-Post pics of your computer-

[shadow001]

You're a constant reminder of why I never want to build systems like yours.

Hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing....

[shadow001]

The basic problem is that when there's 4 cards installed, it's always the card on the 4th and bottom slot, no matter which card it is of the 4 used, that never gets detected, and the funky part is that all I have to do is remove one card...Let's say the first one at the very top, and the 4th one is now detected just fine and operates normally, so we can rule out the slot being the problem or the card.


So it's not a specific motherboard slot, or a specific card as the issue, but simply the total amount of cards and it seems that up to 3 cards the board handles it easily, but not 4 of them.

[Ristogod]

Hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing....

Neither really, if you like what you are doing, awesome. I just can't stand having my system in such a state of flux for as long as you often do. It's beyond what I need also, so to over complicate it to that extent would only offer me the downsides of such a build.

[shadow001]

Neither really, if you like what you are doing, awesome. I just can't stand having my system in such a state of flux for as long as you often do. It's beyond what I need also, so to over complicate it to that extent would only offer me the downsides of such a build.

Setup hasn't changed in over a year, except for the 8GB R290's, and with the means to handle up to a pair of 12 core processors and 256 GB of ram, it's not likely to change much anytime soon...

[AdamK47]

My system has gotten boring. It's too fast and too stable. No games ever run slow or crash due to instability. Booorrrriiinnng

[shadow001]

My system has gotten boring. It's too fast and too stable. No games ever run slow or crash due to instability. Booorrrriiinnng

That's normally a good thing....I am surprised that your 4 cards, even if they use a lot less power than the 290's, that they don't run hot after a while, given that they're so close together?

[noko]

My system has gotten boring. It's too fast and too stable. No games ever run slow or crash due to instability. Booorrrriiinnng

Time to forget the system and do some work with it

[AdamK47]

That's normally a good thing....I am surprised that your 4 cards, even if they use a lot less power than the 290's, that they don't run hot after a while, given that they're so close together?

That's a perceptual problem, not an actual problem.

Six months with my setup with no changes. Can't wait to upgrade when new hardware comes out.

[shadow001]

That's a perceptual problem, not an actual problem.

Six months with my setup with no changes. Can't wait to upgrade when new hardware comes out.

Did you check how hot they run, or how fast the fans on the coolers have to spin, or if there's any extra noise when playing games?

They have their own thermal sensors if they get too hot and will throttle down to protect themselves, so the card's survival isn't in question, but it would still be informative.

[AdamK47]

Did you check how hot they run, or how fast the fans on the coolers have to spin, or if there's any extra noise when playing games?

They have their own thermal sensors if they get too hot and will throttle down to protect themselves, so the card's survival isn't in question, but it would still be informative.

They will throttle from boost (~1400MHz) if I stress them though loops of 3DMark and Heaven. Between base of 1240MHz and 1400MHz. Not concerned at all with that. That's how I would expect them to behave. They can stay at boost with CryEngine 3 titles. Pretty much everything else never even needs to boost full time due to load spread across all 4 GPUs. No need to waste money on water cooling them. Keeping it simple... if you can call 4 GPUs in SLI simple.

[shadow001]

They will throttle from boost (~1400MHz) if I stress them though loops of 3DMark and Heaven. Between base of 1240MHz and 1400MHz. Not concerned at all with that. That's how I would expect them to behave. They can stay at boost with CryEngine 3 titles. Pretty much everything else never even needs to boost full time due to load spread across all 4 GPUs. No need to waste money on water cooling them. Keeping it simple... if you can call 4 GPUs in SLI simple.

Cool....I did go the whole water cooling approach which is labor intensive , but on the other hand they are cards with 8GB onboard, cost me 500$ each and I've been running them for the last few days now, and never exceed 45*C under load so they never throttle in anything, no matter how long they've been running under load.


I've been trying quite a few games and in triple monitor mode, some can easily use up the entire 8GB capacity of the cards, and I suspect the same can happen with 4K monitors, so they do have a use....

