Dan Case + 1080 Ti?

[SteGa]

Hi all,

So i've recently (and very, very luckily) acquired both a Dan Case and an Nvidia 1080 Ti FE. I had an existing system with an i7 6700k + Noctua L9i and an ASRock gaming z170 itx mobo. So i upgraded my build with the new case and card and have a couple questions:

1: Any insight/tips on how to get optimal performance/temp compromise? I see benchmarks with the witcher 3 hitting 65 fps in 4k with ultra settings (minus Nvidia Hairworks of course), however I have to tweak the ultra settings just to hit 60fps, and its not so stable. Lowest i've seen so far is 45fps.

2: The card gets hot and loud very quickly when getting into a game (in 4k at least, haven't tested otherwise). I know people say its best to use reference cards in small cases like these, but is that true? Would it be a better idea to use a custom cooled card? I had an MSI 980 ti in the dan case before this, and it never seemed to feel quite as hot as the reference 1080 ti.

3. Even with the hot temps/loud fan, is it ok to game in 4k with this build? i'm worried i'll do damage to the card if I game for extended periods of time.

Any and all insight/criticisms are more then welcome. Thanks for having a look!

 

[Ionrent]

 

 

[SteGa]

1. I would look into undervolting the card using MSI Afterburner to lock in your desired core clock at a fixed voltage (the "Ctrl+F" trick). There are threads here and on Reddit that detail the process and results. The power efficiency gains are significant. Temperature and noise will be better as a result. You can also adjust the fan curve to your liking. Finally, these adjustments can be saved to profiles that you can toggle when you are running a game, since it makes little sense to run at a fixed speed when at your desktop or browsing. I'm hoping future GPUs are more undervolt friendly with respect to automatically downclocking, just like CPUs currently are.

2. Reference vs. custom/AIB cooling for the Dan A4-SFX is a trade off between GPU noise/temperature and the noise/temperature of everything else in the case. I tested both and prefer AIB cooling, knowing full well that I'm increasing the temperature of everything else by at least 6-9°C. Having a quiet GPU is more important for me. I believe Dan himself recommends custom cards although I don't have a link on hand.

3. I've closely monitored the backside temperature sensors on the 1080Ti FTW, and they've been completely unremarkable. You'll be fine.

Other thoughts:
Removing the I/O shield on the Dan A4-SFX will give you a significant temperature drop.

Really appreciate the time you took to share your input! Every answer was extremely helpful. I had no idea about the I/O shield, will probably look into removing it. With that said, I would love to get a custom cooled card because I also prefer a quiet GPU, but I managed to snag this reference 1080 Ti for $600, so as of now i'll stick with it. Undervolting seems more confusing than it probably should be to me, i've ticked the box in afterburner settings to unlock voltage control, but it still won't let me change anything.

When you say "the power efficiency gains are significant", does that also correlate to a drop in performance? The main reason I was looking for a 1080 ti is for 4k gaming at 60fps. It would be a shame to underpower a monster card like this.

Thanks again for all the advice!

EDIT: A curious piece of information. I just played a half hour of Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 4k, the fan got really loud as soon as my save file loaded and I got into the game. When I went to check my GPU temp in afterburner, it says the max GPU temp reached was 67C? Why would the fan be so loud if its only hitting 67C?

 

[Ionrent]

 

 

[AleksandarK]

Hi @SteGa, have you thought about replacing the TIM. It could bring temps down by as much as 10 C. I would recommend using Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut.

 

[SteGa]

Yes, the Afterburner interface leaves a lot to be desired. Switching to one of the green classic skins helps a bit.

Undervolting should not reduce performance. In fact, your average and minimum FPS will increase if your card was previously throttling over time. This can be observed by watching the core clock speed graph fluctuate. With undervolting, the line will be constant. This happens because Nvidia's default voltage curve Is overly aggressive.

67°C is pretty cool, so maybe the fan speed is greater than it needs to be? You can monitor and adjust this with Afterburner. I didn't like the reference fan tone above 35-40%.

