video card question

Originally posted by 17blue17 Maybe I worry too much about nothing.

Probably

Originally posted by 17blue17 Would be nice to know.

Essentially speculation, nevertheless, let's look at some comparisons.

The GeForce GTX 690 was Nvidia's non-pro flagship in 2012 -- a 2-slot card with a max power of 300W (reference/FE design).

A decade later, the RTX 4090 is a 450W max power, 3-slot graphics card. Even if we go with third-party model at 3.5-slot thickness with a max power of 600W (spec of a single 16-pin PCI-E 5.0 power connection), that's still only about twice the size and power requirement -- again, after a decade.

Looking at another perspective...

The GeForce GTX 660 Ti was a 2-slot card but had a max power of 150W, half of the 690.

In current day, the estimated max power requirements of a Core i5 12600K + GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (mid-range) rig is about half of a Core i9 12900K + GeForce RTX 3090 Ti (high-end) rig.

So, if we were to do an extremely simple prediction, assuming details are linear, the mid-range graphics card of 2032 would be 4-slot with a max power of 600W. The high-end would presumably be a 7-slot or 8-slot design with a max power of 12000W. Ha! If that prediction comes true, I'm not sure what I'll say.

Originally posted by Cretae It appears to me the size of the high-end cards is to accommodate more robust fans for cooling more than anything else.

This topic was brought up on the latest RTFM Show episode. Basically, the guess is the graphics cards designs include a notable amount of overcompensating "bro"/"manly man" culture ideology. Having hands-on experience with a high-end graphics card, I believe that conclusion. During normal/designed operation (i.e., no manual OCing), the 3090 FTW3U keeps itself plenty cool. The problem being the amount of heat the card efficiently dumps into the case. Sure, in my case -- pun intended -- the radiator restricts intake airflow. However, even without that obstruction, I have no doubt I'd need to run dual 140mm fans at nearly max RPM to sweep enough air through to keep up with the graphics card exhaust.

And yes, a more refined die manufacturing process can help somewhat, but not if chip designers simply pack in more and more processing cores.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edited by MrCheetah - 09 Oct 2022 at 6:11am

I understand but there's, apparently, still a miscommunication -- which is okay.

Foremost, when referring to "PCI slots," some contest is helpful.

There are PCI (well, PCIe/PCIE/PCI-E nowadays) slots -- I think, connector or port would be more accurate but slot is the commonly interchanged term -- on a motherboard:


(As you can see, there are two short PCI slots -- they'd be referred to as PCI x1 connectors/slots -- between the full-length (x16) connectors/slots. The Dark Hero doesn't have connectors between the full-length connectors, however, that area is two PCI slots wide.)

And PCI slots on the case/enclosure:



Less important to your question though still possibly helpful knowledge: a "PCI fence" is the bracket that provides a means to mount an expansion card to the case:



(See the fence resemblance?)

And PCI slot covers:



Back to your question/concern

Most motherboards, especially "gaming" and workstation-type, in probably the past decade or more are designed so no components obstruct the PCI expansion slot area because they are aware of graphics card and other expansion card sizes, which vary greatly. Discrete or dedicated graphics cards are just one expansion card type. For example, there are USB cards, storage cards, wireless cards, and more.

In this photo of a DS Velox, there's only one expansion card installed, a graphics card:



Also notice there is a slot (gap) below the card (vice versa in a standard case, such as Lumos). This is typical with an ATX or EATX motherboard. Additionally, there are five slots above the graphics card. The Velox has 8 slots total, thus we confirm it's a 2-slot card -- probably an RTX 3080 (Ti) FE. It's recommended to have at least one PCI slot width between components/cards. Therefore, the Velox could accommodate up to one 6-slot card. If, for example, you have an expansion card installed in the second full-length slot, any card in the first/topmost slot should not be larger than two slots in thickness -- leaving a one slot gap as mentioned earlier.

I could not find great photos, nevertheless, you're mainly limited if you have more than one expansion card.

This is okay:



Never create this setup:


(The RTX 3090 FE is a 3-slot card. That is, it occupies the slot with the connector plus the two below it. The card below it does the same, thus only a tiny gap between. Both graphics cards will be choked off while the top is also heat saturated by the lower cards' exhaust.)

And if you would get an RTX 3090 Ti FTW3U, a 3.5-slot card, the second full-length PCIE connector would be inaccessible/unusable:

(See how the graphics card shroud is encroaching just above, blocking the second PCIE x16 slot?)


Does this clarify things?


Sorry about the length, although, I wanted to provide enough info.

Edited by MrCheetah - 09 Oct 2022 at 7:53pm

don't buy the "Ti" versions of cards, there's no value in them.  the 3080 12 GB should be a real steal right now.  the Gigabyte 12gb card is on Newegg for $720 for example.