PCIe Card too close to Graphics card fan?

[Sharky II]

Hi,

I'm sure I'm not the first to have this problem, but after adding a Lycom DT120 in slot 3 to my cMP, my GT120 is now extremely close to the 5770.

I currently have

Slot 1: PC AT 5770 1GB (running main 30" ACD)
Slot 2: nVidia GT120 512MB (running 24" Dell)
Slot 3: Lycom DT-120 with 256GB SM951
Slot 4: SSL MadiXtreme64 Audio Card

I keep the GT120 around for the boot screen and so that the ACD 30" has the full 1GB of memory from the 5770. Ideally I'd planned for the small SM951 to go next to the 5770, but unfortunately that halves the performance of the SM951, for some technical reason.

I'm an audio/music guy so I don't need a very powerful graphics card, but Logic X can still very choppy with lots of plugins on screen with the 5770, so I don't want to halve the memory it has available by getting rid of the GT120. I do use FCPX on occasion. Yes, ideally I'd get rid of both graphics cards and buy a monster 4GB card, but it's an unnecessary expensive right now.

I don't care too much about the temperature of the 5770 - more the noise, I have to do some tests to see if the 5770 fan is going nuts and making lots of noise.

Is having one card so close to the 5770 'dangerous' in any way, or would it be OK? Surely people who run SLI rigs have this issue all the time? Do I have to get rid of the GT120 to be safe?

Cheers,

Ed

 

[h9826790]

Put

GT120 - Slot 4
Audio card - Slot 2

 

[Sharky II]

Hi,

Unfortunately the audio card doesn't give any more room than the GT120 (it's a full size PCIe card), and then the GT120 fan would be right up against the HD in bay 3/4?

Cheers,

Ed

 

[h9826790]

Hi,

Unfortunately the audio card doesn't give any more room than the GT120 (it's a full size PCIe card), and then the GT120 fan would be right up against the HD in bay 3/4?

Cheers,

Ed

It's hard to judge if that can gives extra cooling to the 5770.

But even just 1-2 mm clearance can make the difference in this case. The audio card looks like thinner and no heatsink, that may help to provide a little bit extra clearance.

Anyway, if your 5770 works fine, and you can't hear the noise (if the 5770 is approaching overheat, you should able to hear it). That means cooling is not a problem. No need to change anything.

For the GT120, if you don't want to put that in slot 4, you can put it in slot 3, and the SSD in slot 4 (of course, only if you decide to install the audio card in slot 2).