pci-e problem

TerrorFirmer

I have a computer with a pci-e slot. Only problem is that it has xpress 200 chipset so the heatsink for the chip is right beside the slot, which means any half decent card with 4 mounting holes on the back won't fit because of the stupid heatsink being in the way of the screws on the back of the card.

any recommendations on a card that'll fit or how to get around this...

tba

could you change the heatsink? Would be a better solution than another card.

TerrorFirmer

It looks like this:



A different heatsink won't work as when the cards inserted, the mounting hole screws are pretty low down anyway....so it's not the height, just the position!

It means that card like this:



Won't fit as the heavy back screws hit off the heatsink...Something like this (7300gs) should fit fine, due to the small mounting holes etc, but hardly desirable performance....

tba

I don't know off hand any cards that have no backplates. If you want to have one I see three options.

Alter The chipset heatsink in some manner.
Find a way to cool the GFX card with out a major (or slim) element on the back
Or see if there is some sort of PCIe Riser that can alter the position of the GFX card (similar to those ones that used to rotate them through 90 degrees except with a simple height increase

TerrorFirmer

So far, it looks like an X300SE, 7100GS, 7300GS, those sort of low end cards with just the plastic clips holding the fan/heatsink in place would work fine but the performance would be crap.

I used to have an old x800se that I think had those plastic clips, but I sold it ages ago....problem is, I cannot buy online, only locally....so the type of card I now obviously need is tricky to find.

I was just going to unscrew one of the back screws off my x1600, 3 would still be enough to hold the cooling on, but those bastards wouldn't budge for the world...

hopeful

You can remove the heatsink from the mainboard and carefully file away just enough metal so the clip on the back of the graphics card will fit...shouldn't affect the cooling in any meaningful way...in fact will probably be better as when you refit the heatsink no doubt you will use a better TIM than the manufacturer

TerrorFirmer

I had considered using a small pilers to cut away part of the heatsink to accomodate the card but I really shouldn't have to do it in the first place just to install a card, it's super annoying....anyway, thanks for the advice.

In hindsight maybe i don't even need the X1600pro anyway, this is only a secondary computer, and I won't be gaming that much on it, so I might just return it and get a cheaper basic pci-e card like the 7300gs with the plastic clips...

8T8

Get the Zalman chipset cooler and hack off some of the fins that's what I did for my Epox nForce 4 board as the low profile cooler died so I couldn't replace it with an off the shelf item as it would block the GPU so it cut away the fins using a hack saw that were in the way and it works perfectly.

The cooler is also maneuverable with a bit of thermal paste so you can easily nudge it out of the way of the GPU cooler once attached.

TerrorFirmer

I think I'll get a 7300GS tomorrow, but if in future I need to replace it, I guess I'll have to take tools to it...thanks again all.