[BababooeyHTJ]

I wouldn't be able to tolerate more than two cards without water. I've tried, not fun.

I like my pc silent.

[AdamK47]

Water cooling them would be what the cool kids do.

I'm not cool.

[BababooeyHTJ]

Is your computer in a sound proof room?

[AdamK47]

Nope, it's right next to me. It's not really loud.

I invite you over to hear them.

[BababooeyHTJ]

Noise is apparently very subjective...

[AdamK47]

I rarely look at my computer after everything is put together and working well. I don't go overboard on the looks department.

I'm actually debating going back to air and tossing my pc into a smaller case when I get around to cleaning my loop. I just don't feel like dealing with water anymore.

I think you should follow through with this. You'll feel liberated.

[Greasy]

Water cooling them would be what the cool kids do.

I'm not cool.

Just water cooling my CPU is enough of a PITA when it comes to maintenance. I don't even want to think about having to deal with GPUs. That, and the fact that I replace the damn things at least once a year.

Edit: I've had new tubing and a new rad sitting in my office for over a month now. I keep telling myself, I'll do all that when skylake comes out!

[BababooeyHTJ]

I think you should follow through with this. You'll feel liberated.

Why? I haven't touched my pc in well over a year? I haven't even topped off the reservoir.

Have you ever used water cooling? Its not really a hassle after you set everything up. It'll also make your pc dead silent.

Even when I was using stock cooling I never overvolted my video cards due to noise alone.

I doubt that I'll get rid of water until I go to a single video card which is the plan for the next real refresh. I'm more tired of sli than I am water. Multi-gpu is much more of a hassle.

[BababooeyHTJ]

Just water cooling my CPU is enough of a PITA when it comes to maintenance. I don't even want to think about having to deal with GPUs. That, and the fact that I replace the damn things at least once a year.

Edit: I've had new tubing and a new rad sitting in my office for over a month now. I keep telling myself, I'll do all that when skylake comes out!

Doesn't seem worth it for a cpu loop imo. Those closed loop coolers do a great job for intel cpus.

Honestly, popping off the ihs will drop temps far more than a water cooling loop will.

[AdamK47]

Why? I haven't touched my pc in well over a year? I haven't even topped off the reservoir.

Have you ever used water cooling? Its not really a hassle after you set everything up. It'll also make your pc dead silent.

Even when I was using stock cooling I never overvolted my video cards due to noise alone.

I doubt that I'll get rid of water until I go to a single video card which is the plan for the next real refresh. I'm more tired of sli than I am water. Multi-gpu is much more of a hassle.

Yeah, you do seem stuck on that noise point. It really isn't as inflated as you make it out to be. It seems more of a reason than a tangible benefit. Unless you had really horribly loud cards to begin with or have lesser noise tolerance than most.

[shadow001]

Yeah, you do seem stuck on that noise point. It really isn't as inflated as you make it out to be. It seems more of a reason than a tangible benefit. Unless you had really horribly loud cards to begin with or have lesser noise tolerance than most.

Well, it's mostly what you said about the cards throttling when enough loops of 3Dmark or heaven have been run.....Generally speaking, that only happens if the fan on the stock cooler is already spinning at it's maximum RPM, and the core still hits 95*C anyhow, so the GPU slows down the clocks.


Generally speaking, a fan spinning at it's max is rarely silent, never mind potentially having 3 of them doing it (4th card on the bottom has more breathing room).

[BababooeyHTJ]

Yeah, you do seem stuck on that noise point. It really isn't as inflated as you make it out to be. It seems more of a reason than a tangible benefit. Unless you had really horribly loud cards to begin with or have lesser noise tolerance than most.

Or you don't have people in the house to annoy.

Not everyone's tolerance is going to be the same. Titan and gtx780 are pretty much the first high end cards that I would call quiet and that's only if you don't start overclocking much.

I was annoyed by a single gtx570 at the same voltage as a 580. Pretty much kept the voltage at stock. Same thing with 6950.

