Dutch_P47M 9 Posted April 8, 2009 Maybe you could help me about a graphic card I want to buy. My MoBo is a very small compact system, I noticed that ATI HD4800 series or the Nvidia 200 series does not fit because these cards are very long and to high due the cooling channel. So I went out for the search at a compact system with a 1Gb memory. Still available at the store are the old Nvidia 9800GTX+ GPU with 1Gb and two cards (from Gigabyte& MSI) have compact sizes. My first choice, because its compact, is the Gigabyte euro143,-- : http://www.gigabyte.eu/Products/VGA/Produc...?ProductID=2918 , the fan is just on the right place no interferance with my PC components. Never know anything about Gigabyte Graphic cards, had a P2 Gigabyte MoBo in 2000, btw was good quality then. second the bigger sized MSI euro175,-- : http://global.msi.eu/index.php?func=prodde...mp;prod_no=1691 , MSI looks to me a better quality but the sizes are bigger and I have to make space at the PC case for the double slot system. Games I want to play on these cards are: OFF3, OOF, RoF and Olegs BoB2. your advice or experiences will be helpfull. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted April 8, 2009 far from a video card expert here, but i would go for the 1gb card. Everything else looks pretty much the same. And i like gigabyte mother boards... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch_P47M 9 Posted April 8, 2009 far from a video card expert here, but i would go for the 1gb card. Everything else looks pretty much the same. And i like gigabyte mother boards... they are all 1Gb cards and GPU = 9800GTX+. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cameljockey 3 Posted April 8, 2009 Why do you not see any serious gaming rigs in small (micro ATX) cases? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sitting_duck 3 Posted April 8, 2009 yep,,,my bad,,,was looking at the clock speed on one....still would go with gigabyte Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
almccoyjr 7 Posted April 9, 2009 Maybe you could help me about a graphic card I want to buy. My MoBo is a very small compact system, I noticed that ATI HD4800 series or the Nvidia 200 series does not fit because these cards are very long and to high due the cooling channel. So I went out for the search at a compact system with a 1Gb memory. Still available at the store are the old Nvidia 9800GTX+ GPU with 1Gb and two cards (from Gigabyte& MSI) have compact sizes. My first choice, because its compact, is the Gigabyte euro143,-- : http://www.gigabyte.eu/Products/VGA/Produc...?ProductID=2918 , the fan is just on the right place no interferance with my PC components. Never know anything about Gigabyte Graphic cards, had a P2 Gigabyte MoBo in 2000, btw was good quality then. second the bigger sized MSI euro175,-- : http://global.msi.eu/index.php?func=prodde...mp;prod_no=1691 , MSI looks to me a better quality but the sizes are bigger and I have to make space at the PC case for the double slot system. Games I want to play on these cards are: OFF3, OOF, RoF and Olegs BoB2. your advice or experiences will be helpfull. I didn't see the make of your mobo, only that you went out for a search at a compact system. I would first and foremost, go to the mfg site that makes your mobo and go through the forum(s) to see what has worked and what hasn't. That could save you a lot of potential headaches. Just a thought. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BirdDogICT 3 Posted April 9, 2009 First off is Heat Production, in a small case. Is your existing Power Pack large enough, it needs 450 Watts Does that Mobo accept PCIexpress 2.0, because that card sure is Just because it will fit don't mean much If there was a PCIe originally, you can't just buy a PCIe 2.0 Because you want a better picture, and it fits PCIEe 2.0 is backward compatible with PCIe 1.0. You lose some bandwidth (500 MB/s per lane vs 250), but works fine. The Gigabyte board is PCIE 2.0, so no worries. Cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamper 9 Posted April 9, 2009 (edited) Why do you not see any serious gaming rigs in small (micro ATX) cases? In a word? Heat. There are a lot of other reasons, but I'd say heat has to be one of (if not the) biggest. Small cases often mean less room for "full-sized" power supplies (there are some exceptions). But still, the smaller it is, the more difficult to deal with the heat. It really depends on who builds the system. Want a small one? No prob. Want a small one to run games at a 'serious' level - still no prob, but expect some hurdles (and get out your check-book). Want a small one that plays games well, isn't noisy, looks good, lots o' features...well, I think you see the point. Some companies even make 'gaming laptops' (a concept that just inherently doesn't sit well with me, honestly). PC's built by most 'enthusiasts' usually are the epitome of what you call 'purpose-built'; usually most or all the components used are specific to a particular intent. So, if someone (or a company) decides to build small gaming rigs, it's certainly possible. But what's always going to be at issue is heat (or more accurately, dealing with it). Lots of ways to deal with heat, sure enough - but the fact that you have to deal with it is usually a result of the design criteria (in this case 'small'). The trouble most companies would have with this idea is that they won't likely sell well - most people either want small or they want 'serious' gaming; few expect both, and few on either side of this issue are very accepting of the other side. Another couple things: physical space means limited choice in components. The high-performance video cards, for example, are generally huge (mostly owing to heat *lol*). Also, number of memory slots. Granted, memory densities being what they are, it's a smallish issue, but even if you don't populate them all right away, having four slots is "better" than two (more options down the road). Hope all that makes sense. Oh, and Dutch: I don't see a problem with either of the two cards - if you feel comfortable with the quality of the Gigabyte card, it's cheaper - go for it :) Both MSI and Gigabyte are reasonably well-known manufacturers in business for a while now. If you'd rather spring for the recognition of the MSI brand, I'm sure it's a fine choice as well. HTH Edited April 9, 2009 by Tamper Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch_P47M 9 Posted April 9, 2009 (edited) Thanks you all for the reply's, heat, PSU is not the problem its all checked by me. Only the power connection to the Graphic card is not clear for me. Problem is that I have a big CPU cooler on my compact MoBo that can block a long Graphic card. The CPU cooler is mounted in vertical direction just 20 mm above the PCI-E conector centerline and in horizontale direction the distance between the connector and the cooler house is something like 150mm [and I have only one PCI-E conector]. When the Graphic card is long and high, the cards-end will touch the cooler house. Above the connector there is a lott of space, so the fan position for the MSI and Gigabyte are perfect. Did some research at the web, [not only for the Graphic card sizes], fond a guy who has even a ATI HD4780 [=my favorite] installed on this Mobo. But he had to do a complete cooler and CPU exchange and cut away a coolertip from a chip and cutting the case backside to make space, for this hudge card. I know what I'm doing sounds maybe not as a good plan, buying a old type Graphic card, [is the 9800GTXplus good??], but this could for me allso the last change to go for a compact 1Gb graphic card, because all the cards are going to be bigger & higher and I want want to keep the cost acceptable and prefere to reduce all the cutting activities. Edited April 9, 2009 by Dutch_P47M Share this post Link to post Share on other sites