OK, I'm trying to ready Cheetah to drop in a third GTX 570 in the future. The top GPU card is already quite a bit hotter than the bottom one. I will get a 166.2 CFM NZXT 200mm side fan tonight, to replace the 110 CFM CoolerMaster 200mm fan I originally bought to blow on the GPUs. This should help - 50% more airflow over the GPUs. Then I will take that 110CFM 200mm fan and put it up top so there will be two exhaust fans on the top instead of just the one that is there now - I hope that will result in some gains as well.
However, I have this giant Dynatron HSF on the X6 1100T CPU, and I'm afraid that part of the problem is that it's just too darn huge and is very close to the back of the top GPU. I would not have purchased such a monstrosity air cooler for this particular rig, but my brother got it a year ago, and I'm just using parts we had...
My question: Would putting on a small-ish water cooling setup like the Antec Kuhler H2O 620 help get that heat up and away - like mounting the small radiator to the inside top or back of the case, or perhaps even outside it? Fry's has it onsale for $29.99 so it would be worth the money to me if it would help in getting a thrid GTX 570 in there...
Thanks if anyone has any ideas or opinions on this! I'm off to Fry's in a while and would pick it up along with the more powerful side fan and a couple other odds and ends I need to get. Unfortunately the 7970 is not on the list tonight, although the sale is good. heh...