Noooooooo!!!!!

Doc Rob · 3 Dec 2014 at 16:49

So, I was going to either buy or build a new PC, but after a great deal of thought and advice from some lovely people on here, I decided to try swapping out my graphics card first, to see whether this by itself would give me a big enough performance boost to tide me over for a while.

I arrive home today and the card's here. So I update my drivers, remove the old card, wrestle the new one past a large number of cables... and discover that it is, by a centimetre or so, too bloody long to fit in my Antec 300 case. :mad:

Honestly not sure what my next step should be. Logically I have three options:

1. Send the card back for a refund
2. Get a bigger case and transfer everything over
3. Buy the remaining components and build a new PC.

Option 1 gets me nowhere. Option 2 means I get all the hassle of the new build for relatively little return. This leaves option 3... but I had convinced myself I didn't need a complete new rig right now, and I'll need to pay out a further £1200 or so.

Bad words (I posted a mild swear word meaning 'testicles' but the swear filter removed it).

Doc Rob · 3 Dec 2014 at 16:57

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OC to 3.4GHz
Asus GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GeIL 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache
Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler
Antec 300 Three Hundred Case

Doc Rob · 3 Dec 2014 at 16:58

Actually a fourth option has just occurred to me - get a different make of card. I went for the Gigabyte version - the MSI looks to be significantly shorter.

Doc Rob · 3 Dec 2014 at 17:06

stulid said:
Dremel time.

This idea had not occurred to me. Could work - if I cut away part of the drive bay rack, which is what the card is getting stuck on.

Don't own a Dremel. Feel a trip to B&Q coming on.

What's more, I can try it before buying a new case.

Doc Rob · 3 Dec 2014 at 22:30

Removed the MB. Cut out a section of the drive bays. Replaced everything. Can't recall how exactly things were plugged in - should my primary HD should be plugged into the SATA or GSATA port on the MB?

Doc Rob · 4 Dec 2014 at 01:23

Thanks everyone. System seems to be working with new card in situ!

Doc Rob · 4 Dec 2014 at 09:11

ED209 said:
what method did you use to get the card in?

Bit of a mission, to be honest. Bought a Dremel (which is fine as I will definitely find other uses!), opened the case up, then rapidly discovered I would need to remove the MB and most of the components. Several reasons - the cutting created lots of sparks, I was a bit concerned about the metal dust even with everything covered, and (crucially) there wasn't room to get in and cut on anything close to the correct angle.

So unplugged everything, took the MB out, cut away a section of the drive bay (punctuated by my wife asking what the hell I was doing), cleared out the dust with an air duster, replaced the MB and plugged everything back in.

Now back up and running. Feel slightly pleased with myself, though the thought has occurred that building a new PC from scratch would actually have been less hassle than what I actually ended up doing!

Doc Rob · 4 Dec 2014 at 18:24

I have a deep seated fear that I am going to break something while building a PC, which makes me reluctant. However, having been up to my elbows in the case most of yesterday evening, the fear has receded to the point that I'm starting to think I should do a new build sooner rather than later before it comes back.

Doc Rob · 4 Dec 2014 at 18:28

I have to admit btw that I never checked the card dimensions. Which was remarkably stupid of me considering I have had the exact same thing happen before.

The advantage of doing it this way was that I got things up and running on the same day, without having to wait for new components to be delivered. I'm not a patient person...