Is my Noctua D15 heatsink too close to my GTX 660 video card? (pics inside)

kukov

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May 18, 2015
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Hi folks,

Recently completed a system upgrade:
- 5820K
- Noctua D15
- Asus X99-A
- 16GB (4x4) Corsair Vengeance LPX

Kept the following gear:
- Asus GTX 660 (2 year old)
- Corsair 650W PSU (5 year old)
- Antec 300 case (5 year old)
- HDDs / SSD / BD drive (2-5 year old)

I did some research on the Noctua D15 before installing and saw there are a lot of folks out there who have it resting very close to their video card. I understand that you want your video card in that first slot for some reason? Not sure why! If it's advisable to move the video card down to the next slot to avoid the contact altogether (and won't impact its performance) then should I do that?

Please see the below pics and let me know if you think the two are too close, or if they're okay. When the case is laying on its side, there's maybe 3-5 mm of space between them, but when it's standing up (I keep it standing up at my desk) the left-most fan touches the video card slightly (doesn't seem to touch any of the metal) and the right-most card has maybe 3-5mm of clearance - this is the case standing up, not running. Not sure if it droops more or less when running.

Let me know what you think - thanks!

Case wide shot, laying down:
mobo%20pic%20IMG_3757.JPG


Case laying down, closer to video card:
mobo%20pic%20IMG_3760.JPG


Case standing up, D15 touching video card slightly:
mobo%20pic%20IMG_20150525_142133.jpg
 

kukov

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May 18, 2015
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Thanks - glad to hear it! I was just concerned that maybe if the metal from the D15 spring that holds the fan in place touched one of the contacts on the back of the video card it could short it out or something.

Also, on a separate note, I've had my 650W PSU for five years now - I read that it's fine to keep a PSU for as long as it'll last (i.e. no need to replace it unless it's broken) - is this good advice?
 

Saberus

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No, don't do this. five years old means it's possibly lost capacity due to aging electrolytic caps that dry out over time.
 

kukov

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May 18, 2015
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Thanks for the advice! Is there any cost to moving it down a slot, or all all the slots the same (in terms of video card performance) in which case I'll definitely move it down.
 

kukov

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TBH I'm pretty happy with my 660 as-is. Getting decent performance out of W3 on my old system, still haven't tried on new system.

I'm thinking of getting a 970 for Xmas (hopefully take advantage of a sale) - in which case, yes, perhaps I'll keep an eye out for an on-sale Corsair PSU.
 

kukov

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May 18, 2015
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Thanks for the advice! I just don't like the idea of upgrading for upgrade's sake - that's why I kept my Antec 300 case (still perfectly fine), and would like to ride my PSU out until it stops working... but perhaps for this critical component it wouldn't hurt to upgrade. Think I'll wait until Xmas and keep an eye out for a good sale on a 700 - 800 PSU. Thanks!