New GPU, size is important

GooD

Im selling my old computer and the only piece that could need a replacement is the graphic card.

Any budget GPU would do, only one thing is to consider : Size of the GPU. I need a "normal" sized GPU.

The actual graphic card is the Radeon X850 XT, any taller GPU would go too far and go in front of the motherboard chipset cooler. With a taller card (i tried one) the temp of the chipset reach > 60C and the computer begin to lag.

The board is a DFI LANPARTY ULTRA-D , with an AMD 4000+ processor and PCI-Express 2.0 slot.

Since most recent GPU are tall (i could say HUGE),
Any idea on a better alternative i could offer to the buyer ?

Thankx

Cliff_Forster

GooD wrote:

Im selling my old computer and the only piece that could need a replacement is the graphic card.

Any budget GPU would do, only one thing is to consider : Size of the GPU. I need a "normal" sized GPU.

The actual graphic card is the Radeon X850 XT, any taller GPU would go too far and go in front of the motherboard chipset cooler. With a taller card (i tried one) the temp of the chipset reach > 60C and the computer begin to lag.

The board is a DFI LANPARTY ULTRA-D , with an AMD 4000+ processor and PCI-Express 2.0 slot.

Since most recent GPU are tall (i could say HUGE),
Any idea on a better alternative i could offer to the buyer ?

Thankx

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102829

Here is a good low profile model.

GooD

Thankx for the suggestion, low profile are not realy needed , the card can be as thick as it want, it just cant be 9" tall , problem with video card is that too often the size of the card is not well indicated

Noted your suggestion tho, even if it goes too far and go in front of the mb chipset the fact that its low profile should help to prevent air flow reduction.

Cliff_Forster

GooD wrote:

Thankx for the suggestion, low profile are not realy needed , the card can be as thick as it want, it just cant be 9" tall , problem with video card is that too often the size of the card is not well indicated

Noted your suggestion tho, even if it goes too far and go in front of the mb chipset the fact that its low profile should help to prevent air flow reduction.

Is your northbridge fan cooled? I read that motherboard may of had an active cooler of some kind attached to its north bridge, which may tell me that chipset was prone to running a bit hot to begin with. Are you overclocking at all? Is your NB chipset fan (assuming it has one) spinning?

GooD

Yeah, fan is spinning, but heat problem on the chipset is always been a problem on the DFI Ultra-D, my CPU is OC and run at 33C , while my mb chipset even with direct air flow on the cooler never run < 44C. The cooler sucks. And its position is at ~8" of the PCI slot on the side, any video card taller than that comes right in front of the cooler, and heat becomes unstoppable without direct air flow to help the cooler. Any tall video card must be low profile at the end of the card (ie : having the fan at the beginning of the card, not at the end) if i don't want that to happen.

Something like this would fit : http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=38176&vpn=512-P3-N856-LR&manufacture=eVGA

That card is tall but thin at the end.

But i dont know if its good enough to justify the switch lol

Cliff_Forster

Ohhhh, I just realized you are running the good ole San Diego based Athlon 64. All the characteristics of an Athlon FX without the unlocked multiplier. Great overclocking chip, but not if your motherboard is bottle necking it with weak chip set cooling. My advise, if you are just priming it to sell. Go to your Bios, restore fail safe defaults, run it at stock and see how your NB fares before you go spending more money to refurb something you just intend to sell.

I ran that chip on a prior system, I could not afford the FX at the time (nobody realistically could), but the 4000+ was pretty much as good as it got until they started producing dual core chips.

GooD

Yep, 4000+ is best processor i've ever own

I won't buy the video card BEFORE selling it, i just want to suggest the buyer an option worth looking for (without risking heat problem on summer, during winter temp in the house is cold enough to have ~48C temps on the chipset even with air flow problem) X850 can handle most games easily at 1280 on normal settings, but the 2.0 shader is beginning to show age, most games demand shader 3.0 now, in those cases you cant even run the game with my video card :P

I could turn off the overclock but since my computer is 4 years stable with it, and run a LOT faster than without it, i don't want to sell it in a slower form factor :P If he wants to downclock it i have a BIOS profile i'll show him that he could load and lose 800 mhz in one click if he wants too

Cliff_Forster

GooD wrote:

Yep, 4000+ is best processor i've ever own

I won't buy the video card BEFORE selling it, i just want to suggest the buyer an option worth looking for (without risking heat problem on summer, during winter temp in the house is cold enough to have ~48C temps on the chipset even with air flow problem) X850 can handle most games easily at 1280 on normal settings, but the 2.0 shader is beginning to show age, most games demand shader 3.0 now, in those cases you cant even run the game with my video card :P

I could turn off the overclock but since my computer is 4 years stable with it, and run a LOT faster than without it, i don't want to sell it in a slower form factor :P If he wants to downclock it i have a BIOS profile i'll show him that he could load and lose 800 mhz in one click if he wants too

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161287

Have you considered something with an enclosed dual slot cooler designed to direct the warm air from the case? I think this could make allot of sense, the old single core is giong to be a bit of a limiting bottleneck as decent as it was its going to choke anything you consider, but a 4670 should take you as far as you can go on that machine while maintaining a fairly cool and if you pick this model its going to take the heat generated by the GPU and blow it right out the case keeping it from ever entering the case. I'm assuming your installed in a standard tower?