9800GX2 fit on a 680i LT?

Jiggaman01 · **9800GX2 fit on a 680i LT? -** 08-05-2008, 17:24 | posts: 6

Hey, so I saw a great deal on an EVGA 9800GX2 and had to get it. Unfortunately my mobo is a 680i LT from EVGA, so it doesn't have 2 PCI-e x16 slots next to each other for the purpose of fitting the dual-slot card. I think I may be able to fit it over the first slot, because it would just cover up a few capacitors and a x1 PCI slot. I haven't tried this yet so I wanted to see if anyone had any experience doing this before and whether or not the card is too low to fit over the capacitors.

Anyway, I would test that myself but there is anothe size problem. The end of the card covers up almost the entire southbridge, which has a fan blowing air upwards out of the chip. Would all this hot air be a problem for the card, and would the air flow blockage be a big problem for the sb?

When I bought this, I figured the card would basically be just twice the width of my current card, an 8800 GT, but they are also friggin' long! Glad I decided to get a full tower case when I built this rig. And yes, I know I should get a better mb but that will have to wait till another day.

bLinkZor · 08-05-2008, 17:29 | posts: 1,311 | Location: Las Vegas, NV

Wait, are you getting 2 GX2 and thinking to quad SLI?? because that would need 2 PCI-E slots but 1 GX2 would be fine, and yes it would fit. If you have something on your 1 PCI slot it wouldn't touch.

usher · 08-05-2008, 17:37 | posts: 181 | Location: Worc's

The card requires one slot but its thickness may mean moving other cards in 1X PCI slots, I had to move my soundcard to the bottom of the case to fit in the GX2, mines fitted on a crossfire board

Jiggaman01 · 08-05-2008, 18:44 | posts: 6

OK thanks. What about the fact that it covers up the chipset fan?

MAD-OGRE · 08-05-2008, 19:40 | posts: 2,841 | Location: Alabama

you can have 2x 9800GX2s on your 680i, i have had 2 duel slots in mine for along time, you still have the bottom PCI slot left to use.
I think quad would be kinda silly, sence your still only using 512vram.

usher · 08-05-2008, 19:54 | posts: 181 | Location: Worc's

Heat inside the case is always a problem & it's made worse by the fact that the GX2 exhausts most of it's hot air out of the side instead of the end & out the back of the case, this means it will blow directly into your case, if your chip blows onto the GX2 then it may cause overheating.
The trick is to improve your case ventilation by adding more fans,preferably one pulling hot air out directly opposite the GX2 exhaust & one higher up blowing cooler room temp air in

Jiggaman01 · 08-05-2008, 20:01 | posts: 6

I actually have a 680i LT.

Do your GX2 cards cover the heat sink on the southbridge on your 680i? If so do you have heat issues?

Jiggaman01 · 08-05-2008, 20:03 | posts: 6

That above post was for MAD-OGRE, by the way. Thank you, usher -- I have a lot of fans already and it is pretty cool inside the case, so I'll test it out to see if it creates heat issues.

THEBIG360 · 08-05-2008, 20:29 | posts: 1,216 | Location: Bradford/England

The card will fit just fine. As for ventalation you really need a decent intake fan on the side blowing air into the case and a exhaust at the back and top if possible. Other than that you can leave the side off until you sort something out. I have the cosmos s case and my gpu peaks at 84 and thats with fans at auto. Never hits 70 at 100% but i fined it just too loud.