Sound card is shorting against GPU?

Fatso666

Fatso666

Fatso666

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I have mid ATX motherboard with a Palit 1060 GPU and Xonar STX sound card installed. Initially I installed the sound card in the top PCIe slot and the GPU directly below but this mean they were almost/actually touching

My pc ran fine but whenever I turned the pc off it would shut down then start booting again. I tried all the fixes to windows 10 around quick boot but moving my sound card to the bottom stopped this issue, which makes it seem like it was causing a short

I'm planning to upgrading to a 2060 super FTW3 which occupies 3 slots hence I won't be able to place my sound card in the bottom and might have to move it to the top again. Should this actually be happening though, seems kind of weird that having components installed as standard causing shorting
 
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labcoattech said:
can you actually see the cards touching? Can you place something between them to see if the touching is causing the short.
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I never actually confirmed it but that was my suspicion. I was thinking of placing something like a thin rubber sheet or a sheet of paper between them to try and isolate them and confirm its a short next time I open my pc
 
Fatso666 said:
I never actually confirmed it but that was my suspicion. I was thinking of placing something like a thin rubber sheet or a sheet of paper between them to try and isolate them and confirm its a short next time I open my pc
Click to expand...
Something to insulate it would be best, rubber mat or similar, if it is shorting.
Can you not adjust the I/O side of the 2 cards to move them further apart.?
 
Sometimes close inspection shows that 2 seperate soldering points have become inadvertently connected through poor soldering on the hardware and causes a short I don't think that's the issue since the computer is actually booting up though just something I've seen before that sprang to mind.
 
Jokester said:
Had this happen myself, some electrical tape over the exposed contacts on the sound card sorted it.
Click to expand...
The Xonar STX has a metal shroud over it so I'd probably have to cover up the GPU side but in my experience electrical tape tends to come off in high temperatures as you'd find in a pc case

d_brennen said:
Wedge of cardboard, job done :p
Click to expand...
Hoping for a slightly more elegant solution than a wedge of cardboard sticking out from my mobo :D
 
Would think that it's heavier graphics cards, which is sagging more downwards leaving more room for sound card above it.

Though top slot is rather lousy spot for sound card.
VRM in graphics card handles very high currents which makes it potential EMI source very close to sound card.
Also heat of graphics card heats it up, while above it there's heat from CPU.
In Finnish PC forum one user once had Xonar DGX actually malfunctioning when PC heated up.


Fatso666 said:
The Xonar STX has a metal shroud over it so I'd probably have to cover up the GPU side but in my experience electrical tape tends to come off in high temperatures as you'd find in a pc case
Click to expand...
Sports tape with fabric like used in hockey sticks etc seems to stick pretty well at least in various uses in machinery.
Father has been using one 20 year old roll from my school time.
Electrical tape just separates from its glue, if there's pretty much any kind heat.
Though that glue then sticks to and spreads in cables.
 
EsaT said:
Would think that it's heavier graphics cards, which is sagging more downwards leaving more room for sound card above it.

Though top slot is rather lousy spot for sound card.
VRM in graphics card handles very high currents which makes it potential EMI source very close to sound card.
Also heat of graphics card heats it up, while above it there's heat from CPU.
In Finnish PC forum one user once had Xonar DGX actually malfunctioning when PC heated up.


Sports tape with fabric like used in hockey sticks etc seems to stick pretty well at least in various uses in machinery.
Father has been using one 20 year old roll from my school time.
Electrical tape just separates from its glue, if there's pretty much any kind heat.
Though that glue then sticks to and spreads in cables.
Click to expand...
The 2070 super takes up 3 slots

Never would have thought of using sports tape for insulating components lol, although I'd worry about the glue residue when you take it off though.

I have an Gigabyte Aorus z390 mobo and as the EVGA 2070 Super FTW3 takes up 3 slots I think I'm limited to either have the soundcard directly above the GPU, or at the bottom where it's going to literally cover up the GPU's fans? My CPU is currently cooled by AIO so there's no immediate CPU heat to worry about
 
IPA sorts out any residue.

Not sure where you guys get your electrical tape or how hot your cases are getting, but I had completely forgotten my tape was on there till I stripped the machine a couple of weeks back. Been there 7 years!
 
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