[SOLVED] mounting a GPU in a prebuilt SFF PC?

[hawkeyecb]

So I've got a bit of a pickle.

My friend wanted a GPU in his computer and he bought a GPU that was about 1/4'' too tall. It's a small form factor PC, HP Elite 8200, and the GPU is an R7240.

So my two options are modding the case significantly or finding a way to mount the GPU sideways. I've never done anything like this so my questions are simple;

1) Is it safe for some type of plastic to be touching the back of the GPU board? I think the fan would need to face up since it''ll directly be overtop of the motherboard, and I dont think you'd want the GPU blowing hot air into the motherboard?

2) Any ideas for what I could use to mount it? We're planning on screwing something into the side of the case to help support the GPU (and use an extender cable from the PCIe to the GPU). But I'm not really sure what. We will also be connecting the back of the GPU to the back of the PC, for support so it doesn't move. But I need something, safeish, and cheap because my friend doesn't want to spend anymore money (I had already told him not to get this GPU and to get the 1050 instead).

Thanks for any help.

 

[hawkeyecb]

Guess no one knows.

 

[Jmi20]

Do you mean the radeon 240? And I assume it’s full profile?

Why go through all through all the trouble installing a card with dismal performance when you could just take it back and get something like a low profile gt 1030 which performs significantly better, is newer, and would just fit in the first place.

Just replace it with this or if you could find a used one, this. The second one performs much better even though it’s an older one.

 

[hawkeyecb]

Do you mean the radeon 240? And I assume it’s full profile?

Why go through all through all the trouble installing a card with dismal performance when you could just take it back and get something like a low profile gt 1030 which performs significantly better, is newer, and would just fit in the first place.

Just replace it with this or if you could find a used one, this. The second one performs much better even though it’s an older one.

1. not my computer
2. used card so there's no taking it back.
3. it was $15 so value is much better for what the friend is using it for. Originally he wasn't even going to use a GPU, but a cheap older one is better than none at all.

It's not a full size. I'm guessing it was older style low profile? It's about 1/4" too big. My 1070 would got like 1/4 of the card in the case lol.

 

[Jmi20]

1. not my computer
2. used card so there's no taking it back.
3. it was $15 so value is much better for what the friend is using it for. Originally he wasn't even going to use a GPU, but a cheap older one is better than none at all.

It's not a full size. I'm guessing it was older style low profile? It's about 1/4" too big. My 1070 would got like 1/4 of the card in the case lol.

I dunno, it’s all too big for me (no pun intended hahaha).

I personally won’t go through the trouble, but I think you could buy a pcie extension, or a riser and just zip tie that gpu sideways... ghetto, but it works.

I saw one of those pcie extension things in aliexpress before, forgot what its called. Its about $10 as far as I remember...

 

[hawkeyecb]

I dunno, it’s all too big for me (no pun intended hahaha).

I personally won’t go through the trouble, but I think you could buy a pcie extension, or a riser and just zip tie that gpu sideways... ghetto, but it works.

I saw one of those pcie extension things in aliexpress before, forgot what its called. Its about $10 as far as I remember...

Yeah I ordered one of them from Amazon already for $10. I had tried to tell him to get the 1030 even if it meant saving, but he's mostly got a computer only for old emulation and the drivers on his Intel chip just make it hard, even though it's good enough.

I was thinking of zipties, but didn't know where to put them because I didn't think having them on the back of the PCB would be good.

I just picked up some metal siding stuff and I'm going to try to make a little bracket out of that. Screw it to the side and the back.

It'll be kind of ghetto, but the performance will basically triple. I mean the R7 240 can run a lot newer games just fine at 720P and he's only using it for emulation. And even lighter games at max settings on 1080P and get 60+ FPS (League, CSGO, Minecraft, etc)

Like the 1030, the 240 doesn't require power in plugged in from the PSU which is good.

 

[Jmi20]

Yeah I ordered one of them from Amazon already for $10. I had tried to tell him to get the 1030 even if it meant saving, but he's mostly got a computer only for old emulation and the drivers on his Intel chip just make it hard, even though it's good enough.

I was thinking of zipties, but didn't know where to put them because I didn't think having them on the back of the PCB would be good.

I just picked up some metal siding stuff and I'm going to try to make a little bracket out of that. Screw it to the side and the back.

It'll be kind of ghetto, but the performance will basically triple. I mean the R7 240 can run a lot newer games just fine at 720P and he's only using it for emulation.

Oh wait wait wait wait! I dug up my old optiplex 745 sff from storage just for this.

1/4” isn’t so big, are you sure the card is seated properly in the slot?

I remember my optiplex; which I bought a 1030 for just a few months back (my first post here is about that); and I remember, after buying the 1030 that I also had a LP gtx 750ti.

the 750ti for the life of me just wouldn't sit properly in the slot, until I realized that a capacitor in the motherboard was preventing the card from sitting fully. I just bent that sucker so the gpu would fit.

 

[Jmi20]

These caps were actually hitting the fan shroud of the gpu, preventing it from going in all the way:

So I guess double check everything first...