Best Way to Lower Heat [SOLVED]

[Erasmuz]

As a new member I had to think of something important to ask to be qualified to post in other areas, and wanted to ask something useful that I've been having an issue with.... Heat.

Currently I'm running 2x r 280x cards in a computer case.  The idea is/was buy the cards now, put them in my current case (replacing the nVidia card temporarily), and if things are going well after a month invest in a cheap motherboard, risers, psu, etc.  I didn't want to invest the extra $$$ in the hardware if the difficulty keeps growing exponentially.  I fear that the cost to continue mining will shortly be outweighed by the income (I am holding all coins in the hopes that value only increases over the next year).

I've been running these 2 cards now for a week, and have to throttle them which seems like a waste of money.  They can easily get 700kh/s, but to avoid burning down my apartment building I leave them throttled to about 600kh/s.  Even at these speeds the cards sit at around 83 Celsius with the side panel off, good airflow, and more fans than the case can even support directed at them.

So my question is; are there any recommendations to cheaply lower the temps more? I've thought about adding a desk fan to the configuration, or even using some extra dryer ducts going out the window but I don't trust the area I live in to leave the windows open when I'm not around.

Any tips, ideas, or unique solutions that are escaping me would be greatly appreciated!


As a side note the computer as is is heating my apartment quite nicely   The thermostat is sitting at 60 Fahrenheit, but the room temperature is sitting at 71-73.  Although today the outside temperature went up a lot (it's been below 30 degrees recently, and today and this weekend it's suppose to get up to the mid 60's) so I have a feeling I might be walking into a sauna when I get home.

[superdum2]

I have had this problem in my room during the summer.  I usually wedge a box fan in one of my windows and have them both open and it cools the place quick.  If you have only one window try opening it doing the same and keeping the door open and all furniture from the vents in the room.

BUT because you do not trust the area you are in you could keep a fan on low towards your return vent (because these things do a terrible job of moving air it seems)

[vadoff]

You need better case fans. That's the cheapest and most effective way for you to get better cooling right now.

Make sure it's in a push/pull configuration, and try to clear as much air space as possible with zip ties. Also make damn sure you're not using any ribbon cables.

[wearepoor]

Open the computer case and direct some fan toward the opened case

[xbithero]

I just have my rig running outside in the summer in a box, and in the winter its cold enough in my room

[greyhawk]

Open the computer case and direct some fan toward the opened case

nice way to build a heat trap and burn that fucker down

[Topthelel]

Apart from taking the sides of the case out to leave the system exposed, you can try putting ice in a well sealed bag and leave it on top of the cards, granted unsafe but if you cover the plastic bag over cloth then it could work out. But I'd only do this if the temps are getting way too high, for normal use just buy a small desk fan and put it so that it blows on the system. It worked for me when my old ati 2600xt fan stopped working. Investing in watercooling isn't a bad idea either.

[poelling92]

Apart from taking the sides of the case out to leave the system exposed, you can try putting ice in a well sealed bag and leave it on top of the cards, granted unsafe but if you cover the plastic bag over cloth then it could work out.

Do not place it directly on card, condensation may happen and you will have water in card.

[Kluge]

Open the computer case and direct some fan toward the opened case

nice way to build a heat trap and burn that fucker down

Maybe. Graphics cards in the past couple years generally exhaust "used" air out the back of the case instead of spitting the hot air right out from where the fan's positioned (which was a horrible solution since a lot of that air ended up swirling around inside the case). Best bet is usually to position external fan (if even necessary, which I doubt with a two-card setup) either toward the front of a case or away from the back of the case, depending on how the case is designed (with regards to fan orientation). Though not as effective as when graphics cards exhausted hot air straight out from the fan, it's generally still a good idea to open up the siding of the case if it's in a low-traffic area, and an open case is usually still your best bet for cool cards outside of liquid cooling. (modular hard plastic shelving is a very effective, cheap solution -- main PC has been running on modular shelving for over two years with no issue)

[flyingweasel]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 83'C seems fairly normal for a card under full load, at least not dangerous... ?

I had the same issue when mining in a case, and strangely removing the side of it only increased the temperature of the cards. Instead what I did was strap the sides back on and get a decent in-take / out-take airflow going.

I have two in-take fans at the front bottom of the case and two exhaust fans at the back and top. This creates a chimney effect that sucks fresh air in and ejects it out. The result is that there is a continual air flow throughout the case, rather than just letting the hot air dissipate naturally.

The whole effect was significant, and my dual 7970's that were running 88 / 90'C dropped to 79 and 83 respectively.

For the price of a couple of fans, I'm very pleased. FYI I'm running them in an Antec 300 case.

HTH
FlyingW

[vaskomobile]

Hello,

I`m playing with cooling setup on my case , and at the end i put my MB on the bench to achieve best cooling.
So if that is not problem for you don`t lost your time , pull out the MB from your case.I have R9 290 at 1050MHz Core and 1500MHz Mem. +20% pow and GPU go from 90C in case to 75C on ambient temp. about 20-25C.

You can look picture section , and see that any more serious miner`s have their rigs on bench.

EDIT: I have CoolerMaster SilentPro case with 5x12cm fan`s.
R.

[GarbageName]

With the above comment on an external fan I bought a boxfan for $18 from Walmart.

The side of the case has holes in it, so I put the boxfan on the side of the case and blow air in. The key is to have the airflow from the top, down on the GPUs.

At least for my setup, this avoids the heat trap. I tried blowing air from the front, but it did not do much. By having the air blowing in from the top of the graphics cards, it basically blows the air away from the point source, that would be the cards themselves. I saw about a 4 degree C reduction on the hot card (I have two) and a 7 to 8 degree reduction on the cooler card. The box fan pulls 70 watts from the wall (I have it on low, which maybe 40 I can't remember).

Probably the easiest quickest way to save some life on your cards.

You can check Cgminer to see if you are having any success. Keep moving the fan till you get the best cooling solution. Also, higher flow of air, does not mean cooler gpu.

--GarbageName

[Erasmuz]

I have fixed the issue for now.

Thanks for all the replies. I went with a box fan.  I then use the side panel at an angle to help direct as much of the air flow as possible into the case and it has worked miracles.  Both cards will now run at about 78 under full load!

To respond to some specific suggestions....
I don't really want to introduce ice into the case, this seems like a lot of work, and very prone to accidents.  Good idea, but just not for me.

Flyingweasel, I have this exact setup as well, but I don't think my case is large enough to get enough room between the cards to help.  I have 2 fans in front pulling. 2 on top, front one pulling rear pushing. 2 side fans pulling, and one rear pushing out heat.  They are all corsair fans, but it just wasn't doing the trick .  I think it's because this specific machine is a smaller case.  When I built it I hadn't planned for 2 GPU's under 100% load for days . 

Again thanks for all the help.

[anon989]

From what I have read (please verify, don't take my word for it) the r9 280x are designed for continuous 95C temps.
That being said, your apartment would likely melt first

I have 2 Sapphire R9 280x in a case, running at 720khs each, and stable 72C.
It's a large cooler master case that I originally intended for gaming.
It has a 120mm fan with my cpu liquid cooler, two 230 fans on the case.
But its the cheap walmart box fan that keeps the cards cool, even though both cards have dual fans and nice heat piping.

The case is large enough that the air easily flows from one side and out the back. I've got two more cards coming in and some riser.
Once I get my hands on them, the case is being re purposed, and the rig will be completely open in a crate or on a shelf.

My room gets fairly warm with the door closed with just two cards. I'm probably going to vent heat out and cool air in, through some ducting to my window, with locks on the windows and filters on the ducting.

[wobbzz]

From what I have read (please verify, don't take my word for it) the r9 280x are designed for continuous 95C temps.
That being said, your apartment would likely melt first

I have 2 Sapphire R9 280x in a case, running at 720khs each, and stable 72C.
It's a large cooler master case that I originally intended for gaming.
It has a 120mm fan with my cpu liquid cooler, two 230 fans on the case.
But its the cheap walmart box fan that keeps the cards cool, even though both cards have dual fans and nice heat piping.

The case is large enough that the air easily flows from one side and out the back. I've got two more cards coming in and some riser.
Once I get my hands on them, the case is being re purposed, and the rig will be completely open in a crate or on a shelf.

My room gets fairly warm with the door closed with just two cards. I'm probably going to vent heat out and cool air in, through some ducting to my window, with locks on the windows and filters on the ducting.

I'm thinking of doing something similar in the summer for two 6 card rigs that I have. Ducting around the frame, taped to the window, with a window fan pulling hot air outside. Still researching this.

[quicksilv3r]

 720khs lol,
 just buy w/ bitcoin USB asic block erupter and save yourselfpower and the sweats they mine 330MH/s @ 2.5W power. and with 3 sticks close to 1GH/s

[mentosmint]

Get risers and get some typhoon fans, or others with a high RPM. Airflow is your best friend.