Questions about Aurora R5/6 SLI non-founder edition

Power use for the cards is also a consideration.   This is why systems like the Area 51 have 850W standard but 1500W as an option when SLI is used.  Higher end cards can use 225 or even 300W PER CARD.

Thanks speedstep, that's a good point. I have a 850w PSU while may only use those non OC card in my opinion. So far EVGA SC series fits the requirements, with 180W per card. While but not sure about the size fit or not. 

I think the Aurora R5/R6 would work better with a "single card" solution. I know you can do SLI (supposedly, even with the best cards). And while 850w sounds like a lot of power, you don't want to come-up short on the 12v rail. Then, there is the cooling ... it's just a small-tower case, and it's already rather parts-dense in there.

I would take a single GTX-1080 or 1080ti over a two 1070s in SLI ... anyday.

i can only agree with the guys. on top of that, the gaming X 1070 / 1080 cards you've mentioned are 42 mm thick. and most of the 3rd party 1080Ti cards are 2,5 / 3 slot cards. i don't know if you have experience with SLI or not, but there are other things to consider. for example, everytime new game is out, you have to wait for SLI Profile to be released. before that happens, you can use only one card. and on top of all that (GPU size, heat, Power, compatibility) you might end up with Micro Stutter or even bigger problems.

i will never ever go back to SLI.

Edit:
forgot to mention. EVGA messed up the cooling system for some of their GTX Pascal Cards. you could fix it but you'll need to take the Card apart and add some cooling pads. i don't know how confortable you are with stuff like that.

Several people have now reported their EVGA 1080 & 1070 FTW cards catching fire and completely dying due to temperature issues. This is directly a result of
EVGA NOT including thermal pads for the VRM or VRAM on these graphics cards.

Get free Thermal Pads:

http://www.evga.com/thermalmod/

http://www.evga.com/thermalmod/thermal_pad_mod_installation_guide.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URyG1OP8p8I

With both mods, the vrm temps are still 85c which is 20c higher than any other brand. There is a fundamental design flaw here and the mods are nothing more than desperate patches and damage limitation. The lifespan of the card will most likely be reduced.

msi 1080          75c- 80c\

Zotac   1080  amp 80c

Gigabyte 1080     70 c

have you seen the new Zotac Extreme Card? boy what a monster. huge and heavy. i doubt it will fit in the Aurora since the card is 325 mm long. besides that your friend has a point. most of the time the Zotac Cards end up having the highest Factory OC.

off topic:

getting boring here. 2 new threads in the last 48 hours. is it always like that after a while?

Yes, I was originally going to get an eVGA card for my old Aurora-R1 (even though they stopped doing their famous LifeTime Warranties). Their Founders Edition 1070/1080 cards turned out nice (but that is just the Reference Design).

This is the way I see it ... they dropped the ball on the second-gen revised ACX3 cards:

Models with ACX-3.0 either catch on fire or have heat-related glitchy problems:

http://wccftech.com/nvidia-gtx-1080-evga-catches-fire-video/

But these guys say it has other problems (not really VRMs)

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2691-final-evga-vrm-thermal-torture-test-and-analysis

So EVGA responds with new ICX cooling (in un-released FTW2 and SCs models)

http://wccftech.com/evga-geforce-10-icx-cooling-new-pcb-vrm/

But ICX cards weren’t available Jan-2017 when I was ready to buy (I had just gotten Fallout-4 for Aurora-R1). Nor are they offering free upgrades to existing loyal customers and Evga early adopters (which I thought was kinda lame). Anyway, I decided to look elsewhere. That's when I found the MSI Gaming-X cards.

I have a friend who swears by Zotac cards, but I've never owned one.

Carbon Based Lifeform wrote:

have you seen the new Zotac Extreme Card? boy what a monster. huge and heavy. i doubt it will fit in the Aurora since the card is 325 mm long. besides that your friend has a point. most of the time the Zotac Cards end up having the highest Factory OC.

 

Hard to say what other large Nvidia card sizes and form-factors fit (other than FE and same-sized Dell-OEM MSI-Aero).

