i'm pretty sure that zalman isn't gonna fit. i think it needs space on both sides of the card and you have pretty much zero space on the gpu side in the shuttle, and limited space on the back side because you may run into the drive cage. also keep in mind that cutting out those side panels may help you with cooling the vid card, but its gonna create another place for noise to escape.

that passively cooled geforce 6800 by Chaintec

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe ... 142&depa=0

or a Sapphire 9600XT

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 342&depa=1

these may be your best bet if you can spare the change.

good luck

Thats what I'm trying not to do.
I don't want to buy new hardware and I won't allow myself to upgrade or the process will start again and never start.
I just hope that the zalman does the trick.
-Jason

Hello,
I received the Zalman GPU cooler as well as a northbridge heatsink.
The fan that I bought is not a M1A, I guess I was not paying attention when I ordered it.
I have some other 80mm fans for now, will try and get a M1A later.
I did a dry assembly (test fit) on the video card and it all assembled with no problem.
I am about to cut out the rear fan grill on my shuttle so I am not able to install the video card and see.
Then I am going to lap the heatsink on my northbridge and the ICE HS.
I won't be lapping tonight, but will do that soon.
I'll let everyone know how it goes and if the zalman fits.
-Jason

Well, I guess I will be buying that new video card or some other video card.
I installed the zalman thing and it fit in my case!!
Then I dropped in the drive cage, the zalman stuck up 1/4" too high.
Ooooo so close, so I lifted the drive cage up and rigged it up, so it would not hit the zalman heatsink. I just wanted to see if the system would run.

I assembled the system, hooked everything up.
Powered it on POST, BIOS, Window XP starter screen. Then the monitor flashed off and then turned off, it would not turn back on.
Turned the PC off, back on, chose to run XP on latests known settings. Now I'm stuck in a reboot loop.
I take the card out, remove the zalman setup and put on my stock cooling, using rubber washers on the back.
Now I get a little further, but not much.

I took the card and I plugged it into another computer I built, that family uses. It's 2AM so they're not on it.
I booted up and they're running Win2k, I saw vertial lines in the Win2k book screen.
Just installed the graphics drivers, omg, horrible.
So, I've been modding computers for several years, finally time I broke something.
As we speak the screen is flashing black every 30 seconds.
I'm gonna steal the GF4 that was in this system and put it in mine for now.
Sigh.. so now I need to look at another video card.
Any thoughts?
-Jason

I may deeper in a mess then that.
Even with a known good video card WinXP is in a reboot loop.
Usually a format and wipe fixes it, just sucks because I won't be able to make a backup.
Sigh, I'd rather not downgrade on a card.
The 6800 has more horsepower but less ram.
Not sure if I should go with it, passive cooling is a plus.
-Jason

Oi, username, you got everything alright?

respond via PM

FYI: I found this thread because youre stealing bandwidth by linking my photo here Please edit to link, Thanks!!!

unfortunately, with the limited space in that shuttle you are limited to a single-slot video card - not much getting around that. the most powerful single slot video cards i have seen are the sapphire 9600xt and the chaintec 6800. the 6800 is clearly a much more capable card, but more expensive. you might be able to find a 256 meg 9600xt and mod it with a smaller passive heatsink that could fit in your shuttle. i assume you are into gaming since a really good card is important to you. i have a regular 128 meg 6800 and its terrific. I think it will still be a significant upgrade to your 256 meg 5900. I play Doom3 and UT2004 and both play very well at 1280x1024 at very high quality settings. If you don't mind spending the $$, the 6800 is probably the best you can do in that shuttle. I understand your frustration - I have had a couple shuttles and they are great - i love the small form factor, but when quieting my pc became important to me (and UT2004 came out) i switched to a tower case to give myself more quiet/performance options. the shuttles can be made much quieter than they come stock, but not with the same options to balance quiet/performance.

good luck

I think I may go with the 6800
I want a card capable of playing the high end FPS games, but honestly, I don't play them that often.
I play everquest, which isn't too demanding.
I'd rather not spend close to $300 but my video card is not really usable.
Probably going to purchase that today, I was looking at $500 just to upgrade to a new case, so this is cheaper.
Plus when my pc was running, with the quieter fan, it was great.
I'm hooked already, I just need to get a video card that works.
Thanks,
-Jason

this is interesting...

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 151&depa=1

Gigabyte 6800GT - not passive, but it looks like it locates the fan on the back side of the card. you might be able to mod it with a bigger, slower fan and some arctic silver 5, not to mention that it puts the noise producer (the fan) more in the center of the case, which could also help isolate the sound. looks promising anyway if you want significantly more hp and ram than the regular 6800.

...of course, its also 400 bones. man this obsession is costing me a lot of money...

EDIT:
That's not the one I was looking at.
The card is nice but I don't want to spend $400.
I'll stick with the passive 128MB 6800.
I need to spend as little as possible.
-Jason

yeah - looks like it would fit - you will likely lose that pci slot.

that's what i would do - i have been very satisfied with my regular 6800. UT2004 is my favorite game right now and it plays very well with way less card than the 6800. the regular 6800 should serve well for a while.

Well, I did the opposite.
I downgraded to an old GeForce ti4200 64mb card that I had in another pc.
Everquest still runs on that video card, just a little laggy.
I need to spend a little as possible, about to buy a house.
I tell you what, my computer is a LOT quieter now. I't not silent, but I'm hearing things I haven't heard in a long time.
I like it MUUCH better.
The project is put on hold for now, I may purchase the 6800 later, but not now. My computer works, that's what matters.
I appreciate everyones help,
-Jason