Maximum PC

I have a Coolermaster sniper case. P67 motherboard, 2 gtx 480's. They sit close together therefore creating a lot of heat!! My motherboard keeps giving me the warning of my PCIE-2 60 C too hot. I have to pull my right panel off and put a house fan there just to keep it cool. Temps drop about 10 Degrees.

Heres my question...

Should i buy another case... if so which one?

or

Should i buy a new mother board that supports 3 graphics cards so i can put more room between the 2 480's?

Sell the 480s and get a 680 it has roughly the same performance with WAY less heat, less than half the power usage and the lowest frame rates you will get will be higher. It also supports the newer anti-aliasing techniques.

The GTX480 is basically a space heater. Nominal load temperatures during reviews was like 80-95C.

So yes, ditch them and get a GTX 680 or something.

I would not replace your GPUs with the one Nvidia just released costing just under $500. Replacing your GPUs at this moment and time would not be a smart investment since Nvidia has just started released their new Kepler series. The price for a GTX680 might go down as the year progresses. More Kepler models are coming in the near future. Based on rumors, Nvidia too is releasing two new flagship GPUs. I would imagine that is something you would want to know about considering you do have two GTX480s. A scorching set of GPUs to have. Having those two little demons too close together is asking for trouble. Purchasing heat sinks of any kind would be pointless now. Not a smart investment in my honest opinion. Replacing the mobo will not really help all that much. I would look into purchasing a different mobo later on with more slots or simply a better arrangement. Intel is supposed to release their X77 chipset this April with their new Ivy Bridge CPUs like the 3770k est. to be $335. This could drive some of their previous models prices down. Your chassis should be fine.

A couple options I would explore before forking out cash is throwing in an air duct with some fans directed at the hot spots. Undervolting plus underclocking can help, but it is not going to be a whole bunch. When your car starts overheating, do you replace the whole vehicle? Nope. You have a mechanic fix the problem. Often times more than not it is something simple too with vehicles. I know these guys mean well by their suggestions. I would try what you can without spending a dime before getting any new hardware.
Rewrote

You appear to be missing the important parts of that thread since that is what I was basing my recommendation on. Higher minimum FPS, about the same average FPS, and newer AA technology. It also uses less than a 1/3rd of the power and doesn't really get hot. It makes more sense than buying a new chipset and CPU when that isn't going to offer much of a performance gain at all and will cost more. But back to the warning message for a second, I have never heard of that happening and 60c isn't that hot for a GPU unless this is a sensor on the MOBO saying the physical slot is too hot which sounds really bad.


Also: http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articl ... epler-gpu/ it ran a demo that previously required 3 gtx 580s. There is more to performance than just pure FPS.

I saw that already elsewhere. Read more into detail of went on about the demo. It is not what it seems. He does not need to upgrade anything yet. Nor did he ever say anything about purchasing another GPU. There is new tech around the corner and it would be smarter for him to wait.
Rewrote

Nothing short of actually replacing the stock HSF assembly will really work. A fan may help, but if it's the stock GTX 480 with the shallow grill on the exterior, that's not enough surface area to really help.

An aftermarket heat sink might help depending on what one it is. I would not buy them. Undervolting (not necessarily underclocking) his GPUs should lower his temps without having to replace them. I'm trying to keep him from having to purchase anything for the time being.

@bpstone You give bad advice, end of story. You were getting him to buy a brand new cpu and mobo when there is little (no) advantage for gaming. If he gets the 680 the lowest fps you will get in a game will be higher which means you don't see that random drop that will end up getting you killed because the game starts chugging at 10fps. And if he plays his cards right he can upgrade to the 680 with a minimal cost to him if he sells the 480s. The only aftermarket heatsink for the 480 that might have an effect is liquid cooling and that would be more than just buying a 680 outright. Your solutions aren't solutions.

An HSF is a fan/heatsink. This is pretty close to what Latios was saying.
Undervolting won't help much on something like a 480. Your solution is to pay more later, while Danthrax is advocating paying less now.

I reread what I had written then decided to write what I had originally meant to say above. I never had said he should purchase a heat sink. I too know what HSF means. Thank you for explaining it anyhow. Adding an air duct created out of used fans and an old box should suffice for the time being. Undervolting will not make a big difference. Anything helps in this particular case. I want him to explore his options without spending money. I also would like him to see what will be available in the near future in case he is interested in doing any upgrades later on. The GTX680 is a nice card to have. If I were him, I would wait till August to see what else will be out in the wild for the picking.

Side note: You are not bothering me Mr. Danthrax66.

These usually don't work because...
1. There's not enough surface area on the exterior of the heatsink (or anything that could act like a heat sink) to make a difference.
2. If you're shrouding the duct around the card itself, you could make things worse, if not do nothing at all. At worst, it'll create air flow that goes through, which means less air pressure, which means less air for the fan on the card itself to pick up to flow over, you know, the actual GPU. Even if you're going to just build up a positive pressure for the intake, the card isn't going to blow more air than its own fan allows.
3. You could also create unwanted vortexes in the case itself.

The problem is the gtx 480 is the worst card ever released by nVidia. They were too fucking hot, too fucking power hungry and even die hard fans largely stayed away from them for sli.

A picture from him would do wonders right about now. I would like to know how he has it configured and which expansion slots are available. It is hard to know what would work without knowing what it looks like. I meant to create a duct sucking colder air from outside the chassis then blowing onto the affected area. Surrounding/wrapping the GPUs would make it worse. Yes, this does sometimes work. I just want him to explore his options before he goes out then spends $500 dollars on another GPU. If it works, then he should hold off. If it does not work, then he does need to buy another one. Spending anything on the old ones would not be smart.

The duct idea will not work however much you want it to. Unless you are willing to have a house fan blowing in there all the time, it will be warmer than it is now. Just go to the 680 and you won't have to worry about it.

Like Danthrax said,

No doubt the GTX480, especially in SLI, is a piece of junk. lol

The problem here is heat, and the reason the 480 was bad was... it was too hot and used too much energy.

Yes, I already know. I remember when it first came out there were problems.

5. I am always right.