Question Upgrading a prebuilt Desktop PC - - - I'm not sure about the GPU clearance ?

MereZen

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May 1, 2021
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Hey guys.

I've been using this ASUS M32CD Desktop PC for a while, and I don't want to abandon it just yet because it's getting old. Rather than starting from scratch, I've been trying to find ways to upgrade it so I could play some games on it from time to time. Nothing crazy. Medium-high setting 1080p gaming.

Here are the current specs of it:

CPU: Intel Core i7-7700
Memory: 12GB DDR4
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 2GB
Storage: 1TB HDD and a 500GB Samsung SSD
Power supply: HBA008-ZA1GT (350 Watts)
Motherboard: Asus M32CD4-K Rev 2.0 Intel CPU LGA 1151 DDR4 PD01J0-B02

Intended upgrades

GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX 6600 EAGLE 8G

Power supply: Seasonic FOCUS GX-650, 650W

I figured that with a PSU and GPU upgrade, that would help. Heard the RX 6600 a decent option without bottlenecking the i7 7700 too much. But I'm not sure if the GPU will fit in the case. It's a large card with 3 fans

Dimensions of the card:

Height: 4.4" / 113.00 mm

Length: 11.1" / 282.00 mm


My motherboard looks like this:

By itself

In the case 1

In the case 2

What the GPU looks like in another person's case
Video of someone showing the card being installed

Do you think this card could fit? I don't know if that yellow and black port or the RAM slots being that close on the right side would block it. I picked that larger than normal RX 6600 because it's currently on sale new for a decent price.
 
Do you think this card could fit?
You might want to take a tape measure and see what the distance from the end of the PCIe expansion slot covers is to the edge of the case where it looks like you have a mounting location for a fan at the front of said case.

If that didn't make sense, read through this;

IMHO, I'd look into an RTX2060 instead of the RX6600 if you're looking at 1080p gaming. If you intend to recycle the GPU in a concurrent build then you're good to go with the RX6600. Adding a fan at the front should also help with the heat inside the case but in all honesty the case isn't ideal for that GPU(thermally).

The PCIe slot is designed to avoid the ram slots;
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzrGWNnZSWI

but you will need to remove the GPU if you ever have the need to replace the ram in your build. Speaking of ram, can you elaborate on your 12GB loadout and their make and model? You get a little more out of your system if you had a matched dual channel ram kit. If you're on a B150 chipset, then a 2x8GB DDR4-2133MHz ram kit with tight latencies would help a little, when compared to a 12GB loadout of mismatched rams.
 
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Do you think this card could fit?
You might want to take a tape measure and see what the distance from the end of the PCIe expansion slot covers is to the edge of the case where it looks like you have a mounting location for a fan at the front of said case.

If that didn't make sense, read through this;

IMHO, I'd look into an RTX2060 instead of the RX6600 if you're looking at 1080p gaming. If you intend to recycle the GPU in a concurrent build then you're good to go with the RX6600. Adding a fan at the front should also help with the heat inside the case but in all honesty the case isn't ideal for that GPU(thermally).

The PCIe slot is designed to avoid the ram slots;
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzrGWNnZSWI

but you will need to remove the GPU if you ever have the need to replace the ram in your build. Speaking of ram, can you elaborate on your 12GB loadout and their make and model? You get a little more out of your system if you had a matched dual channel ram kit. If you're on a B150 chipset, then a 2x8GB DDR4-2133MHz ram kit with tight latencies would help a little, when compared to a 12GB loadout of mismatched rams.

Hey thanks for the help,

I just measured from the end of the PCIe slot cover to the front and it will fit. There is a fan slot at the front like you said so I will buy another case fan if I go through with this GPU. I did add a rear fan at the back already because it also has a slot there too.

I looked at the RTX 2060 cards but they're a lot more expensive where I am at least brand new. Looks like anywhere between $400-$500 CAD. At used prices it would cost the same as the new RX 6600 I was looking at which is currently $260 CAD, unless there's a worthwhile performance boost between the two.

As far as the RAM it looks to be one 8GB and one 4GB stick.

Hynix 4GB PC4-2400MHz DDR4 HMA851U6AFR6N-UH

Hynix 8GB HMA81GU7AFR8N-UH


I am not too knowledgeable of RAM but if running two of the same size sticks would help I could definitely upgrade it