Troubleshooting overheating issues with my cracking rig

[JusticeRage]

Hello everyone,

I've recently invested in a dedicated password cracking machine, but I'm having trouble getting the most out of it because of heating issues. Here's a picture of how it looks inside.
Basically, that's 32 GBs of RAM, a Core i7 and 4 AMD GPUs (SAPPHIRE R9 290 4G GDD5 TRI-X).




Now as soon as I tried cracking some passwords with it, the overheating problems showed up. No matter what I tried, it would never run for more than 5 minutes. I figured that the GPUs were too close to each other and were blowing out their heat on each other.
What I did next (while being quite unhappy about it) was remove two of the four GPUs; this way, there's some space between them for the air to circulate. I still had major overheating issues, so my last ditch effort was to place the machine in front of an opened window and add a big general purpose fan in front of it:



Now, it works a bit better. I still get interruptions due to overheating every 1-6 hours, but at least I can get some work done.
It feels quite bad to have 2 GPUs that I cannot use, though, so I was wondering if anyone would be so kind as to give me some advice on this problem. Thanks a lot in advance for your time!

[philsmd]

That's exactly why we always recommend to buy reference design GPUs (no gaming versions etc)... well it would be interesting to know the exact model/vendor of your GPUs.

At the same time we always recommend to NOT buy AMD cards (since years already) because AMD cards are difficult to cool, consume more energy (and hence produce more heat), aren't that efficient/fast etc...

You definitely should have checked the forums beforehand, almost every thread in the hardware sections says "Nope, even if you get a very cheap AMD card, don't even think about it, buy NV".

[azren]

I have the same issue when using 4 x R9 280X before I changed recently to 4 x GTX 1080 FE. If you read the hardware section you will notice that everybody will suggest to go with a reference design cards.

By the way previously I can only run 2 x R9 280X with spaces like yours (2nd photo) and my temperature are always > 80C but running stable (not hitting 90C) for more than a week. Force your GPU fan to run at 100% and make sure that the side panel is opened.

What cards do you have there?

Best regards,
Azren

[JusticeRage]

Thanks a lot for your replies!

The exact model is: SAPPHIRE R9 290 4G GDD5 TRI-X - worst thing is, they weren't particularly cheap. I should definitely have asked on this forum first. 20/20 in hindsight as they say.
Are you saying that replacing the GPUs by NV cards would probably solve the heating issues? Even if I jam 4 of them next to each other?
While we're at it, which cards are currently recommended?

[azren]

The exact model is: SAPPHIRE R9 290 4G GDD5 TRI-X - worst thing is, they weren't particularly cheap. I should definitely have asked on this forum first. 20/20 in hindsight as they say.
Are you saying that replacing the GPUs by NV cards would probably solve the heating issues? Even if I jam 4 of them next to each other?
While we're at it, which cards are currently recommended?

NV and make sure that you get a reference design cards.

My rig 4 x 1080 FE

(Fastest to slowest cracking speed)

GTX 1080 /1070
GTX Titan X
GTX 980Ti
GTX 980
GTX970

Best regards,
Azren

[epixoip]

Someone didn't do their homework

[Name Taken]

This has since long been an issue for cryptocurrency miners as well so the solution was to use PCI-E risers as a way to space the cards apart. A Youtube mining channel I've watched for a few some years is Bits Be Trippin and see how they build their rigs.

[epixoip]

You don't need risers. You just need to buy the right GPU.