Need advice before resorting to RMA video card

[p dandy]

Hi,

I'm hoping that someone can lend their expert advice on video cards. I am a dunce when it comes to hardware.

I have a SLI machine that I bought Cyberpowerpc. It has two identical model EVGA cards. Idle temps are at ~40 degrees C at startup. I'm using RivaTuner to get these temps. I have split frame rendering and single display perf mode set in nvidia control panel. Fan is at 100%. No overclocking and confirmed with the Nvidia SLI monitoring tool that SLI is being used. My PSU is 1000W.

The problem I'm running into is when I'm playing games, one card can get substantially higher temp than the other. For example, when playing World in Conflict one card can get up to ~84 degrees C while the other card is only at 51-55 degrees C. I understand the top of the line nvidia cards do get super hot but I don't understand why such a difference between the cards.

Now you might say that it is just bad airflow but I also switch the card slots. The hot temperature in RivaTuner follows that gpu around so I don't think it is an airflow problem. Also my ambient temperature is around 26 degrees C (Washington). Please let me know if I'm missing a step here when reseating my cards. Also isn't slave/master settings on the slot itself not on the card. So it's not a valid problem that the master always the one getting the hottest.

I would love to get advice from people on this board so I can determine if I have a bad card or not. I surely don't want EVGA to get my card, determine it is in great condition, and send it right back to me.
Again I'm not well versed in hardware so please let me know if you need any other information.

Also how can you tell which slot corresponds to GPU1 and GPU2 in RivaTuner? That is necessary to find out which card to RMA.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Try clearing out the dust. Depending on how long ago you got the pc, the one that was in the top SLI slot had worse airflow, and probably attracted a bit more dust. I dont know the specifics of how RivaTuner handles SLi and fan control.
I suggest trying a shader-heavy app on the hot GPU, see how high it gets. If its under 90C even at full load, I wouldnt worry too much about RMA'ing it, as its still well within spec.
It is also very likely that one card is doing most of the work, while the other is doing less. Load both up with Folding@Home and see if temps are comparable, or if one is significantly higher.

 

[p dandy]

Thanks for the quick response. I ran tests on the individual cards and under the same scenario, the bad card runs at ~20-30 degrees C higher than the other one. I've decided to RMA.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

probably a good idea. The big Manufacturers for video cards are usually good about RMA'ing something if its even slightly off.