That is very interesting... I've been browsing reddit trying to find some posts about undervolting an FE 1080 ti, but no such luck. Do you happen to have any useful links you can shoot my way?

Hi @SteGa, have you thought about replacing the TIM. It could bring temps down by as much as 10 C. I would recommend using Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut.

Do you think the problem could be with the CPU? I wouldn't think there's any throttling going on, but perhaps there is

 

[AleksandarK]

Do you think the problem could be with the CPU? I wouldn't think there's any throttling going on, but perhaps there is

Cpu should be fine, but the lower tepms you get your GPU to run at, the more stability it would have. Throttling is happening even when GPU is running at 65C, but it is not that noticable like the one you expirience at 80C. So basicly evey degree counts.

Just to add, put power limit at 80%, that should decrease performance by 1-3 fps and it should descrease temps as well.

 

[SteGa]

Cpu should be fine, but the lower tepms you get your GPU to run at, the more stability it would have. Throttling is happening even when GPU is running at 65C, but it is not that noticable like the one you expirience at 80C. So basicly evey degree counts.

Just to add, put power limit at 80%, that should decrease performance by 1-3 fps and it should descrease temps as well.

Will definitely give that a try. In the mean time i've attempted to undervolt based off of a reddit post I saw where the guy undervolted his 1080 Ti to 1911mHZ at .9V. I copied his curve exactly, but have now run into issues with my games. For example Witcher 3 now freezes and crashes after a few seconds of loading a game. Any idea why that is?

 

[AleksandarK]

Will definitely give that a try. In the mean time i've attempted to undervolt based off of a reddit post I saw where the guy undervolted his 1080 Ti to 1911mHZ at .9V. I copied his curve exactly, but have now run into issues with my games. For example Witcher 3 now freezes and crashes after a few seconds of loading a game. Any idea why that is?

Every GPU is diffrent, and it wil behave like so. One will require .7 volts and one could not work at that voltage. First you need to understand that. Secondly you need to stat playing with Vcore/clock ratio yourself. Choose a day for it becouse if it is your first time undervolting, you will loose a lot of time.
My advice: start decreasing voltage slowly. See if you can maintain stock speed with that voltage. If you can, try going lower. When you came to the Voltage that is arround 0.9 start increasing clocks. It may not go beyond boost clocks, but i think it doesnt matter when few Mhz are in guestion.Go as far as the GPU could go until you get to a point where GPU can not run at that clock speed with given Vcore. Back it off a 10-50Mhz so it is stable. Set a fan curve that is quiet, but doent let the GPU temps go crazy. Test your system with a few games to ensure stability.

 

[SteGa]

Every GPU is diffrent, and it wil behave like so. One will require .7 volts and one could not work at that voltage. First you need to understand that. Secondly you need to stat playing with Vcore/clock ratio yourself. Choose a day for it becouse if it is your first time undervolting, you will loose a lot of time.
My advice: start decreasing voltage slowly. See if you can maintain stock speed with that voltage. If you can, try going lower. When you came to the Voltage that is arround 0.9 start increasing clocks. It may not go beyond boost clocks, but i think it doesnt matter when few Mhz are in guestion.Go as far as the GPU could go until you get to a point where GPU can not run at that clock speed with given Vcore. Back it off a 10-50Mhz so it is stable. Set a fan curve that is quiet, but doent let the GPU temps go crazy. Test your system with a few games to ensure stability.

Very intriguing, sounds like it could take quite some time. Appreciate the input! Do you know if there is a way to move multiple points at once, so I don't have to move each point to the same clock number? Or is there no way around that

 

[AleksandarK]

Very intriguing, sounds like it could take quite some time. Appreciate the input! Do you know if there is a way to move multiple points at once, so I don't have to move each point to the same clock number? Or is there no way around that

Not really, because just like i said, every GPU is diffrent. I am sure you will have a great time and learn something new.

 

[SteGa]

Not really, because just like i said, every GPU is diffrent. I am sure you will have a great time and learn something new.

Bummer, it'll definitely take some time then. Thanks again for all the advice/help! I'll update the thread after my testing