Minimum distance between cards

[Eyal20A20]

Hello,
I have a pc with the following specs:
Case: Antec Sonata designer 500 with PSU (500W) included. (ventilation: 1 rear 120mm fan, 2 front 92mm HDD fans)
Memory: 16GB
Mothrboard: Asus P8H67-M pro
HDD: 2 hdds
Sound Card: ESI Juli@ (PCI slot)

I wish to buy the ASUS HD 6850 graphic card. When I came to the store and asked for it, they installed it and told me it is too close to the PCI sound card ( I think something like 5mm. The PCI card was on the far slot), so it is not a good idea. He said that the heat and ventilation are not good enough for this distance. My questions:

is this distance good enough ?
would this distance cause more ventilation noise ?
does this GPU card work with 500W PSU ?

Thanks,
Eyal

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Can you use the hdmi ?

 

[Ohmybad]

I would install it anyway, watch the temps of your GPU while it idles and while it's under load. your sound card doesn't create heat and i don't think the space will have a tremendous effect on how your fans suck air in and out the rear of the card

if the temps bother you install a small fan to move air past the card (depends on your case

 

[spasmolytic46]

Hello,
I have a pc with the following specs:
Case: Antec Sonata designer 500 with PSU (500W) included. (ventilation: 1 rear 120mm fan, 2 front 92mm HDD fans)
Memory: 16GB
Mothrboard: Asus P8H67-M pro
HDD: 2 hdds
Sound Card: ESI Juli@ (PCI slot)

I wish to buy the ASUS HD 6850 graphic card. When I came to the store and asked for it, they installed it and told me it is too close to the PCI sound card ( I think something like 5mm. The PCI card was on the far slot), so it is not a good idea. He said that the heat and ventilation are not good enough for this distance. My questions:

is this distance good enough ?
would this distance cause more ventilation noise ?
does this GPU card work with 500W PSU ?

Thanks,
Eyal

Is it good enough maybe... Can you post a pic of the inside of your case?
I don't think it'll make a difference in the noise.
This card will work with a good 500w PSU, but I would say that you don't have a lot of extra juice.

Honestly though I'm inclined to agree with the tech you took it to. If he's worried about heat, you probably should be too.

 

[Eyal20A20]

Is it good enough maybe... Can you post a pic of the inside of your case?
I don't think it'll make a difference in the noise.
This card will work with a good 500w PSU, but I would say that you don't have a lot of extra juice.

Honestly though I'm inclined to agree with the tech you took it to. If he's worried about heat, you probably should be too.

I haven't purchased the card yet because of the reasons I wrote, so I cannot photo it, but I did see how it was when the tech tried to install it. From your answer and the others, I understand I cannot install it. I guess if I really want it, I will have to purchase an ATX motherboard and maybe a more powerfull PSU.

Thanks anyway,
Eyal

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

You really need that sound card then ?

 

[zloginet]

This make no sense whatsoever... When a person CFs or SLIs on most new boards there is almost no room between the top of the bottom card and bottom of the top card. I have a crosshair V board with 2x 6970s and I have bearly any room between cards. My top card always runs hotter then the bottom. So based on that, the tech would say you shouldn't CF nor SLI either... Who cares about the pci card being close. Just make sure you have a case with good intake and exhaust fans and you will be fine. However, your 500watt ps is the biggest problem... Depending on all your specs, one should always have a 600watt or higher ps even when using mid to low range video cards when CF or SLI is deployed.

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Yep, i would just try it and if the card get's really to hot ( which i doubt ) remove the sound card or is it that much better than the mobo audio ( or gpu if he can use hdmi ) ?

 

[Deemo13]

It shouldn't matter much. I have mine set up quite like yours. My Creative Soundblaster Audigy is in the port below my Radeon 6950 and the card runs fine. You should just make sure that the sound card is not large enough to like block the entire fan on the graphics card. Usually, if your case has good ventilation, it should not be a problem at all. They make those graphics cards a certain height for some reason; they are meant to be able to take up 2 slots, but not the third slot so it still can be used. I would go for it, and if the temperatures turn out to be really bad (which they shouldn't) then you can either take out the sound card and use onboard audio or just live with it.

 

[Eyal20A20]

It shouldn't matter much. I have mine set up quite like yours. My Creative Soundblaster Audigy is in the port below my Radeon 6950 and the card runs fine. You should just make sure that the sound card is not large enough to like block the entire fan on the graphics card. Usually, if your case has good ventilation, it should not be a problem at all. They make those graphics cards a certain height for some reason; they are meant to be able to take up 2 slots, but not the third slot so it still can be used. I would go for it, and if the temperatures turn out to be really bad (which they shouldn't) then you can either take out the sound card and use onboard audio or just live with it.

I think the GPU fan was half covered by the PCI card. I thought it over and decided to compromise on ATI Radeon HD5670 or HD6670 because it consumes 64W and thus I can stay with my PSU. But, I still have the limitation of the PCI slot. The PCI-e slot I wrote about was PCIe X16_1 (x16) which is blue. I have another PCI-e slot at the far end (black one). In the MB manual it says PCIe X16_2 (x4), and that for a single card I should use the blue slot for better performance. If I use the black slot, would it work as a single card ? would the GPU actually have lower performance than using the blue slot ?

 

[spasmolytic46]

I think the GPU fan was half covered by the PCI card. I thought it over and decided to compromise on ATI Radeon HD5670 or HD6670 because it consumes 64W and thus I can stay with my PSU. But, I still have the limitation of the PCI slot. The PCI-e slot I wrote about was PCIe X16_1 (x16) which is blue. I have another PCI-e slot at the far end (black one). In the MB manual it says PCIe X16_2 (x4), and that for a single card I should use the blue slot for better performance. If I use the black slot, would it work as a single card ? would the GPU actually have lower performance than using the blue slot ?

The black slot would work, but you would get lower performance. It is however possible to put a PCIe x1 soundcard into a PCIe x4 slot. Would that be a possible solution for you?

 

[Eyal20A20]

The black slot would work, but you would get lower performance. It is however possible to put a PCIe x1 soundcard into a PCIe x4 slot. Would that be a possible solution for you?

I'm afraid not, becuase my sound card is a PCI slot based (It is a good sound card and I would like to keep it).

 

[Eyal20A20]

Best answer selected by Eyal20A20.