Struggling to find any half-height/low-profile PCIe GPUs on SCAN's site

[Bob Crabtree]

Like the title says,

I'm struggling to find any half-height/low-profile PCIe graphics cards on SCAN's site.

This is to go in a slim Philips freevents LS1400 box.

The faulty card I need to replace is an unbranded ATi X550 256MB and I'd like a replacement that is not only the same size but also much the same power requirements and similar spec (or better, of course).

I'm hoping I'm missing something (or that SCAN's search engine is a bit wobbly), cos there doesn't seem to be any particular shortage of cards of this size elsewhere (naming no names, such as ebuyer. Cough!).

TIA

Bob

[kalniel]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/256MB...D-Sub-DVI-HDMI

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/256MB...s-DSub-DLDVI-I

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/256-5...D-Sub-DVI-HDTV

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...D-Sub-DVI-HDMI

--

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/256MB...I-HDMI-HDCP-LP

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-S...D-Sub-DVI-HDMI

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/256MB...Sub-HDCP-Ready

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...-Dub-HDTV-HDCP <-my recommendation



And there's a bunch of workstations cards too.

[Funkstar]

The Advanced search for low profile cards is broken. Has been since the launch of the "new" site months ago (or perhaps before). There is a thread where I reported it, then bumped it a while after.

If you go to this page 256MB PNY Quadro NVS 290 PCI-E(x1) 64Bit 400MHz GDDR2 460MHz GPU DMS-59 OEM, scroll down to the bottom, select Low Profile in the "Find Similar Products" section you should get a list of al their low profile cards.

[Bob Crabtree]

Kalniel,

I massively appreciate those links but, for sure (judging by the pics, anyway) some of those cards are definitely not half-height - and I think they include your recommended card - though it's very hard to tell.

And I say this while realising that with those that do look suitable, it will be necessary for me to remove the existing backplate (and throw away the VGA connector) and substitute a low-profile backplate.

Fortunately, I can use the backplate from the duff card - something I realised in the early hours of the morning when I also discovered that I already had one of these, cheap and nasty jobbies - and managed easily enough to get it installed and running with original card's low-profile backplate.

Going by the pictures alone, I think I have to rule out No.1 from your list, along with the last three - all Sapphires - where the passive cooler (which I would much prefer) looks to overhang the top edge of the PCB and so would stick up too high for the side-panel of the PC to be put back on (and it must be put back on).

Be delighted if you or someone else could tell me that, in fact, those three Sapphires will fit because, contrary to my take, the size and position of the passive coolers won't be a problem.

TIA

Bob

[Bob Crabtree]

Thanks for the thought!

Here, though, that link is broken, too!

:-(

The Advanced search for low profile cards is broken. Has been since the launch of the "new" site months ago (or perhaps before). There is a thread where I reported it, then bumped it a while after.

If you go to this page 256MB PNY Quadro NVS 290 PCI-E(x1) 64Bit 400MHz GDDR2 460MHz GPU DMS-59 OEM, scroll down to the bottom, select Low Profile in the "Find Similar Products" section you should get a list of al their low profile cards.

[kalniel]

Kalniel,

I massively appreciate those links but, for sure (judging by the pics, anyway) some of those cards are definitely not half-height - and I think they include your recommended card - though it's very hard to tell.

And I say this while realising that with those that do look suitable, it will be necessary for me to remove the existing backplate (and throw away the VGA connector) and substitute a low-profile backplate.

Fortunately, I can use the backplate from the duff card - something I realised in the early hours of the morning when I also discovered that I already had one of these, cheap and nasty jobbies - and managed easily enough to get it installed and running with original card's low-profile backplate.

That's how low profile cards are sold I thought - they often come with both a full and a half-height back plate. You'd have to check with SCAN that any particular package had a half-height included, or use your existing one as above.

Going by the pictures alone, I think I have to rule out No.1 from your list, along with the last three - all Sapphires - where the passive cooler (which I would much prefer) looks to overhang the top edge of the PCB and so would stick up too high for the side-panel of the PC to be put back on (and it must be put back on).

Be delighted if you or someone else could tell me that, in fact, those three Sapphires will fit because, contrary to my take, the size and position of the passive coolers won't be a problem.

I would be very surprised if they went to all the trouble of making a low profile PCB and relevant components, only to ruin it with bad heatsink design, but it's possible I guess - as you say there are others with smaller heatsinks!

[Mossy]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/XFX-L...-for-VGA-cards

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...ink-DVI-I-HDTV

Maybe?

[Bob Crabtree]

Paulm,

Thanks for the links!

However, I wonder if you could answer the substantive question, which is whether the three Sapphire cards are suitable for use in a slim system or whether, in fact, the heat sinks would prevent this?

These are the three I'm asking about:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-S...D-Sub-DVI-HDMI

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/256MB...Sub-HDCP-Ready

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...-Dub-HDTV-HDCP

Cheers

Bob

[Mossy]

Hi Bob

To be honest the heatsicks don't pretrude past the slot to I would imagine these to be fine in slim sized system but I could not be certain with out trying this myself. I would have no issues if you wanted to return this on my information.

[Bob Crabtree]

Paulm,

Thanks for that!

Perhaps rather rashly, I've assumed that the same applies to the 256MB variant which is what I've just ordered.



Extra special thanks, of course, to kalniel for all the useful input.

Cheers

Bob

[Mossy]

No Problems

As I stated though you do have any issues just let me know.

Regards

[Bob Crabtree]

No Problems

As I stated though you do have any issues just let me know.

Regards

Paul,

Thanks!

Cheers

Bob

[Bob Crabtree]

Well, it turned up today (so thank you SCAN for the prompt delivery!) and, contrary to what I thought when I first had the card in my hand, it did fit, once I'd put on a low-profile backplate.

Mind you I suspect that the space between the top of the card's cooler and the bottom of the PC's removable side panel is only fractions of a mm!

But, the card is a huge improvement over the stop-gap I put in there and massively better than the dead card that I removed.

Well, it's dead, you see.



Again, thanks for all the input, especially from kalniel.

Cheers

Bob