Gaining More Space for Graphics Card Length

[PercMastaFTW]

I may be getting a almost new 6970 for $130, but my Antec 300 only fits cards up to 10.5'', not 10.83. I was thinking of taking out the hard drive case or even putting a cut in it to give enough room at where it would protrude. I have two HD's, and they have enough space on the CD-ROM dock, but of course they are shorter. Maybe there's a trick to it? Also, will taking off the hard drive cage completely (attached below the CD cage and floor) damage its support though?

Any help? Thanks.

 

[hang-the-9]

Taking out the drive cage won't hurt anything.

You can mount the drives in the optical drive areas, I do it all the time. Although I often do it the cheap way and just screw the drives to the sides of the rails there instead of getting an adapter, which you should do

You may need to get longer SATA cables if you move the drives, and make sure you plug them into the same SATA ports if you move them as the system may not boot.

 

[PercMastaFTW]

THANKS Also, the guy said since he doesn't know me, he's not wanting me to go to his house to test the card out since he doesn't know me, but he said he'd make a video of it performing for 15 minutes on benchmark tests and video taping the card itself. He was saying he tried to sell it for $160, but nobody was buying it. He said he had it in SLI before, so maybe he might be recording his "working" one...

He said he'd show me the video when we meet up. Is this legit? What should I look for lol. Getting suspicious haha. Who says "We won't meet at my house because I don't know you." I'm just gonna ask him to see it at his house before I buy it.

 

[Ilander]

...if he said "SLI" I would worry a bit, because that's a CrossFire card...

It is best to see the card working if you're buying it used, or to buy it in a place where you have consumer-protections. Examine the card closely for any scratches or defects, stripped screw-heads, or loose components. Finally, see if they can give you any way of contacting them if things go south.

Lastly, you could invite them to your home, or a really-relaxed coffee shop (I have set up a desktop in Panera Bread once) to install and test. I suggest downloading drivers and whatnot beforehand.

 

[hang-the-9]

Sounds like you are getting it on craigslist, there are lots of people who don't want people to come to their houses. There are several stories about people coming to look at something, and they are actually looking around to see what to steal. They come back later already knowing the house layout and where things are and rob the place.

Meeting in a neutral public location is best. But the issue I have with buying used stuff especially video cards is that you can get a bad card, and it's happened to me a few times. The people I got it from took it back though in both cases, so no issues at least in my case. He may be just selling the second card to get some cash instead of having an SLI setup. But he could also be selling his bad card hehe. See if he will come to your place and you can test the card in your computer. I've done that before, but that's still a risk, although from the sound of things, he does not seem like he's after something shady.

Make sure your power supply can run the card also.

 

[PercMastaFTW]

Haha You're right, Ilander. Maybe he just made a mistake since they both do the same thing lol. Thanks for the tips!!!! And will a Starbucks be fine to set up a desktop as well? So, I should download the drivers first. All I do after is to install the physical card, and then start the driver program. It should be easy right? Anything else I should put onto the computer like a benchmark program to test it out? Or do I just need to know that nothing looks wrong?

And ah I see! He told me he gets off work at 5 and would be too tired to come out to my place (meet in middle). My Power Supply is a Corsair vx550w, btw. I should be able to run it right? No OCing though?

But yeah, it just seems kind of sketchy that he couldn't sell it at $160 haha. I don't believe I've seen it up on the CL till now, either. Should I offer him more money to come over?

 

[Ilander]

Crazy thing is...ain't much better-priced than ebay. At least if they flake out, you'll still get the card for about that price. And yes, turn off all overclocking. Heck, it pays to be paranoid, but if they were going to let me install it in front of them, I might take it as long as windows boots. You can always replace a cooler or underclock.