Why are Video Cards designed up-side-down??

[v3raxOC]

I am confused as to why all these Video Card companys design these really cool looking heatsink/fan shrouds with really cool looking pictures and designs on them, and then they are designed so that you mount them to the motherboard in such a way that you can't even see the designs on the shrouds?? Why cant they make them so the cool looking shroud is on top?

 

[Nightmare225]

Just stupidity.

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: v3raxOC
I am confused as to why all these Video Card companys design these really cool looking heatsink/fan shrouds with really cool looking pictures and designs on them, and then they are designed so that you mount them to the motherboard in such a way that you can't even see the designs on the shrouds?? Why cant they make them so the cool looking shroud is on top?

ISA/VLB cards were originally designed right-side up. However, to make maximum use of limited motherboard space, the PCI spec flipped this around so that one PCI slot could be butted up against an ISA/VLB slot -- the user could choose to put either a PCI card or an ISA/VLB card there, but not both. Consequently, all PCI cards were upside down. AGP followed this inefficient trend, and so did PCI-X and eventually PCI-E.

 

[enz660hp]

btx anyone?

 

[Maximilian]

Its got its advantages, in single slot solutions heat is blown down and dosent disrupt the flow of air through the case or get blown onto the cpu.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Soviet
Its got its advantages, in single slot solutions heat is blown down and dosent disrupt the flow of air through the case or get blown onto the cpu.

it's not really blown down, it's blow out (then up, as heated air rises). OTES designs are by far the best, as today's high end gfx card dissipate alot of heat.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: nullpointerus
ISA/VLB cards were originally designed right-side up. However, to make maximum use of limited motherboard space, the PCI spec flipped this around so that one PCI slot could be butted up against an ISA/VLB slot -- the user could choose to put either a PCI card or an ISA/VLB card there, but not both. Consequently, all PCI cards were upside down. AGP followed this inefficient trend, and so did PCI-X and eventually PCI-E.

Plus, early AGP cards didn't even need heatsinks. I don't know that they thought AGP would be used to the point where we have GPU's with more transistors on them than the CPU.

I am curious though as to why PCI-e didn't finally decide to buck this trend. Was that also because of the potential for wasted space?

 

[AmdInside]

It's all part of the ATX spec. If NVIDIA or AMD were to flip the chip so that it is above the card, it would not be ATX compliant. I think they did this because they did not want the GPU and CPU too close to each other (heat).

 

[40sTheme]

One phrase and one word: Dual-slot cooling.

 

[n7]

BTX ftw.

 

[SexyK]

Originally posted by: AmdInside
It's all part of the ATX spec. If NVIDIA or AMD were to flip the chip so that it is above the card, it would not be ATX compliant. I think they did this because they did not want the GPU and CPU too close to each other (heat).

Exactly - there isnt enough space in the ATX spec between the CPU zone and the AGP/PEG zone to allow proper cooling and having the chip and cooling "on top" of the card would create a pocket of extreme heat. Note that in most systems the northbridge is already just above the AGP/PEG slot, so that's adding even more heat and having the chip/cooling on top would interfere with many northbridge cooling systems.

 

[cessation]

They were all designed for my case my case .

 

[Bateluer]

Does anyone buy a video card for the artwork on the heat sink?

 

[Fox5]

Some video cards come flipped over. I believe Asus makes one.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: nullpointerus

Originally posted by: v3raxOCWhy cant they make them so the cool looking shroud is on top?

ISA/VLB cards were originally designed right-side up. However, to make maximum use of limited motherboard space, the PCI spec flipped this around so that one PCI slot could be butted up against an ISA/VLB slot -- the user could choose to put either a PCI card or an ISA/VLB card there, but not both. Consequently, all PCI cards were upside down. AGP followed this inefficient trend, and so did PCI-X and eventually PCI-E.

When AGP and PCI were still new, the only "Tower" boxes in common use were either for Servers, or for the (then rather few) "enthusiast builders" with the DIY urge. There was no right side up or upside down, with 99 % of motherboards being used in horizontal boxes.

These days, the only time the average users sees the card is on the shelf at Best Buy. Windowed cases don't make much of a dent in the Mainstream of PC users, so whether it ends up rightside up or not is of no real consequence.

However, while we are now in a temporary respite area regarding hot-running CPUs, the GPUs are getting hotter and hotter. There are already several case designs that are sort of "BTX like", with the access panel on the right hand side, that do turn the VGAs so their hot sides face upward.

 

[NatePo717]

Originally posted by: cessation
They were all designed for my case my case .

yup :thumbsup: I have the V1000 so it's upright for me too

 

[A554SS1N]

Originally posted by: Fox5
Some video cards come flipped over. I believe Asus makes one.

I've seen a few custom ones with heatsink only solutions - such as having heatpipes from the chip on the underside going to the top side. They tend to be the lower end or lower midrange cards like a 7300GT or 7600GS for example.

 

[eplebnista]

Flip the motherboard?

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: Fox5
Some video cards come flipped over. I believe Asus makes one.

True. This 7600GS TOP has Reverse Cool Technology. The chip is on the other side of the card