For example ... here, they say FE cards are OK. But once you install the thicker rigid bridge, the PSU swing-bracket can no longer close. I'm not positive, but I think that ends-up excluding even one MSI Gaming-X GTX-1070, since it's 1-inch taller than a FE GTX-1070. Without the "hacksaw mod"   that is. 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/how-far-alienware-has-gone-backwards.781343/page-79

ohh. well that blows. in that case there are almost no options. all cards that could fit are, welb, crap. maybe there is one card that could work with that case from Gainward, Palit or KFA2 but i don't like them and would not recommend them.

Well, any card that is Founder Edition (FE) sized or smaller should fit.

https://us.msi.com/Graphics-card/GeForce-GTX-1070-Founders-Edition.html#hero-overview

FE is pretty "long" card (so I don't think length is much of a problem). Thickness is not a problem if only installing one. I think it's only the cards that are 1-inch taller (like MSI Gaming-X) that are a problem.

https://us.msi.com/Graphics-card/GEFORCE-GTX-1070-GAMING-X-8G.html#hero-overview

It's just a guess, but even it might work in bottom PCIe slot. If you still had to Dremel the bracket, it would be less to cut down there.

I'm also seen some normal (FE) sized cards with 3 smaller fans (instead of the larger 2).

And while I think we are both suggesting a "non-SLI" solution ... I think a thin flexible (HB) bridge will still work without mods.

Thanks very much for pointing out those concerns. I knew the EVGA issues, did the SC2 and FTW2 which used new iCX tech improve those thermal problems?

After reading you guys comments, I think maybe single 1080ti is better choice. Before I feel the price of two 1080 sli is roughly similar to one 1080 ti, thus I am thinking maybe I can try them.

But talking about the 1080ti, do you think it is able to maximize the Asus 34 inch ultrawide screen with 100hz refresh rate? The resolution is 3440x1440 if I remember correctly, as I play some FPS games thus I want it 100hz without any loss of quality. 

cloverke wrote:

1. After reading you guys comments, I think maybe single 1080ti is better choice.

2. Before I feel the price of two 1080 sli is roughly similar to one 1080 ti, thus I am thinking maybe I can try them.

 

3. But talking about the 1080ti, do you think it is able to maximize the Asus 34 inch ultrawide screen with 100hz refresh rate? The resolution is 3440x1440 if I remember correctly, as I play some FPS games thus I want it 100hz without any loss of quality. 

1. I think so, in a small Aurora-R6 anyway.

2. I think 1080ti price is cheaper than two plain 1080's (in SLI)

3. I just know that Fallout-4 (playing with Ultra High Settings) with MSI NVidia GTX-1070 Gaming-X 8gb at QHD resolution (2560 x 1440‎ at 60 Hz ) holds 60-FPS (even in complicated scenes with action) with no problems. I might be wrong, but this indicates to me it still has power to spare.

Since your proposed use-case is only 1440p, I don't think the extra width matters much. However, I've never read about how higher Hz affects required GPU power. If you are expecting 90-100 FPS (since you are running at 100Hz)  but I'm not sure how one estimates hitting a target of 100-FPS ... well, other than trying it. And depending on how graphically intensive the FPS game is, I think 90-100 FPS is probably not a realistic expectation. A good physics engine and proper developer use of PhysX should help some.

cloverke wrote:

But talking about the 1080ti, do you think it is able to maximize the Asus 34 inch ultrawide screen with 100hz refresh rate? The resolution is 3440x1440 if I remember correctly, as I play some FPS games thus I want it 100hz without any loss of quality. 

Asus 4K (3840x2160 @ 60 Hz) Monitor and Titan X Pascal here. i can play almost all games maxed out in 4K. sometimes i have to back down a little. disable hair works for example. GTA V needs to be adjusted a bit.

Note: GTX 1080TI is around 5% faster then the Titan. maybe look up some benchmarks online.

Do you think the eVGA FTW2 or SC2 really improve the thermal problems? I read several review, it sounds better than before, but hasn't tested that much. It sounds more alike you can detect the overheating parts more easily (with what they proposed as 9 sensors sth), but not sure it fixs the problem or not.