Experiencing an uncomfortable position with my wireless PCIe card.
Experiencing an uncomfortable position with my wireless PCIe card.
Hi guys, I have a TP Link T6E PCIE card but I'm having some trouble fitting it into my system. My motherboard is a Asrock z87 Pro3 and I'm running Windows 10 (Fall update). This doesn't seem like it should be complicated, but I can't seem to get it right. Here's what I have tried so far. PCIE1 Slot: The card fits here but the heatsink is quite close to the back of the GPU. I wonder how safe this is. See the attached photo. I've pressed on the wireless card and it's not going anywhere near the gpu back plate unless I attack it with a hammer (and I don't plan on doing that anytime soon!). I'm also wondering if this has any adverse effects on my GPU power as someone mentioned online somewhere that nothing should go into PCIE1 if you have a GPU in PCIE2. I'm not sure exactly what was meant by it. PCIE2 (x16): The GPU (dual slot) sits here for obvious reasons PCIE3 Slot: I have tried this. The PC detected it, but it seems very, very close to the GPU fans, and is essentially covering one half of one of them. It's a dual fan GPU and I would worry about airflow. PCIE4 Slot: This would look like the ideal solution, but when I press the card in I notice that the wireless' heat-sink presses against the Front Panel Audio Header/Cable. This could be harmless, but I don't know, but it's enough pressure that you can physically feel it as you press the card down. I haven't powered on the machine with the card in this place. Thanks for reading. I'd appreciate any advice!
@jstudrawa seems to focus more on PCIe details, while @chefreinhold thinks the top slot works perfectly. No backplate problems expected.
Great point! That’s not a GPU backplate—it’s the actual card. Does that affect your thoughts?
Nah. PCIe1 (x1 slot) will likely run off chipset while PCIe2 (x16 slot) will run off CPU. Won't be an issue. Shouldn't be any thermal issues either - the Wifi card won't generate a lot of heat. The bottom two slots appear to be PCI so won't be compatible with a PCI e card. Use the top slot. How you have it in the picture is fine.
I get what you mean. On my old setup, the GPU in slot one would shut down PCI slot 1 beneath it. As Reaper suggested, you should be okay. Just avoid asking about the chipset or CPU details and you'll be fine. Now, the key point is... are you running an UltraWide with that RTX model?
It's roughly the most you can expect with an RTX GPU, actually.