hi phil,
you recommended:
2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SC2 GAMING
1 x ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Mini
The evga cards are not blower type. Are they going to be okay heat wise?
I am guessing they would be fine on open air/no case build?
but for a build inside a case, I would need blower type cooler right?
For a case build, the EVGA SC2 cards should have good enough cooling, but a switch to the ASUS "Turbo" blower card would probably run cooler, or even to any of the Founder Edition cards.
The Zotac mini is long enough to partly block the blower intake of the middle card, AND it's going to be blowing HOT air into that blower intake - NOT recommended for a rig in a case.
For case builds, I'm fond of the Thermaltake H34/H35 series cases - you DEFINITELY need a case that has "8 peripheral slots" and some SPACE between the end of the motherboard and the PS or edge of the case so that end card can get some AIR into it.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA8EF5RY3313&cm_re=thermaltake_h34-_-11-133-270-_-Product (edit to fix the "V34/35" misquote and add a link)