Gigabyte R9 280x windforce + aftermarket cooler

[Diederikm]

i would like to place an arctic xtreme cooler 4 on my GPU but with the backplate on it, it will not fit on my motherboard (downwards i have a lot space but upwards i have my cpu cooler who is way to close)

So my question is, could i use the arctic cooler without the backplate ? the gigabyte windforce r9280x doesn't have this either, so it can't be that harmful i think ??

Thnx

 

[Aleszandro143]

Hey Diederikm,
Yes it will work fine without the backplate, but it won't be as cool and also it won't be as sturdy. It will work so you don't need to worry but it might start sagging because the backplate is there to keep the card straight over anything else but the bracket which adds to the PCIe slots should also help to keep it up.