Re:Few Questions LF help: SLI, Temps, Fan Speed, Power x2 GTX 470's. (James_L)

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:07:48 GMT

Lan019

HOWDY! :D I have a few questions and was wondering on what games would SLI be best to use it. The games i play are Skyrim, Starcraft 2, Crysis 2, World of Warcraft, and the Diablo 3 beta. And is it ok to have SLI enabled at all times or is it best to just turn it on when needed?

World of Warcraft and Starcraft don't really use SLI. WoW was built on an engine which didn't support it at the time and even with the new update I haven't seen where SLI really give a benefit for that game. Since it's mostly CPU bound only needing one GPU to render is enough for better performance. Skyrim and Crysis 2, on the other hand, would greatly benefit from SLI provided your profile is correct. Since you are getting decent performance from there at higher resolutions I think you're fine enabling it for those games.

Also had a question about power consumption. Do these cards pull their full watts at all times? or only when under full loads I forgot the recommended PSU for a single card. Based on the performance increase I've seen even without SLI enabled I'm glad i stuck in my 2nd 470 in, instead of just letting it sit on my table lol.

Normally it'll try to behave in a more adaptive sense for power. That meaning it'll use only enough to render your 2D desktop and use the minimal amount of power necessary to ensure the operation of the cards. When you play games and begin using the GPUs more is when the power consumption will begin to get higher. Check this thread on 3dguru about the power consumption as to what you may expect.

I just wanted to get a few things brushed out before i started playing around with anything. Want to get my settings right. Im running EVGA precision ( Not the new updated x version ) have a more aggressive fan profile but i'd like to also know if there was a point of diminishing returns in regards to the fan speeds.

I have them currently at these settings
30c = 45%
35c = 55%
45c = 65%
55c = 75%
65c = 85%
75c = 95%..

65c is probably the max temp I've ever seen and that was playing Crysis 2 today. I sit mostly around 50s-58c in my other games. Are these settings ok? or should i move them around a bit.. tbh they're really loud and I'd like to know if i could bump them down a bit and still be ok temp wise. Looking for a balance between good air flow and less noise lol if that makes any sense.

I would think you should just experiment and see where your system is stable for fan noise vs temperature. Depending on the environment you have, ambient temperature and air flow you'll find where your acceptable level of heat versus your fan noise will exist. Just mess around with the fan thresholds based on temperature and see where the break points are. Where I am here a more aggressive profile keeps my temperatures down low during hotter days and very chilly during those times in winter. All depends on where you are and how your air is going through the case.

Few Questions LF help: SLI, Temps, Fan Speed, Power x2 GTX 470's. (Lan019)

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:06:31 GMT

HOWDY! :D I have a few questions and was wondering on what games would SLI be best to use it. The games i play are Skyrim, Starcraft 2, Crysis 2, World of Warcraft, and the Diablo 3 beta. And is it ok to have SLI enabled at all times or is it best to just turn it on when needed?

Also had a question about temp's in SLI. Playing Crysis 2 fullscreen, 1920x1080 on high settings was getting into 58-64c range on my top card , and 38-40s on the bottom card without SLI enabled FPS seemed solid. Just wanted to know if these temps are decent for the settings. I've enabled SLI ( But not payed any games yet ) as i was writing this and desktop temps ideal are 40c card 1, 37c card 2. My mobo says case ambient temps are 19-20c at desktop as well.

Also had a question about power consumption. Do these cards pull their full watts at all times? or only when under full loads I forgot the recommended PSU for a single card. Based on the performance increase I've seen even without SLI enabled I'm glad i stuck in my 2nd 470 in, instead of just letting it sit on my table lol.

I just wanted to get a few things brushed out before i started playing around with anything. Want to get my settings right. Im running EVGA precision ( Not the new updated x version ) have a more aggressive fan profile but i'd like to also know if there was a point of diminishing returns in regards to the fan speeds.

I have them currently at these settings
30c = 45%
35c = 55%
45c = 65%
55c = 75%
65c = 85%
75c = 95%..

65c is probably the max temp I've ever seen and that was playing Crysis 2 today. I sit mostly around 50s-58c in my other games. Are these settings ok? or should i move them around a bit.. tbh they're really loud and I'd like to know if i could bump them down a bit and still be ok temp wise. Looking for a balance between good air flow and less noise lol if that makes any sense.

Thanks for all the help here guys, i know its a lot of questions all wrapped into one post but i'm finally getting the performance out of my rig I've been wanting and trying to polish it off :)