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strix 1080 sli and watercooling

wollax
Level 7
Hi to all, I have decided to change from sli strix 970 build to the latest 1080, exact model is A8G.
I also bought 2 waterblocks from ekwb, cause silence a low temp is something I prefer to have with this kind of PC.
All is fitted in a R5E, with little overclocking.
As I put the 2 new strix 1080 inside the loop all was working perfectly, I run some tests and played a little bit, the difference was already visible !
At the second boot I noticed something strange, the second strix 1080 was not recognized, so I started to do some troubleshooting, but nothing changed. The day after no video at boot ..... also the first one was not recognized anymore ! I did a lot of tests, I just tell you the short version, that is I had to put the fan and stock cooling system to have them both working correctly in single and sli mode..... the question is this, is it possible that on those strix 1080 you cannot change from original cooling otherwise the cards stop booting ?
Now half of the system is watercooled, the other on air .... but it is working!
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14 REPLIES 14

bullydog
Level 7
I'm also running 2x 1080 strix on my R5E for about 3 weeks now both of them with EK blocks installed. Had issues initially when my cards were hitting 98c causing my system to crash and I found out that thermal paste wasn't applied properly. Started a thread here as well: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?88749-Defective-Strix1080

what type of power supply are you running on ? What type of temperatures are you getting on air and on water cooling ?
which slots are the 2 cards using ? *
| Caselabs S8 | AirPlex Radical 2x 360 + 2x MCP655 | 5820k | AX 1.2kw | R5E | Corsair Dominator 3k | 2x Asus Strix 1080 SLI |

bullydog wrote:
I'm also running 2x 1080 strix on my R5E for about 3 weeks now both of them with EK blocks installed. Had issues initially when my cards were hitting 98c causing my system to crash and I found out that thermal paste wasn't applied properly. Started a thread here as well: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?88749-Defective-Strix1080

what type of power supply are you running on ? What type of temperatures are you getting on air and on water cooling ?
which slots are the 2 cards using ? *


For the little time I had them running on water, Idle temp was around 30° C, under 3dmark I saw 45°C; on air config they are idle 45°C and I hit 70° C under stress.
I used ceramique 2 arctic, on both setup, cleaning with appropriate kit, I used this kind of grease for a lot of times and never had any issue.
Slots used on R5E are the 2 for 16x pciexpress.
I think the thermal pad arrived with backplate could be the issue, or something there is touching.... The strange thing to me is that they worked correctly, then they went off one after the other, and putting back the air blocks did the trick.
Using a corsair 1200 power supply in this rig.... should be fine!
thanks for the attention.

Detleg
Level 12
Well good to know, im planing on WC the 2 1080's but haven't found the right block yet, I'm looking at the Bitspower one

JustinThyme
Level 13
Makes no sense that they would not run on WC. Something Ive never experienced. I have two of the same cards, 1080 A8G and have bitspower blocks because they perform well and they allow you to use the original back plate where EK makes you use theirs and it doesnt come with the block, another $40 for the plate. With the bitspower they ship their backplate with the block but like I said you can use the original with the RGB LED logo on it.



“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, I'm not sure about the former” ~ Albert Einstein

well even better !!

JustinThyme wrote:
With the bitspower they ship their backplate with the block but like I said you can use the original with the RGB LED logo on it.

I think my issue could depend on the backplate, ekwb model is "full" covering the hole pcb, install instructions tell us to put the provided thermal pad behind GPU and VRM chips on the backside, while the original is not "touching" any part on the back, and there are also some chips completely opened.
Maybe after some time using the card the pads are someway "moving" and VRM touch the backplate, and VGA do not power on....

bullydog
Level 7
Are you saying you also bought the Ek backplate? Sounds like the back plate is shorting your video card, causing the card not to boot.

Be sure to ensure that you are not over tightening the screws, as it will cause the PCB to warp which causes all types of weird issues.

Why don't you try running the cards with just the waterblock without the Ek back plate and see how it works out?
| Caselabs S8 | AirPlex Radical 2x 360 + 2x MCP655 | 5820k | AX 1.2kw | R5E | Corsair Dominator 3k | 2x Asus Strix 1080 SLI |

bullydog wrote:
Are you saying you also bought the Ek backplate? Sounds like the back plate is shorting your video card, causing the card not to boot.

Be sure to ensure that you are not over tightening the screws, as it will cause the PCB to warp which causes all types of weird issues.

Why don't you try running the cards with just the waterblock without the Ek back plate and see how it works out?



yes I will try and report here just for record! I am pointing at this part of the mod because it could be the cause....

Chino
Level 15
Sounds like a physical installation issue. It's always good practice to test both your GPUs with the stock cooler before watercooling them.