another option that i'm considering, although it's suitable only for specific slots - e.g. only slots that receive direct air flow from outside of case...
I am willing to take a dual fan GPU with heatpipes (not the radial aluminum cooler type, since these are shorter and usually have single fan, very close to the rear I/O), remove the shroud & remove althogether the fan closest to the I/O.
Will this reduced thickness of the card allow to fit a short pcie card (e.g usb controller) in the immediate next PCIe slot?
Basically, can someone recomment an nvidia new generation card 10x, dual fan, with radiator thin enough not to overlap/interefer with the second slot?
Maybe most of them are like this? i guess i need some advice from someone that disasembled one