Having loud fans going when I'm immersed in a quiet game bothers me. I can't imagine that I'm alone on that one.

[BababooeyHTJ]

We've got it, your four cards sandwiched together are quiet.

[AdamK47]

We've got it, your four cards sandwiched together are quiet.

No, I'm just saying I don't want water cooling to fix something that isn't a problem to me for my 980s.

[AdamK47]

Well, it's mostly what you said about the cards throttling when enough loops of 3Dmark or heaven have been run.....Generally speaking, that only happens if the fan on the stock cooler is already spinning at it's maximum RPM, and the core still hits 95*C anyhow, so the GPU slows down the clocks.


Generally speaking, a fan spinning at it's max is rarely silent, never mind potentially having 3 of them doing it (4th card on the bottom has more breathing room).

It doesn't get anywhere near 95C. My target temp is much lower than that.

[shadow001]

It doesn't get anywhere near 95C. My target temp is much lower than that.

Was under the impression that throttling is controlled with the GPU firmware itself, and isn't user selectable.


Anyhow, with water cooling I can also overclock to my hearts content, it's quiet as a mouse and the GPU's have yet to break 55*C while overclocked and under load, no matter how long they've been running or what game / benchmark is being used.

[AdamK47]

Was under the impression that throttling is controlled with the GPU firmware itself, and isn't user selectable.


Anyhow, with water cooling I can also overclock to my hearts content, it's quiet as a mouse and the GPU's have yet to break 55*C while overclocked and under load, no matter how long they've been running or what game / benchmark is being used.

Default target temp on the 980s is 80C. Mine is set to 87C. The highest you can set is 91C. Even at 91C the fans won't go 100% until they go over that. At 92C the fans go to 100% automatically. The fan speed difference between 91C and 92C is very dramatic. It's like a flip of a switch difference. At one instance the fans are tolerable at 91C then once it hits 92C the fans go crazy. If the fans were 100% all the time even when stress testing, then yes, I would have a problem with that. With a low target temp the fans stay spinning much lower. GPU Boost 2.0 works very well on the GTX 980. Even more so than on the power hungry Titans I had before.

[Ristogod]

I'm with AdamK47 on this one. I can't stand the idea of the extra amount of work and cost involved with liquid cooling the GPUs. I change mine often and I like to have it done in minutes. I don't need silent, I just need quiet and when playing games, reasonable. And worrying about a few mhz dropping from throttling, I couldn't give a rat's ass flying ****.

[shadow001]

Default target temp on the 980s is 80C. Mine is set to 87C. The highest you can set is 91C. Even at 91C the fans won't go 100% until they go over that. At 92C the fans go to 100% automatically. The fan speed difference between 91C and 92C is very dramatic. It's like a flip of a switch difference. At one instance the fans are tolerable at 91C then once it hits 92C the fans go crazy. If the fans were 100% all the time even when stress testing, then yes, I would have a problem with that. With a low target temp the fans stay spinning much lower. GPU Boost 2.0 works very well on the GTX 980. Even more so than on the power hungry Titans I had before.

As long as you can keep them quiet I suppose.....I'd be worried that they can get that close to their thermal limits, where the fan go full bore 100%.....It doesn't leave much room to overclock either now that I think about it.

[shadow001]

I'm with AdamK47 on this one. I can't stand the idea of the extra amount of work and cost involved with liquid cooling the GPUs. I change mine often and I like to have it done in minutes. I don't need silent, I just need quiet and when playing games, reasonable. And worrying about a few mhz dropping from throttling, I couldn't give a rat's ass flying ****.

Granted the work is always there, but cost wise it spreads out over time since you can re use radiators, fittings, pumps, reservoirs, fan controllers, fans over an over again as you replace the older cards for newer ones.


Only thing that's always required are the blocks for the new cards, but that's about it really.

