Will a three slot card work with a sound card in front of the first fan?

J

Jumpem

[H]ard|Gawd
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I have a micro-ATX motherboard and a small sound card. Based on my current three fan video card, the sound card in the fourth slot would likely leave little room in front of the first fan.

Would this cause much issue?
 
what card? at least you still have at least one fan unrestricted, can't be that bad unless you have a really hot card or or OCing.
 
It could be more of an issue to the sound card than the video card. (Based on temps)

Throttle point on a GPU is high 80* C range usually. The card will protect itself if it gets too hot by slowing core MHz speeds and increasing fan speeds.

A sound card has no such abilities and it’s possible that proximity may be too hot for a sound card. — but I’m assuming the sound card is below the video card and heat rises so it’ll probably be okay. Just make sure your case fans have good airflow.
 
Archaea said:
It could be more of an issue to the sound card than the video card. (Based on temps)

Throttle point on a GPU is high 80* C range usually. The card will protect itself if it gets to hot by slowing speeds and increasing fan speeds.

A sound card has no such abilities and it’s possoble it may be too hot for a sound card. — but I’m assuming the sound card is below the video card and heat rises so it’ll probably be okay. Just make sure your case fans have food airflow.
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Two 120s in, and three out.
 
What motherboard? The mATX boards I've seen still have a x1 PCI-E slot up top just like a full size ATX board, which is where I put my sound card.
 
Other than keeping it compact in a single case, have you considered just using an USB audio interface instead of the internal sound card? Would solve any cooling issues and most likely have better sound quality or less noise depending on what you buy.
 
kasakka said:
Other than keeping it compact in a single case, have you considered just using an USB audio interface instead of the internal sound card? Would solve any cooling issues and most likely have better sound quality or less noise depending on what you buy.
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I have considered it. I am wary of onboard audio. I have simply always had a sound card since the early nineties.
 
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