Making room for a graphics card on a motherboard

Henri Puolanne · Oct 14, 2014

Hi all,
I want to upgrade the graphics card on my prebuilt PC. The problem is, the motherboard doesn't give me enough space for the graphics card, by having the components placed awfully close to each other. My current grapics card is right next to my network card, and between them is a 1cm gap. This is a problem, considering the sizes of graphics cards. (I've been thinking of buying a GTX 750 Ti.) Below are some images that show the arrangament of the components. If someone could help me figure out a way to make room for the graphics card, that'd be much appreciated!

http://i.imgur.com/n8EQkWx.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bAkfK0i.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/T7x080v.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/B9cn1Sx.jpg

Also, what I think might not be clear from the images, there are two slots for a network card. One occupied by the network card now, and one right next to the graphics card. There is also a black slot next to the network card, which looks an awful lot similiar to the slot where the graphics card is sitting now. Above it reads 'GPU Booster'. Could I maybe switch the place of the graphics card and thr network card in order to make some room?

Big thanks in advance, and sorry for a long post.
-HP

bgunner · Oct 14, 2014

with out moving anything you can place a 750ti in there. For best results though get one with the fan at the front of the card.

now if you want to you can drop the Wifi card down into the bottom slot and this will give the room you would need for a gpu with dual fans or even a single center mounted fan.

Henri Puolanne · Oct 14, 2014

bgunner :

I didn't really understand, what slot could I drop the WiFi card to? There are two slots on the motherboard, intended for network cards (the blue slots in the images). There is a single available slot for a graphics card.

capt_taco · Oct 14, 2014

Henri Puolanne :

The two small slots (blue) are PCIe x1 slots. Then there is the PCIe x16 slot that the graphics card is currently in. At the very bottom looks like another PCIe x16 slot (black) that is empty.

You can move the network card down to that bottom black slot. A PCIe x1 card CAN be used in a PCIe x16 slot even though it is shorter. It just won't go all the way to the end, but that is perfectly OK; they are designed to be compatible.

edit: you may want to post the model number of your motherboard, though. Some boards with two PCIe x16 slots share lanes, so if you fill both slots it can downgrade each of them to x8, possibly bottlenecking your graphics card, although with PCIe 3.0 it would be tough. If the slots are independent, it should be no problem.

Henri Puolanne · Oct 14, 2014

capt_taco :

Henri Puolanne :

The two small slots (blue) are PCIe x1 slots. Then there is the PCIe x16 slot that the graphics card is currently in. At the very bottom looks like another PCIe x16 slot (black) that is empty.

You can move the network card down to that bottom black slot. A PCIe x1 card CAN be used in a PCIe x16 slot even though it is shorter. It just won't go all the way to the end, but that is perfectly OK; they are designed to be compatible.

edit: you may want to post the model number of your motherboard, though. Some boards with two PCIe x16 slots share lanes, so if you fill both slots it can downgrade each of them to x8, possibly bottlenecking your graphics card, although with PCIe 3.0 it would be tough. If the slots are independent, it should be no problem.

Thanks! I moved the network card to the x16 slot, and it's working fine. The lanes aren't affecting each other in any way, so there ahouldn't be any problems there. Again, thanks a bunch, you saved my day!

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Making room for a graphics card on a motherboard

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