Sapphire R9 390 NITRO -> can i remove the backplate?

[Zaporro]

Does anyone know if Sapphire Nitro R9 390 8GB allows you to remove the backplate?

I ordered the backplate version but when i looked into my case and to motherboard i have feeling the card might not fit in there.

Motherboard is mATX (MSI Z97-G43) and with my current GPU (Gigabyte R9 280 Windforce 3X) there is barely any space left between the back of GPUs PCB and RAM socket clamps.

Looking at the photos of Sapphire R9 390 Nitro with backplate im pretty confident that the extra backplate (its thickness) will not let me to put the card in.

Looking from the photos, there are some screws at the back of card (backplate side) but im not sure if they are meant only to detatch backplate (im afraid that if i remove them, the whole card will break apart, like cooling unit will fall of from the card, expose GPU and stuff)

Here is the photo of backplate version:
http://images.morele.net/full/775349_3_f.jpeg
And here is photo of "no backplate" version:
http://content.hwigroup.net/images/products_xl/313599/2/sapphire-radeon-r9-390-nitro-8gb.jpg

The location of screws does match but i need help to know if the screws are exclusively just to attach the backplate or they have other purpose (holding something inside of GPU, keeping cooling unit screwed to PCB etc.)

 

[Zaporro]

Yes it does. The card is in my hands and i was right. MATX board for backplate version was no go. After removing the backplate it fit inside (but the backplate is used as a heatsink for some chips).

 

[bailojustin]

Yes you can remove the backplate but it is there to help with cooling AND it also helps the stress because of the enormous heatsink to keep the card from flexing overtime in horizontal positioning in a case. Also the backplate has thermal pads underneath which help cool the VRMs

 

[Sunny Kapoor]

Yes you can remove the backplate but it is there to help with cooling AND it also helps the stress because of the enormous heatsink to keep the card from flexing overtime in horizontal positioning in a case. Also the backplate has thermal pads underneath which help cool the VRMs

@bailojustin

Hi i posted this question in the Nitro review thread and got this response:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2814749/sapphire-nitro-390-review/page-2.html#16869431

You do know that most rendering engines that use GPU are CUDA only? Iray, vray RT, Octane... All CUDA. Quicksilver is directX, but like all Autodesk products, it runs better on nvidia, although it does work on AMD as well.

With all that out of the way, back plate is pure aesthetics. It does nothing but help stabilize the plastic PCB... a bit. It does not help with cooling at all, as it is raised above all the chips below. If something, it traps heat more than the same GPU without a back plate. It's not enough to want to not get a back plate, but it's surely not helping with cooling.

This is my questions to you and why I need Sapphire Nitro

I am buying a Sapphire r9 390 specificzlly for 3D rendering, so it will be running for hours. Should I go for back plate version or without back plate?

Going to use it for Blender as it now supports opencl, with limitations but that 8 GB really helps.

Also ALPHACOOL has started building water blocks ( semi) for these GPUs, so the back plates might come in handy later.

As yours and the other persons reply are contradictory, please let me know should I go for the plate or not?. Does it help in cooling?