Airflow with 3 GPU designs

[DrPop]

OK, so I'm about to spend a considerable part of Friday night and Saturday shuffling parts between all our rigs.
I may put all 3 GTX 460's in the DrPop rig, but it will be running caseless to do it. I say "maybe" because I would have to disrupt the Twins from crunching for a bit, and I dunno if Trigggl will be too happy about having his puppets played with.

If I do get all 3 in the DrPop rig, could I please have some advice from the system builders here?
Mobo is ASRock 890FX Deluxe 4.
There is 2 slots between the first PCI-e and the second PCI-e. So, the first GPU and the second GPU get a little breathing room; the second and third GPUs are right on top of each other.

The three GTX 460's are these, each with a different style of cooler / fan.
ASUS ENGTX460
Galaxy 60XMH6HS3HMW
MSI N460GTX Cyclone

If there's not much discussion on this sort of thing, I wouldn't even mind a "cookbook" answer of: Try this card in slot 1, this one in slot 2, and this one in slot 3 for best airflow.

Thanks!

[John P. Myers]

Galaxy slot 1
MSI slot 2
Asus slot 3

[Mike029]

I don't know how wide the other 2 cards are but I own 2 of the Asus cards and I can't get them to fit in the slots that are right on top of each other. These cards seem to be wider than usual. You may have to place the Asus alone and put the other 2 side by side if they'll fit.

[Dandasarge]

I find that in my 3 stack the bottom one is the coolest by 10c It runs at a pretty cool temp around 50c, my middle card runs at around 75c and my top card runs at 60c. The middle card is the hardiest one to cool by a lot. Its over clock is about 50% of what my bottom one is. My ASUS doesn't seem to really mind it as much that its on top of another card. If the cyclone can fit in the middle I think that should be the best place for it. Unless the PS or something will block the fan of the bottom one.

[DrPop]

Thanks to all for the replies. Seems we all had a general consensus of what JPM listed here:

Galaxy slot 1
MSI slot 2
Asus slot 3

I think that is a good idea - put the Cyclone in the middle. Not sure which runs cooler - the ASUS or the Galaxy, but it sounds like I should put whichever has a better cooling system on top, and the "weaker" of the two on the bottom, since that is cool already...

[John P. Myers]

Thanks to all for the replies. Seems we all had a general consensus of what JPM listed here:


I think that is a good idea - put the Cyclone in the middle. Not sure which runs cooler - the ASUS or the Galaxy, but it sounds like I should put whichever has a better cooling system on top, and the "weaker" of the two on the bottom, since that is cool already...

The reason i say to put the Galaxy in slot 1 is because that slot is closest to the CPU and the Galaxy is the only card that expells heat out of the back of the case, instead of throwing hot air near your CPU.

The MSI second because that type of cooler is very open and will draw in air much more easily than the Asus, which is last because it has the most restrictive air intake design.

[DrPop]

The reason i say to put the Galaxy in slot 1 is because that slot is closest to the CPU and the Galaxy is the only card that expells heat out of the back of the case, instead of throwing hot air near your CPU.

The MSI second because that type of cooler is very open and will draw in air much more easily than the Asus, which is last because it has the most restrictive air intake design.

You be the hardware man around here! Thanks for that breakdown, and I will try it and report in over the weekend.