BSOD on Cold Startup (due to sagging graphics card?)

[mattenthehat]

Hello,
My graphics card (an ati radeon hd 5850) sags badly in its PCI slot. When I first got it, I constantly received BSODs and "AMD Graphics Drivers have stopped working and recovered" messages. Apparently, this was caused by the card making a bad connection in the PCI slot due to some severe sagging. I solved this by stuffing a couple of books under my card, which propped it up. This, however, prevented me from putting the side panel on my pc, causing it to gather dust quickly, not to mention sounding like a jet aircraft. After a lot of fooling around, I discovered that I could make the card work by tightening the back screw on the case that holds the card in its slot extremely tight, and by angling it just so. This works great as long as I keep the side panel of my pc open, but as soon as I put the side panel back on, I get the BSOD again on my next boot. Apparently, the side panel somehow tweaks the positioning of the card. So, I have two questions: 1) Is there anything I can do to solve the problem without buying any new parts? and 2) I am willing to purchase a new case, mobo, or graphics card as I am due for an upgrade of all three, however I can only afford one of the three at this time. Which would be most likely to solve the problem? (the mobo was free with my cpu, extremely low quality; the case was left-over from my old Compaq Presario, so that is pretty cheap; I bought my graphics card used, so that could be suspect. All three of these seem suspicious to me.)
Sorry for the wall of text and thanks for any help!
(Let me know if there are any system specifics that would be helpful)

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Try a larger case first, even if that doesn't solve this issue you will have the case for the next part of the upgrade already,
well done for the ad-hoc method of gfx card support though, I found a pocket diary helped mine until I could mod my cards a bit ,
if you have access to some sheet metal and a few tools you can fabricate a nice support up though if needed
Moto

 

[mattenthehat]

Thanks for the suggestion, that seems like a good plan to me. Any cases in particular you would recommend?
As for building a support, I think i will put some time into that now that i am out of school.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

'What case' questions hehe, they usually open up everyones favourite hehe,
I like a lot of cases but I buy them to modify, so I don't really look at a case as a finished product on the websites, I see a base to work from,
if you check out the members galleries in homebuild and overclocking you'll see some nice builds and maybe see a case you like and then you can research that case to see if it fits your needs,
but this is a Standard issue In Win Dragon Rider case (under £100/$140)
not mine, just found it on the net,

and heres what I did to mine,

I'm just drawing up a guide for the gfx card support for you, back in a bit
its basically bending a strip of thin tin/aluminium to a 'U' shape, and cutting out at each leg end to fit it through your hard drive cage holes, if no room because you have the hdd cage populated, then more bends and drill/screw to the cage
Moto

 

[mattenthehat]

Very impressive!
Any thoughts on this case?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139008
It happens to be on sale locally for $75/£47
Thanks for the help!

 

[Motopsychojdn]

400R's a nice popular case, I wouldn't say no ,
I do recall hearing that cable management can be interesting in them but thats just a case of working around what you have,
Excuse the bad paint skills, but this should give you an idea of the bracket I mean,

assuming you have a sideways on hdd cage, which the 400 does, make the cuts and bend the metal to suit, the gfx card should sit on it nicely supported and secure,
if your hdd cage is front facing, then you can make the 'U' thinner, no need for the cutouts, just bend the ends to make tabs and screw them to the rear of the case next to the mobo (make sure you don't interfere with sata cable placements etc),
theres always ways, and I can always find them
**Edit, even now I'm seeing alterations to the design hehe
if you have facilities capable of more delicate cutting,

The red lines denote a possible bend position, in case that wasn't clear and as long as the metal is in a vertical alignment the bracket can be thinner to allow crossfire/sli set ups,
Moto

 

[mattenthehat]

This looks quite do-able! I'll look into this in the morning (its 4am here) Thanks so much for the help!

 

[Motopsychojdn]

No probs man, shout up if theres anything else I can assist with
Sleep well
Moto

 

[mattenthehat]

Best answer selected by mattenthehat.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Thank you for B.a. man, hope you got sorted?
Moto