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leebennison1973 · ‎12-12-2013

Hi guys
I have a current gaming pc as follows
Haf full tower
Corsair 750 psu
Asrock Extreme 3 gen 3
i7 K (sandybridge)
16gb gskill ram
256gb Samsung ssd
2TB HDD
2 x hd7970 Matrix Platinum Gpu (crossfire )
3 x Asus VE247h monitors (set up as 5760 x 1080)

The question is a possible motherboard upgrade!
The reasoning is , I recently bought the Matrix platinum Gpu and after a couple of weeks a chance came up to but another one pretty cheap!
Didn't want to pass up the chance so bought the second gpu , but running both these monsters on my current board leaves them pretty damn close to each other - basically you couldn't get a cigarette paper between the two !

Now obviously I'm having g heat issues now ! Graphically thing running pretty smooth - BUT the top card is running very hot
The bottom card is set as the primary so that that one does the lion share of the work, this one runs around the 60 deg mark , the top card regularly hits 90 degrees!!!
The problem been there is no room for the top card to breathe and it is drawing in warm air from the card below!
I currently have some more fans on order to replace the oem ones in my case but u can't see this having any effect!

I am looking at the Maximus v Formula , and extreme motherboards ATM , will either board give me the space I need between gpus ?
It is worth noting I prob won't be overclocking unless needed!
I have read the onboard sound is better on the formula mobo so is this the one to go for !

How much gap do you get (spacing between the pcie slots I will be using )
I wa looking at the formula and thinking about the top slot and the bottom one but on reading up , the bottom slot will not support my sandybridge CPU, is this correct???

Sorry about the long essay ! Hope you can help me

Thx in advance

Lee

HiVizMan · ‎12-13-2013

The formula is the board I too would use and do use. The book says that you should use the prescribed slots for your two cards, and with the matrix being so big there is little space indeed. However I would not bother too much about that. What I would ensure is having good air flow with two of those cards in the system. You want to make sure you are venting as much of the hot air you can - you do not mention your cooling so you just need to be aware that the Matric cooler pushes hot air into the case and can impact on CPU coolers.

To help us help you - please provide as much information about your system and the problem as possible.

kkn · ‎12-13-2013

and if possible mount a fan on the door to pull air in to the case and on to the cards.

leebennison1973 · ‎12-13-2013

Thanks for the quick reply guys -
With the case been a coolermaster haf x it has a 230mm (I think ) intake at the front , a 140mm exhaust at the rear, 1 200mm intake at the side and 1 200mm exhaust at the top !
Struggle to replace the front fan at 230mm but I am I the process of replacing the oem fans at side and top with megaflow fans ( including 1 more 200mm fan at top) and replacing the rear one with a corsair one !
Hoprfully this will help But still looking at he formula board as looks to have more space between gpus

lizard · ‎12-14-2013

Isn't 750W to weak for 2x Matrix 7970?

CharFlo88 · ‎12-15-2013

might be. my 850w is more than enough for my two matrix's

Antronman · ‎12-14-2013

If all of these suggestions seem to be unsufficient, XSPC has 7970 waterblocks, so you could set up a custom WC loop.

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srzprince · ‎12-18-2013

guys I got 7850 and I'm satisfied from my side by the price and the quality... ^_^

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