• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Best Graphics card under 9"?

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

Soldato
Joined
29 Aug 2010
Posts
8,629
Location
Cornwall
So it looks like, recently I broke my 5870 while attaching an EK waterblock :(

So now I'm a little nervous about spending £250-£300 on a new graphics card and waterblock in case I do the same thing to the new card.

So I was thinking I might try to get a card that I can leave the air cooler on. The trouble is due to limitation caused by my motherboard (location of SATA connectors) I need the graphics card to be under 9 inches in length.

I'm looking for something that will give me good performance (at least 5870 levels ideally) while also being as cool and quiet as possible.

It looks like I'm going to be restricted to the 560Ti range :( at that length, but if someone can find something better that'd be cool.
It seems like the Gainward Phantom and the Palit Sonic are short 560Ti cards that would fit. The Asus DirectCU II might, as might the EVGA DS Superclocked, but both of those may be a little too long.

I'm not bothered if it's AMD/ATI or Nvidia, so what are my best options? (I'll worry about budget once I know what my options are)

Thanks.
 
The 560 is a good card, so don't be too :(

Is there no way to use a right angle sata connector to fit under the graphics card?
 
Sorry, didn't mean to suggest the 560Ti was bad, I was just :( at being restricted.
Still, ideally I'd like something better if I could.

I've got this motherboard and I think (from when I looked last time) that because of the orientation of the SATA ports the 90 degree cables would face each other.
 
Ah, I see your problem. Looks like you could get three right angle cables in without them fouling each other though. How many sata drives do you have?
 
GoogalyMoogaly said:
Sorry, didn't mean to suggest the 560Ti was bad, I was just :( at being restricted.
Still, ideally I'd like something better if I could.

I've got this motherboard and I think (from when I looked last time) that because of the orientation of the SATA ports the 90 degree cables would face each other.
Click to expand...

No they wouldn't the sata ports are arranged so cables or connectors wont block each other way.
 
You can get Left-angled SATA cables too (sounds fkin stupid i know). These are the opposite of right angled. (as in the nose is the other way)

I had the same problem as you, but left angled cables solved it :)
 
Jamiman said:
You can get Left-angled SATA cables too (sounds fkin stupid i know). These are the opposite of right angled. (as in the nose is the other way)

I had the same problem as you, but left angled cables solved it :)
Click to expand...

Ah, this sounds like what I need as the right angled ones I tried seemed to go the wrong way. I guess I could do with 2 or 3 of both to keep them all going the right way.

Although thinking about it, 2 of the sata cables connect to the case for the e-SATA port and the hot-swappable drive bay (on a CM 690 II) so they would be an issues as I don't think they're replaceable.
 
You'll need to check the length of these individually, as they're around 9" but i'm not sure if they're slightly over or under, but:

Gigabyte GTX560Ti SOC (GTX570/480 speeds)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD6950 2GB (rev.2 ONLY, rev.1 is longer)
ANY of the HD6950 1GB cards
 
Just measured it a bit more accurately and it seems it's only 8.5 inches, so that really does limit me (pretty much to the Gainward Phantom).

Unless I get some left-angle connectors and hope they fit (is there enough clearance?) then I might have more options open to me (such as this one, that I like the look of). The issue then is that this is a non-reference card, so I couldn't decide to get a water-block for it at a later date.

How cool and quiet is the MSI 6950 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition and how does it compare in performance and quietness to the Gainward 560Ti "Phantom"?

If I don't water-cool the graphics card, 2 x 240mm radiators seems a bit much for just the CPU doesn't it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom