this may be a tad of a newb question... but hey, that's what anonymity and internet forums are for

I'm upgrading from a pair of 7800gt's which are about 9" long.

The 9800 gtx's and other new nvidia cards look quite a bit larger, but it could also be due to the much larger heat sinks. Is 9" the standard pci-e length or are the new cards any longer?

Thanks in advance.

No there is no standard length.
The 9800GTX cards are huge they stick out past the end of the Motherboard.
Mactronix

For example:

Both the 9800GTX and the GTX280 from XFX and EVGA are 10.5" long (my XFX 8800GTS is 9" long by comparison).

All specs for each card can be found at the appropriate brand's website (XFX, EVGA, etc., though BFG must have that info hidden deep somewhere, because I can't find it).

i scoured evga's website as well and didn't see it. Thanks for the replies. Luckily i noticed my hard drive cage would only prohibit me from going sli so length won't be as big of a factor as i previously thought.

Thanks a lot.

8800GTS is 9"
my new 9800GTX is 10.5"

(measured them both as well)

They are on the eVGA site, you have to d/l and open the informational PDF for the particular card you want to compare.