Graphics card touching the southbridge heatsink a problem?

[LkS]

I have a micro-atx GA-MA785GMT-US2H motherboard and I want to put a HD4890 in it but the card will touch the southbridge heatsink. Is this a problem? Can a card be shorted out if its edges touch something?

 

[-Fran-]

Heh, I had the same problem with my nF4 and all the video cards I've had, lol.

Well, short answer is YES it can.

In my own experience: when the card runs way too hot (the case of the 4890, lol) they can burn or make the fans mal function (or any chipset around it) if they don't have enough space to "breathe" or they are being pressed. Is kinda obvious if it actually stops any mechanism, but it ain't when you see the fan active.

Anyway, since it's the southbridge I'll assume it doesn't have any active cooling (fans) so it might work a little hotter, but nothing more. If it actually MAKES your system unstable, i recommend getting an active fan for it. I got an ICEBRQ and it works flawlessly fine.

Hope it helps 8)

Cheers!

PS: Got some pictures of it, btw, in case you need

EDIT: Typo xP

 

[LkS]

Thankyou for your reply. The southbridge is just a heatsink with no fan so I'm not worried about jamming moving parts. But it is piece of metal touching the edge of a PCB so I'm worried about shorting out the card. I mean do the copper strips in the graphics card PCB run right to the edge and are exposed or is the edge insulated somehow?

 

[-Fran-]

Ugh... You'll have to measure that.

See if the cooper heatsink passes above the PCIe slot from an horizontal view... If it does, yeah, might not let you put the card in a right position. If it doesn't stand then you'll have to measure the cards heatpipes.

Now, I don't know any 4890 with outter heatpipes from the back of the card... You'd have to show us some pictures of it. Or at least, give us the model.

Cheers!