parky

[carrick58 23]

Thanks Guys