R9 290 Crossfire heat, what to do?

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Strategy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
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295
Recently picked up two MSI R9 290 Gaming 4G cards with the twinfrozr coolers. The top card keeps overheating and throttling itself, probably because its recycling the hot air onto itself and there's almost no gap for it to breath and get cool air. I have the fans running at 100%.

First option is to get a new case, I'm still using an old CM690 and it looks like a rats nest. I did put two 120mm fans blowing directly on them and it didn't seem to help so I don't know if a new case will even work (was looking at the Corsair Air 540) I even pointed a huge box fan at them yesterday which didn't seem to make a difference at all, top card still topping out at 94c and throttling.

Second option, replace the power supply. I posted a thread in the power supplies forum but only got two responses, Im using a 2 or 3 year old XFX 750w Black Edition, could it not be sufficient for my system causing over heating issues?

Last option is to watercool, but Id rather figure it out with air first before dropping a bunch on that.

Both cards run fine by themselves and top out around 75c.
 
Open-air coolers will perform better the further spaced out they are from one another. If you have 3 PCIE slots, and if your case supports it, place card #1 in the top slot, and card#2 in slot 3. Otherwise, going reference or watercooling are your only real options.
 
dkz said:
Open-air coolers will perform better the further spaced out they are from one another. If you have 3 PCIE slots, and if your case supports it, place card #1 in the top slot, and card#2 in slot 3. Otherwise, going reference or watercooling are your only real options.
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This, also clean up the wiring, your case shouldn't look like a rats nest. The next thing is to create negative pressure in the case it's just as important to get the hot air out as it is to get the cool air in.
 
Open air coolers aren't as efficient in crossfire unless they're spaced out and the case has plenty of airflow (otherwise you'll run into exactly the situation you have, whereby the top card is being fed lukewarm air from the bottom one and is hence overheating).

So, clean up your case. It takes time and some planning, but the end result is worth it. Make sure you have great airflow. Buy a few extra, quality fans if you can. Or get a new case altogether, the air 540 has insane airflow and 2000rpm fans :D

As another poster has said, if you have 3 PCIE slots, make sure there is spacing enough between your cards. If you don't, it's not really ideal for open air coolers. A side fan helps a TON, as it blows cool air directly onto the card(s). But these side and front intakes need to be leveraged correctly in having outtakes too to remove the hot air, otherwise your case will begin to heat up quickly.
 
Unfortunately I only have 2 PCI-E slots and they are right next to each other. My case isnt really a rats nest, I just have no room to put any more wires which is definitely affecting the airflow. Looks like the case upgrade may be worth it.

I have a 4770k coming with the retail edge sale so I will look into a mobo with PCIe slots spaced further apart.
 
You have to space the cards further apart. There's really no other solution, other than watercooling. I'm using the reference coolers spaced a couple slots apart and even then my top card throttles. :(
 
I have stock blowers coolers in crossfire and my cards run cool, as well as overclocked quite well. You made a mistake buying coolers that dissipate heat inside a case, especially considers how hot these cars can get. You won't believe the amount of hot air being blown out by my cards out of the case; I can imagine how hot the cards must get if they are circulating air that is 120 f.
 
I got a killer deal on them used ($275 each) otherwise I would have bought reference. I went down to a computer shop and picked up two 60cfm fans and pointed them directly at the cards and it dropped me down to 92c at full load which prevents the throttling for now. Seems to be an airflow issue which a new case should sort out.
 
http://www.coolermaster.com/case/lan-box-haf-series/haf-xb-evo/

I would try one of these; I can't really think of many better setups for an SLI/CF setup. I got this for my SLI setup, but honestly I already had one of the cards on a Kraken G10 by the time I got it. It's just that theoretically I can't think of anything better. Hot air rises so I would think that one of the reasons non-blower coolers would have trouble in close quarters is because conventional cases have the one in the first slot above the second one, so I would think that hot air just goes directly up into the fans from the lower card. The HAF XB Evo shouldn't have that problem because if you have a fan at the top, the hot air should naturally rise and tend towards the top. Plus, you have an intake fan directly pointed at the GPU area so it should displace any hot air being generated by the card in slot two in terms of getting to the fans of the card in slot 1.

Worst case scenario you could put a cardboard piece in between the cards with that case and that would benefit both cards and direct airflow.
 
Just tried a bunch of games at 1920x1080 instead of 5760x1080 and im getting 75c steady. Seems like the massive res is taxing the shit out of them.
 
Strategy said:
Just tried a bunch of games at 1920x1080 instead of 5760x1080 and im getting 75c steady. Seems like the massive res is taxing the shit out of them.
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Likely because you're being CPU limited, and your cards are being used to their full potential at 1080p. Better airflow and a mobo with more PCIE slots would solve your problem, 2 of those cards for 275 each was definitely a steal so you didn't go wrong on that front :)
 
This is correct. On a single monitor 1 card is more than enough to max out pretty much any game. Adding those extra monitors is where the 290x starts to shine. I run 3 290x for 3x27" 1440.
 
I would get one of the kraken brackets and mount an AIO cooler of your choice, use that on your top card, (usually hotter) that should help getting the heat out of your case, bottom card will run cooler as a result.
 
psyclist said:
I would get one of the kraken brackets and mount an AIO cooler of your choice, use that on your top card, (usually hotter) that should help getting the heat out of your case, bottom card will run cooler as a result.
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I was considering this as well, If a new case and mobo dont fix it this will be my next step.
 
Strategy said:
I was considering this as well, If a new case and mobo dont fix it this will be my next step.
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I have done this with great results.

I would recommend getting a new case that allows you to have a good wire setup. You do not realize how much a nicely organized case with good airflow will help you out.
 
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