So I fitted both 3090 FE water blocks this week and installed them into my loop yesterday. Installation of the blocks went smoothly and I took the opportunity to also fit Thermalright pads.
Unfortunately I couldn’t complete my build the way I had in mind. I had planned to mount both GPU’s vertically. As I have an O11 Dynamic XL with a thick 58mm radiator on the bottom, I could not fit the Lian-Li 5 slot GPU mounting bracket. I even removed the radiator bracket and set the radiator into the bottom of the case but I still needed around 10-15mm clearance. Disappointing as I really wanted to see the water loop but at least the back plate design of the EK FE block is very nice too. Actually though, holding two 3090 FE cards in hand with the block installed is rather heavy and I don’t think the vertical bracket would cope well, even if I could have fitted it so the support stand could be screwed into a motherboard standoff.
Of course being horizontally mounted and without 4 slot spacing on the motherboard, I won’t be able to use NVLINK. Not a huge deal, it is just a bit of a shame. I might look at the other 3 slot Ampere NVLINK models but the FE one looks the best.
I had a bit of a mind boggle thinking how the two GPU’s would connect using a front mount distro plate but I figured it out.
I have not had time to do extensive testing but so far, results based on mining etherum are very good I would say.
My configuration is:
- XE bottom, intake
- PE top, exhaust
- SE side, intake
- Front mount Quantum Reflection Distro
- Rear exhaust fan
- 5950x (set to ‘Power Saver’ and 95% power limit)
- 3090 FE x2 with EK Special Edition water blocks and Thermalright 1.0mm pads
Temps recorded in HWinfo while mining etherum all day with OC set in EVGA Precision X1.
-300 Core
0 memory OC
77% power limit
Top GPU
- Core: 46.3
- Memory Junction: 82.0
Bottom GPU
- Core: 48.8
- Memory Junction: 86.0
CPU
- 59.0
Coolant
~43.0
Fans
~1500 rpm
After playing around pushing memory higher, I did find the memory junction went up but not above 90.0. I didn’t gain a lot in terms of hash rate and had to also increase power limit which also contributed to increased temperature of the entire loop to around ~46.0 and fans would also need to run faster. So I think I’ll leave my settings as they are ie not push for the absolute highest performance in order to maintain lower (more respectable) temperature.
Considering the noise and general fear about running temperatures of 104-110 before, I am more than happy with these results. IF I was building again however, I would get a larger case and E-ATX motherboard. I didn’t set out to have two 3090’s though, it was something that happened when I already had most of the other components and could not return them.
Until today I was set on getting the active backplates when they are launched. Now though, I’m not sure. And it isn’t because I don’t think they will lower temperature of the memory further - they will - but I don’t think I have enough cooling capacity to cope with even more heat being transferred to my loop. Again, if I was starting over, I would be looking at larger cases to solve this!
EDIT:
Made a slight modification this morning. Changed the side radiator fans so they are exhaust instead of intake. The result is similar temps to before but at 500 rpm reduction on all fans. Definitely not silent but very comfortable. In fact now the loudest thing is one of my fans squeaking, will need to replace it.
