Can't believe VM-101 takes up PCI slot!

[Sharky II]

So i finally got my VM-101 for my radeon 9800 pro, and i can't believe they were stupid enough to make this card block the PCI slot. Looking at it, you'd have to forgive someone for thinking it was clearly designed to dissipate heat on the other side of the card, thus saving a pci slot:

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/2810.jpg

This was the main reason i bought one of these huge things... i need to use the PCI slot next to the AGP slot... i can't believe they didn't make it a priority to free the pci slot - otherwise what's the point in getting one of these things if you're gonna lose a slot anyway?

And it will only blocks the slot by about 1mm or so... it says on the box that it will take up the PCI slot, but didn't say anywhere on the kustom site - or on any of the reviews i read - in fact most reviews/forum posts, said it DOESN'T take up a pci slot. But today i did find one that said it blocks the pci slot... wish i had found it a few days ago.

Anyone else think this is REALLY stupid?

[theuncharmed]

well if your going to passively cool something that produces alot of heat your going to have to expect the HSF to be pretty big and also as its passive, I guess they dont expect you to fit a card next to it - just to keep the airflow circulating.

its not stupid, but its not great either.

[Sharky II]

hi

what i mean is, either use that space properly, and make the block bigger, (because if you're taking up the slot, then make the most of it, don't be shy), or avoid blocking it altogether.

i've seen pics that make it look like there is ample space:

http://www.sharkacorp.com/images/aerocool/vm101/vm101-6-lg.gif

and some pics of where it's clearly blocking the slot:

http://www.forumdeluxx.de/gallery/data/3163/513DSC03145-med.JPG

i'll find out tonight when i install it, but i'm pretty damn sure my mobo has the slots really close together

[theuncharmed]

well perhaps they've designed it so it would just about take up the slot but then leave enough room for some airflow.

whats the PCI slot being used for, or what should it of been used for?

[Sub]

or maybe they finally realised. screw the slot.. heat rises lets put it on the other side of the card for a change instead of make the heat go up towards the card..?

[Sharky II]

i *really* need those slots though

i jsut installed it

it blocks the damn slot. but by SUCH a little margin, it's ridiculous.

the block actually doesn't cover the slot, it's the damn screws that block the PCI card going in.

if i knew i was gonna lose a slot, i wouldn't have wasted my money on this, i would have got an arctic cooler which woulda got all that hot air out the system, not just left it there.

i use this computer for music (it's a mac *cough*), and there's only 3 pci slots - 1 is for a 5 port USB2 pci card, 1 for a gigabit ethernet (i need 1000mbps, as opposed to teh 100 built in - for distributed processing of audio), and the other needs to be occupied by an audio DSP plugin card called a 'UAD-1'

i will eventually lose the USB2 card and replace it with another UAD-1...

but right now i can't use this damn pci slot... what a waste.

[theuncharmed]

can you mod the sink? if its the screws, can you shorten them, clip them, what about the PCI board - could you drop the USB or is the gig card small enough to fit underneath the sink? (saw a sawn in half sink once - tacky but the northbridge chip was in the way and this was the only way the sink would fit in.)

A pic would be helpful as well. Worse thing you could do is sell it on and get the arctic.

[Fireblade]

Why not buy a USB 2.0 hub, which would allow ye t' do away wi' the USB 2.0 PCI card :confused:

[tremble]

If your using the AGP slot then you shouldn't really use the next pci slot anyways. Quite often that pci slpt shares the same IRQ as the agp slot so by using both you could cause yourself some problems.

[abe]

Why not buy a USB 2.0 hub, which would allow ye t' do away wi' the USB 2.0 PCI card :confused:

The G3/G4 i'm presuming he's running won't have USB 2.0 as standard, hence the card.

[Sharky II]

yeah, i don't need the usb2 card *that* much, but if i lost it, i'd get another one of those UAD-1

so 2 x UAD-1's and a gigabit ethernet card is pretty necessary... 3 PCI slots only is pretty pathetic... but i have an early model which i've massively upgraded (mobo and case are the only things i haven't changed... and i might change the case eventually...)

modding... i thought about it - i could either find someone that would sand down (?) the thickness of the black plate that sticks out, or maybe create my own copper one - get someone to cut/drill a thinner piece of copper to replace the top bit, etc.

but i have no idea how to do that kinda thing, and it will mean spending even more cash on modding this computer :eek: if anyone knows how to do that stuff or find somewhere that will make it for me, please let me know!

i may be able to get some pics tomorrow night, or the day after...

thanks!

[Onnie]

If your using the AGP slot then you shouldn't really use the next pci slot anyways. Quite often that pci slpt shares the same IRQ as the agp slot so by using both you could cause yourself some problems.

snap..

Actually i believe the pci slot directly under the agp slot actually uses the same back plate so you cant use the two together anyway.. I could be wrong but im quite sure this is the case...

=)

edit: Just like the old motheboards where the last pci slot used to be shared with an isa slot, it was designed for one or the other, but not both at same time, its physically impossible, actually im 99.99% sure this is the same with the agp/pci slots as well...