Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › pci-e sound card and graphics card heat
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

pci-e sound card and graphics card heat

post #1 of 8
3/5/09 at 10:28am
Thread Starter 
hey guys

I'm looking at buying a xonar essence STX (replacement for my old xtreme music) sound card for my AD-900's. My concern is that the placement of the PCI-E X1 is right above my PCI-E X16 where my very hot graphics card runs (upwards of 65c degrees on the core). Now because they are going to be so close together there won't be too much air flow going on between the two cards.

My question is this: Will the heat from the graphics card damage or reduce the sound quality of the nearby sound card?
Reply
post #2 of 8
3/5/09 at 11:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by okydoke View Post
hey guys

I'm looking at buying a xonar essence STX (replacement for my old xtreme music) sound card for my AD-900's. My concern is that the placement of the PCI-E X1 is right above my PCI-E X16 where my very hot graphics card runs (upwards of 65c degrees on the core). Now because they are going to be so close together there won't be too much air flow going on between the two cards.

My question is this: Will the heat from the graphics card damage or reduce the sound quality of the nearby sound card?
heat into soundcards causes static, so you'd know if there was a problem pretty quickly

65* C on the core is fairly normal, so I wouldn't be terribly worried about it

what do you mean with "no airflow"? as in, zero airflow, or there is some airflow?

honestly I'm thinking this won't be an issue, I could be mistaken, but I doubt this is going to be a big problem
Reply
post #3 of 8
3/5/09 at 11:16am
what mother board do you have?
because according to ASUS
For the Xonar STX
-PCI Express Rev. specification compatible
-Compatible with X1, X4, X8, X16 PCI Express slots

which means.... any kind of PCI express slot would fit

if you have any modern Mother board, I am sure that you have at least two PCI *16 that has a decent spacing between them right?
Reply
post #4 of 8
3/5/09 at 11:24am
Well, according to your description the soundcard is literally right above the graphic card right?

My opinion is that, most of the heat is felt at the side of the graphic card where the heat sink is located and not at the back of the card itself.

And lastly, soundcards DO produce heat but not really that significant for you to be worrying about however, in real life anything can happen. These are all purely speculations.
Reply
post #5 of 8
3/5/09 at 12:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LightZY View Post
in real life anything can happen. These are all purely speculations.
QFT
Reply
post #6 of 8
3/6/09 at 7:41am
Thread Starter 
The PCI-Ex1 slot is right above the primary PCI-Ex16 slot, but I believe as DSlayer said I can use the lower PCI-E (supposed to be for graphics card i think)

False alarm guys, thanks for the help
Reply
post #7 of 8
3/6/09 at 8:08am
I have kept my old sound card for 4 years under a geforce 7900 (the fan was almost touching it). And zero issues.

I would assume, though that some RFI noise can degrade the analog and coax dig outputs. It would be better to choose a different slot. 1x cards are compatible with any pci-e slots.
Reply
post #8 of 8
3/6/09 at 11:05am
I doubt there is going to be any problem.
Audio cards are pretty low profile as is and they won't block your airflow in ways that say a HDD or video card can.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Computer Audio
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › pci-e sound card and graphics card heat