[AdamK47]

Another thing to put into perspective is the continual evolution of PC hardware. Newer generations of components are still being released at a fairly good rate in the desktop space. The new generation replaces the previous generation, with better performance. If I want better performance I'll just wait until the next gen is released instead of going through the tribulations of eeking out a small percent improvement with water cooling. I'm not going to spend time doing that when I know something better will be released that will far surpass those gains.

The new air cooled components that I get on day one release is going to exceed the performance of the water cooled components others are holding on to. I bought my four 980s on release day. I bought my 5960X on release day. Put them together and I was all set literally from day one. The same will hold true when the next latest and greatest is released. I'll buy the new stuff. Sell the older stuff while I can get good prices for them. The cycle repeats.

[shadow001]

Another thing to put into perspective is the continual evolution of PC hardware. Newer generations of components are still being released at a fairly good rate in the desktop space. The new generation replaces the previous generation, with better performance. If I want better performance I'll just wait until the next gen is released instead of going through the tribulations of eeking out a small percent improvement with water cooling. I'm not going to spend time doing that when I know something better will be released that will far surpass those gains.

The new air cooled components that I get on day one release is going to exceed the performance of the water cooled components others are holding on to. I bought my four 980s on release day. I bought my 5960X on release day. Put them together and I was all set literally from day one. The same will hold true when the next latest and greatest is released. I'll buy the new stuff. Sell the older stuff while I can get good prices for them. The cycle repeats.

It makes sense for single card users, but for 4 way users, the amount of GPU power available is so high that we have to go into really crazy resolutions and settings to make the current setups sweat in the least, never mind plugging in even faster cards, and them to make it worse, 4 at a time.


I'll be waiting for the 16nm generation myself since I like large gains, but that may still be 2 years away and it all comes to a halt at 11nm......We still haven't found a way to make anything smaller than that using existing technology...Heck even mighty Intel is having trouble with the 14nm process and getting good yields, and they make 40 billion a year in net profit, never mind smaller companies like TSMC.

[AdamK47]

It makes sense for single card users, but for 4 way users, the amount of GPU power available is so high that we have to go into really crazy resolutions and settings to make the current setups sweat in the least, never mind plugging in even faster cards, and them to make it worse, 4 at a time.


I'll be waiting for the 16nm generation myself since I like large gains, but that may still be 2 years away and it all comes to a halt at 11nm......We still haven't found a way to make anything smaller than that using existing technology...Heck even mighty Intel is having trouble with the 14nm process and getting good yields, and they make 40 billion a year in net profit, never mind smaller companies like TSMC.

Single card, 2-way, 3-way, 4-way. It doesn't matter. There are people, like me, who just like having the latest tech regardless of usage scenarios. You like water cooling. That's your thing. My PC building ideology differs from yours. No one way is ultimately best.

[Apocalypsee]

I'm with AdamK47, way to go buddy

Enough with kickass rig, here is my mediocre PC this is taken with Sony 'good' 20.7MP Z3C camera. Thinking of buying HAF 912 Advanced, any good budget case people can recommend? I really hate the unpainted internals

[BababooeyHTJ]

The guy that only posts here for epeen?

[Mangler]

If I end up using only one card with my next upgrade, I will probably not bother with putting it under water.

But two cards=WC for me, as I find that two cards at 50%+ fan speeds to be pretty loud.

[nycdarkness]

I have that problem right now. I am running 2 980s reference and it's fairly loud to me already. Everyday I am tempted to buy blocks and throw them on water. Then I am reminded that new cards are going to be out soon. Making it pointless to do so. I am actually running games with vsync just so my cards don't have to run hotter.

I like to upgrade every other generation. Even buying new cards every 6-8 months is kind of a pain in the ass. Use to be fun, now it's just fairly unnecessary for the type of gains we get.

[Meteor_of_War]

All this talk about problems with noise coming from the computer, and all of it can be easily remedied by simply wearing a good pair of headphones.

[nycdarkness]

All this talk about problems with noise coming from the computer, and all of it can be easily remedied by simply wearing a good pair of headphones.

I have dt 990s and I do game with headpones quite often. However, when I take breaks and use my speakers it's just annoying.