I just received a Gigabyte Radeon 5670 card from Newegg to stick in a Dell system from work (Optiplex 980). Unfortunately, the stupid plastic cowling over the stock HSF sticks out over the edge of the card and gets stuck on the vanes of the CPU heatsink. I managed to wedge it in place practically by accident, but I obviously don't want to leave it this way. I was going to just return the card and buy a different one, but it might be better to just install a different HSF.

This system is pretty quiet to begin with, so the stock fan makes a rather audible humming at all times. I haven't really looked into SPCR since I built my last desktop in 2005, so I don't have a clue what's on the market now. I'm looking for something that's nice and quiet, and preferably cheap. It also has to not extend the length of the card. Any suggestions?

Is this your card?



Then I'd guess you could replace the heatsink with Arctic Cooling L2 Pro - should have similar dimensions.

Or you could simply pull away the plastic cover and just leave the alu block. But I'm not sure it's doable for you - depends on the cooler.

It'd also help if you post a pic or two of the inside of the case - seeing how much space actually you have would help.

Thanks for the advice. My card is actually the second revision, which is slightly different:



The part that is problematic is the edge of the plastic cover at the right. The way the motherboard is arranged in this system, the fins of CPU heatsink are right where it has to go, so it's kind of wedged in between two fins right now. I'll try to post a photo later today.

I guess if I were going to replace it with the HSF you suggested, it would probably make more sense to just return it and order the Sapphire card that actually comes with it by default. It doesn't look like Newegg charges a restocking fee on video card, so I'd only be out 20 bucks for shipping.

Am I likely to see an improvement in fan volume? I'm not concerned about making this system ultra-silent, but the Gigabyte card does have an annoying whine even on idle.

Yeah, it'll prolly be better to get a card already with the L2 Pro. Problem is other heatsinks like AC S1 or S2, Scythe Setsugen (not to mention Musashi) will be simply too big and overhang the card.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to look for a 5670 (or similar) with custom PCB, where the GPU is shifted towards the I/O bracket. A card like that, fitted with L2 Pro should fit your bill. The pic shows what I mean by "shifted GPU":



Or you could try this one (provided the pipes will not interfere):



More pics of this one - click

Another fanless 5670 - but this one will prolly be too long :/



One more card seems to have the L2 Pro:




Speaking of noise of the L2 Pro - it's not a champ, true, but can be easily made almost silent by either downvolting the fan by means of a, say, Fanmate, or you could play a little with Rivatuner or even with the bios. Radeon Bios Editor tool is v easy to use and will sure tame the fan.

There is lots of space on the side the card because the PCI slots are arranged backwards, but anything longer than the Gigabyte card's PCB sticks inside the CPU heatsink. I actually noticed quite a few 5670 cards have longer PCBs which would also not work. The Sapphire card seems to be the same length, though. Too bad the passive coolers wouldn't work. Not a very thoughtful motherboard design.

It actually has a second x16 slot, but it's apparently routed as x4.

HIS iCoolerIV cards have a L2 Pro, but with only a 2-wire fan.
It cools excellently and is very quiet with a good tone and I cant hear it normally in my rig over 4 silicon grommet mounted HDDs and the fairly quiet PSU.
On auto (36% fanspeed) it keeps my 5750 under 65C, at a fixed 20% fanspeed (the lowest) its a tiny bit quieter and puts load temps up about 15C.

IMO you will likely only hear the fan if you have a near passive PSU and your hard drives are either SSD or in silenced enclosures.
For any other fanned cooler to be quieter IMO it would need to have a decent 120mm fan @ like 600rpm or not much faster

A decent passive heatsink like Accelero S1 would do though if it fits.