PowerColor HD3870 & Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L - will they fit

They make noise, too.

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D Incorporated
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PowerColor HD3870 & Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L - will they fit

Post by D Incorporated » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:16 pm

UPDATE MARCH 28: Yes they fit. Images are in the third post down. Original post follows...

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PowerColor Radeon HD3870 | Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L

Does anybody have this motherboard/videocard combo? (I searched and found somebody who either ordered or owned both, but never commented on the fit.) I'm probably going to get them, and I've spent a lot of time resizing/cutting/pasting pictures to get an idea for how well they would fit, but I'd like to hear it from anybody who might be running them already (or who has found out that they didn't quite fit). For those who haven't seen...

Motherboard Side View:
[image linked March 31]

Motherboard Top View:
[image linked March 31]

Video Card Rear View:
[image linked March 31]

Video Card Top View:
[image linked March 31]

Video Card Bottom View:
[image linked March 31]

It seems to me that the upper 3870 heatsink will miss the northbridge heatsink, but will cut in very close to RAM and restrict me from buying sticks with heatspreaders. Then the lower 3870 heatsink will miss the SATA plugs, but will cut in very close to the southbridge heatsink, perhaps even pressing against it.

Now, I would assume that they're only heatsinks and won't cause electrical issues if they do indeed contact, but I'd rather not have components pressing against eachother, especially heat dissipators.

Should there indeed be potential RAM heatspreader or Southbridge contact with the 3870 heatsink, I have 2 questions:

First, will either kind of contact prove troublesome in any way? RAM heatspreader would only contact at the very bottom (no more than 10mm), while Southbridge may be more than half-blocked.

Second, assuming there was contact at either point, would snipping a few of the fins on the 3870 heatsink near the points of contact be a bad idea? It would only be removing less than 1% of the 3870 heatsink at the most, so I wouldn't expect some big meltdown... but, technology works in mysterious ways.
Last edited by D Incorporated on Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:00 am, edited 3 times in total.

elziko
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Post by elziko » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:04 am

If it's any help I have just bought the same motherboard and graphics card and everything fits just fine apart from the fact that it uses 3 slots.

However, the memory I have is this:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=402849

and there seems to be 23mm between the top of my memory and the bottom of the heat sink on HD3870 SCS3.

D Incorporated
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Post by D Incorporated » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:49 pm

Yeah that's a help, thanks. Now I know what to buy :D

And 23mm? Sweet, that's more than I anticipated.

I know the 3 slots is seriously pushing it, but fortunately I have no reason to fill any of them and doubt I ever will.

I think I'll take some pictures of the board/card combo once I get it and post them here.

D Incorporated
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Post by D Incorporated » Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:57 am

Alright, got the stuff, here's the pics!

Bottom-up view:
Image

To the left:
Image

Good south-bridge clearance:
Image

Top-down view, no RAM:
Image

Top-down view, RAM:
Image

To the right:
Image

Good north-bridge and RAM clearance:
Image

Close-up of south-bridge clearance:
Image

Close-up of north-bridge and RAM clearance:
Image

Looking straight into the upper clearance area:
Image

tutu
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Post by tutu » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:22 pm

What case are you using? Wonder if it's too long for a P182 with a fan on the middle "tunnel".

Edit: probably not. I would have to move the fan to the front of the case.

HueyCobra
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Post by HueyCobra » Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:19 pm

Useful photos, thanks for posting :)

nafets
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Post by nafets » Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:20 am

..
Last edited by nafets on Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

Cistron
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Post by Cistron » Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:45 am

Nice pictures. I just ordered the card and will install it on my Abit IP35.

Can you post some temperature values?

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Post by D Incorporated » Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:25 am

Heh no problem, glad the pics were of use :D
tutu wrote:What case are you using? Wonder if it's too long for a P182 with a fan on the middle "tunnel".
Just this Atrix mid-tower, the case itself is fine (most reviewers seem to be complaining about the cheap power supply which anybody here would know to replace immediately), and it was the only case under 17" I could find that met all my requirements (5 drive bays for 3 drives, floppy, wide-open front ventilation, side/rear PCI bay ventilation, processor exhaust duct, and a few other things). The card cuts it close to the top HD with slightly less than an inch between itself and the drive, but isn't a problem with an L-shaped SATA plug in the drive.
Cistron wrote:Can you post some temperature values?
Maybe once I get the system up and running.

Heatsink only came 2 days ago (1 WEEK later than the rest of the parts), so I was stranded waiting for that, now I'm just running around town trying to find a couple last odds and ends (grommets, longer screws that can actually reach the HDs once the grommets are installed, more SATA cables, 80x80x15mm fans since some 80x80x25mms didn't fit, etc). Once it's together and running I'll try some of these temperature tests - I'm assuming diagnostics come with the card/drivers, or else I'm not sure how I'd check it.

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Post by tehcrazybob » Sat Apr 05, 2008 12:52 pm

What processor and heatsink are you planning to use? I've got the same motherboard, and have been looking at either that video card or the Sapphire HD3850 with a similar heatsink, along with a Ninja for the processor. I've been wondering how well the chipset heatsink will cope, so any information you can give me about that would be much appreciated.

Cistron
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Post by Cistron » Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:32 am

My card arrived yesterday. At windows desktop the GPU has around 40 degree celcius (according to CPUID HWmonitor), but I haven't found time to test it under load, nor to install a duct. Case is a Rebel 9 with one 140mm (~750rpm) and one 120mm (~800rpm) intake fan, no exhaust, but I removed the neighbouring PCI slot blind.

edit (for completeness sake): I also managed to install my PCIe1x WLAN card in the neighbouring slot on my Abit IP35

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