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Mobo heatsink position touching graphics card potential problem?

dcsarge

dcsarge

dcsarge

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Hi all, I am just about to order a graphics card for a friend but I want to get him the best he can afford so long as it doesn't cause a problem.

The issue that concerns us is the motherboard (matx) chipset heatsink is right underneath the path of a full shroud 2 slot card, so if I got him a 470 the end of the card would actually in contact with the heatsink.

Getting a the MSI 460 would avoid this issue but would also give him less head room when he upgrades to a 1920x1080 screen later on. He may be tempted by a 3D screen when he does, so I imagine a 470 would be a better performance option for that.

Is the mobo chipset heatsink likely to get hot enough to damage the shroud or cause a heat problem for the card in general?

A number of matx boards appear to have this design issue so I was hoping someone may have some experience with this issue.
 
I can't find an answer to this by googling it so I am going to play it safe and ordered the 460. :)
 
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the 470 has shroud all around it, it will be fine as long as no metal on metal contact occurs. and it will help with its cooling as the gpu fan will pull air over it.

note that you will lose 2 sata ports
 
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on a serious note, i don't think it'll cause any problems, and at the very worst if the heatsink stops the gpu from fitting in the pci-e slot, you could always file a bit of the heatsink off, but bear in mind it won't cool as well (not by much anyway) so keep decent airflow around that area
 
twist3d0n3 said:
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Click to expand...

Lol. I cringed when I saw it too.

Marine-RX179 said:
I hope your friend got a decent CPU, or it will hold back the performance of the GTX460...
Click to expand...

He currently has a Athlon II x3 2.7Ghz. He did want to upgrade it but the motherboard is limited to 95w processors. It doesn't seem worth spending money on a new motherboard and processor when all the curent sockets are going to be a dead end.

Even if it does hold it back for now, it means he can play games at his current res (1600x900) for a while and then upgrade the rest.

Edit: Sorry, I didn't acknowledge everyone who offered advice. Thanks, sounds like it may have not been a problem but he wanted to play it safe so the 460 is already ordered.
 
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Just a quick update. After a few delivery problems we finally got the MSI 460 installed and it was a great fit given the motherboard and case size. The lack of shroud meant the card didn't foul any of the motherboard components and there was plenty of space around it once the cables were tidied up.

The side panel got slightly warm to the touch but there was plenty of air flow from the case vents and fans to keep the card from needing to run it's fan at an audible level.

We only had a chance to try it out with MW2 (not the most taxing game, I know) and it ran very smoothly on max detail with 4x AA. My friend is very happy with it and is looking forward to getting Mafia 2 and BF:BC2 when time allows.
 
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