Aurora R5 GTX 1080 SLI Thermal Throttling

I personally don't think I would try to SLI two 1080s in a small Aurora-R5. Wouldn't something a bit bigger (like an Area51-R2 or similar) have been a better choice?

I guess these are two Dell OEM GTX-1080's in SLI. I hear they are MSI-Aeros (the base or reference model). Yes, I think there are better cooler out there (even air-fan ones). The advanced air cooler on the MSI Gaming-X 1070 in my Aurora-R1 comes to mind. But it sounds like you are already committed to the two you own. I'm also not sure they will even fit in Aurora R5/R6 (they are 1-inch taller).

At least, they built it so cards end-up with a "one slot space" inbetween. That should help. These cards exhaust out the back of the machine, right?

It sounds like you already fixed it, but you don't like fan noise? Maybe you just need some nicer quieter fans?

Think of a way to fix it without spending much more money. Think of a way to get more cool-air in (the front and side), and the hot air out (the back and top). Manual Curve in AW-CC should help with that.  Maybe an extra fan somewhere?

What's going on near the bottom?

Maybe I'm not the best one to answer you. I'm pretty much convinced "single-card solutions" are better in the long run. I guess that's why I went with the GTX-1070 in mine. Maybe I'll pick up a 1180 cheap one day and upgrade.

Finally, that sounds like an awesome build. But why so extreme? Do you mind if I ask what you are doing?

Hey Tuk, grats on your 1080 SLI. I am running an Aurora R5 with a GTX 1080 SLI as well and have been for a month or two now. The SLI solution for the Aurora is fine so don't be discouraged.

You're on the right track with Afterburner, apply this curve to both cards:

Temp - Fan Speed %

20 - 25

30 - 35

40 - 45

50 - 55

60 - 70

70 - 85 (or 90 if you want)

80 - 100

In Command Center I use a slow curve targeting 45% at 70 degrees with GPU2 selected as the temp source. Given that there isn't a lot of breathing room for the bottom card you want the front fan to pull air into the case to hit the intake on the card for the fan to pull and push through. I have Founders Edition cards so it works extremely well for me.

For the top case fan I have this tie to the CPU temp (even though it is liquid cooled) to pull hot air out of the case itself. Even though the FE cards are blower style I still think it is a good idea to extract any heat in the case out. This curve is much less aggressive and is only running 20% at 60 degrees, I think I have only ever logged a max of 63C.

With these curves, having a good gap from the back of the case and the wall and keeping the vents and fans clean with canned air I have never thermal throttled. Even when I ran 1 1080 I never had an issue.

Now, I don't overclock with Afterburner so that might be part of your issue. I solely want control over the GPU fan curve and if Command Center had that I wouldn't need Afterburner.

Hey T1ck_T0ck‌ that was an excellent post. Hopefully tuk1991 will make those adjustments.

So, 63c or either card huh? Yeah, that is more like it. Good to see Aurora R5/R6 can handle SLI-ing high-end cards with no problems.

Sorry, I didn't mean to be discouraging ... just posting my ideas. Maybe I should not have said anything since I don't SLI.

Good advice on the GPU Over-Clocking. I didn't catch he was OCing with AfterBurner. With two 1080s in SLI it's not like you need the extra speed. Stock-clocks should be fine. I suppose you could setup a OC-Profile to set your record benchmark, they go back to stock for normal use.

‌ Thank you! Though I think I need to clarify slightly to make sure there isn't any misinformation on my part. The 63c was the highest I have seen my CPU (liquid cooled and OC) not the GPUs. For the GPUs I haven't seen them top 73c which is well below the 80c 100% fan curve and the 83c thermal throttle temp. Looking back on my post I did go from talking about the CPU to the FE cards so it is totally my fault.

I wasn't taking a dig at you at all. I kind of understand the excitement of the 1080 SLI and then getting a let down. I bought my second card for Siege and Wildlands and while it performs great in Siege Wildlands was a different story for a couple of weeks. I ended up running the For Honor SLI profile in Nvidia Inspector just to get decent performance until they patched for multiple cards. Just wanted to make sure that I wasn't saying something bad about a comment you made.

Honestly I tried to overclock them because I had been overclocking my single 1080 and I have to be brutally honest, don't do it. It's not worth it. I got stable clocks and a whopping +5 FPS and that's with a 6700k running 4.5Ghz. You are absolutely right that stock clocks are perfect.

I attached a Print Screen for Tuk so he/she can see what is normal (at least for me since every system will vary a little), hopefully it enlarges so it is readable.

Thank you very very much for this detailed and extremely helpful reply! I have tried out with the fan curves you have given and it works wonders! I must admit it gets a little loud, but nothing I can't live with, and my GPU1 maxes out at 79c, and this is only when doing a fire strike ultra stress test, which is a huge improvement! Thank You!

Tuk, happy to hear that helped! I game with headphones so I never hear the noise. The GPU fans are much quieter than the case fans all ramped up! Enjoy! 

While my CPU/GPU are slightly different ...

While running:

OCCT Power-Supply Stress Test :  i7-7700k = 70c max

and then

Heaven Benchmark (Ultra settings):  GTX-1070 = 83c max

In both cases, definitely pumping the warm air out the top and back.

Exactly! Every system will be different because of things like ambient room temp, silicon of the chips, thermal paste/heat dissipation, load, etc. 

I do have to say the Aurora case is pretty good at moving air, though it can get a little loud on manual curves. 

thank you so much ‌. i was so pissed that i had basically a demigod computer with everything maxed except for missing an ssd barely letting me play a 4k game without freezing. when the only thing holding my pc back was alienwares vow to keep your computer quiet

Anytime, happy to help! Enjoy!

I tried to follow what you said here but i was wondering about improving the cooling 

I been playing Civ-6 and the GPU runs at 82c and the ambient temp of the case is about 60C i can hear the fan spooling up and down (not too loudly) to maintain some sort of threshold.  I have the 850W PSU with liquid cooling (stock the way it came)  I was wondering if i placed a external fan on top of the case to help suck the hot air out would that have any effect?  if this is not the best solution whats the best way to quietly lower the tempatures?

dont want to hear alot of fan noise but just seems the Aurora is running warmer than it should

Thanks in advance 

https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-MULTIFAN-Receiver-Playstation/dp/B00MWH4FL4/ref=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_t