On Mon, 12 May 2008 21:42:53 -0500, deimos deimos@localhost wrote:

wrote:
I've got a couple of ASUS 8800GT PCIe 512Mb graphics cards on my Asus
P5N-D motherboard. However I didn't realize that they were too thick
to be SLI-ed together! I could insert them alright, but there is only
about 0.5cm distance between the fan of the card on top and the back
of the card at the bottom. I think the heat is going to be a
problem...

Am I the only one who's having this problem?

This is actually quite normal in many SLI systems even with large
9800GTX's and such with the double decker coolers. I doubt it's the
most optimal situation for the reference HSF, but it is surprisingly
efficient compared to aftermarket coolers usually. You shouldn't have
to worry about later revision 8800GT's too much, only the first
production series of 8800GT's had poor coolers.
Later ones are greatly
improved in most brands (eVGA, XFX, etc).

Untrue if you mean the physical cooler elements... fan, heatsink
etc...

The BIOS was updated on the later-rev boards from eVGA and BFG (dunno
about XFX) to lower the temperature at which the fan starts ramping up
its speed. ( It was originally stuck at only 29% until the GPU core
temp exceeded 90 degreesC !!) For eVGA, the updated BIOSes for all
the early-release eVGA 8800GTs are available for download on the eVGA
website in the "driver" section. I have an early-release eVGA 8800GT
(w/ 675MHz factory overclock) and the improved cooling after the BIOS
update lowered its max. core GPU temp from ~ 95degreesC to ~
78degreesC in my rig with barely-noticeable increase in fan noise.

John Lewis