sli w/ Zalman VF900?

[ElementalDragon]

Ok.... here's my dilemma. i'm thinking about getting new coolers for my video cards.... cause they're running a little on the warm side (high 40's even WITH a 120mm case fan tied to the side of both of them). If anyone here has it..... would it be possible to use two VF900's in a SLI setup on the Asus A8N-SLi Premium motherboard, and still have room to use the last two PCI slots without having the fan on the lower card practically touching the PCI card? asking this cause i don't really want to buy $80 worth of video card fans just to find out that i'll basically be limited to only using a sound card, and not a PhysX card when i decide to buy a new one later down the road.

 

[iceman7311]

judging from this picture i am 95 percent sure you will have 2 free pci slots but the fan should be very close to the closest pci slot

 

[ElementalDragon]

still.... would be more helpful to know from someone who actually has a SLI setup with the coolers, and has the same (general) motherboard, and would be able to test it. i asked someone on Guru3D.... since he said he has two 7900GT's in SLI with VF900's and has his sound card in the bottom slot.... if he could move his sound card to the slot closer to the fan and see if there's enough clearance and if it affects temps at all, but he hasn't answered me yet.

 

[ElementalDragon]

all i can say right now is...... WOW! god do VF900's make a difference. yeah, they may be damn near $50 a fan, plus shipping..... but boy are they quiet/efficient as hell. with the stock copper coolers on the eVGA 7900GT CO SC..... with the only other fans in the case being a 92mm exhaust, the 120mm fan on the bottom of the PSU, and a 120mm fan strapped to the side of both video cards...... the idle temp for both cards was around 48C... hitting mid to high 50's under load. now.... one card's running around 43C, the other at 35C.... with just the 120mm PSU fan and 92mm exhaust. haven't really checked under load yet. if i have them turned all the way down (right now they're all the way up, and still fairly silent) ..... i can't really hear them when they're down. gonna get some more velcro to stick the 120mm fan back on the back of the case..... and i'm actually debating if i wanna put the mesh side panel back in...... honestly dunno if it'd effect the noise at all now.

Only thing i hate about them...... they NEED 3-pin fan headers. can't be like some fans.... even though it has 3 wires it'll usually work on two. tried plugging them into the one cable for my PSU that has spots for 3 case fans..... only two wires..... the VF900's didn't turn on. Other than that.... i'm in love with the things.