Graphics card backing plate an obstruction

charlieoo

Just received a new graphics and unlike the old one this has a backing plate. The backing plate is stopping the card being inserted fully into the board.

What should I do? Does removing the backing plate bring me into warranty issues? Is it designed to be taken off by all vendors? Is a pci express extension cable a viable option?

Kimbot

charlieoo wrote: »

Just received a new graphics and unlike the old one this has a backing plate. The backing plate is stopping the card being inserted fully into the board.

What should I do? Does removing the backing plate bring me into warranty issues? Is it designed to be taken off by all vendors? Is a pci express extension cable a viable option?

Can you take a picture and post it of where its an obstruction?

charlieoo

It's not to handy for me to take a photo at the minute. The board is designed so that the pci-express slot is level with the end terminals of the ram slots and it is they that are in the way of the backing plate.

Kimbot

charlieoo wrote: »

It's not to handy for me to take a photo at the minute. The board is designed so that the pci-express slot is level with the end terminals of the ram slots and it is they that are in the way of the backing plate.

What board is it?

charlieoo

Kimbot wrote: »

What board is it?

It's a micro atx board from a Lenovo.

charlieoo

After looking on youtube it seems pci-express extension cables are a runner for graphics cards. None on adverts.

There is this one on ebay. Thoughts?

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/PCI-E-PCI-Express-16X-Riser-Card-Flexible-Ribbon-Extender-Extension-Cable-Cord/390819640781?hash=item5afeaa75cd:g:iicAAOxyBvZTSsdb

And this on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zerone-7-5Inch-Express-Extension-Flexible-default/dp/B07NPKR82C/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=PCI-Express+Extender&qid=1579957743&sr=8-4

charlieoo

sugarman wrote: »

Do you mean the shroud rather than the backplate?

Youre going to need to give us more details if you cant post a picture.

What exact model Lenovo?

What exact model of card?

No. the backplate. About to pull the trigger on an extension cable. I'm not taking the plate off.

Homelander

The riser should work on a technical level but how will you actually mount the card in the case?

I presume it's a card powered straight from the pci-e slot? Maybe a gtx1650? It could be as easy to just return it and get a model without a backplate. Seems strange that the backplate would interfere with the ram banks.

I just put a low profile gtx1650 into a lenovo actually, it's an asus with a backplate but there were no issues.

charlieoo

Homelander wrote: »

The riser should work on a technical level but how will you actually mount the card in the case?

I don't know. It was suggested to me using cable ties to hang it inside the case. I'm happy to put it on little blocks.

Homelander wrote: »

I presume it's a card powered straight from the pci-e slot? Maybe a gtx1650? It could be as easy to just return it and get a model without a backplate. Seems strange that the backplate would interfere with the ram banks.

Yes powerd from the pci it needs an extra cable for power too. It's a 2600 RTX.
I just count it as really bad luck. I was looking at photos of micro axt boards and it seems really rare that the ram and pci slot are right on the same level as mine are.

ED E

Like that I guess. They never envisaged a real GPU going in there.

Homelander

If that's the board, time for a new PC. I don't get the point of such a pci-lane unless it was specifically designed to be used with a riser. I think though he meant the lane was higher/ram banks were lower than usual, but it was still in the correct place.

Since it is an RTX2060 it has to be a full size desktop/tower, which usually are far less likely to have strange board layouts too. To the original poster, do you also have six pin power cables supplied from the power supply?

what is the actual model number/spec of the PC.

BloodBath

That's a strange looking board. Never seen anything like it.

Is that only a single ram slot? That's not good either.

Smiles35

Hello. Op here. Just on someone else's account while I sorted out this PC.


I had to laugh Ed-E, it's not that bad. I don't think some of the mini versions of today's graphics cards would fit in that. I wouldn't like to try.

Homelander wrote: »

To the original poster, do you also have six pin power cables supplied from the power supply?


what is the actual model number/spec of the PC.

No six pin connectors (or 8 pin which is what I need for the 2060). I have adaptors for both though.

LENOVO 1577G1G ThinkCentre Edge71 is the full model name. It's LGA LGA1155 with a i7-2600s in it.

How are you getting on framerate wise after your upgrade? It's always in the back of mind that a branded 3rd party board would be quicker than this Lenovo. Is their any truth in that I wonder.

Homelander

I'm fine with mine. It's running perfect and as it should, though the 1650 doesn't need extra power. I have it with an i7-3770, and both are running full speed on a 200w power supply.

Sometimes with OEM machines the power delivery can be wonky. I know with some of the OEM boards with custom PSU designs that have those dual 4 pin connectors instead of the classic 24pin + 4/8pin, there can be issues supplying enough power as they wouldn't have been designed to be run with gaming cards. But in your case it should be OK.

However, the bigger problem is I suspect you will have an issue anyway as an RTX2060 + 2600S machine would need probably at least a decent quality 280-300w power supply. From looking online it seems the ThinkCentre comes with a 180w PSU, not even close to being enough.

I would say an RTX2060 with a 2600S is a very overkill anyway. It will be bottlenecked a lot and won't perform at all to it's capability. Something like a 1660 is probably the best card I would pair with a 2600S.

The 2600S is an old, slow cpu and supports only 1333mhz ram. It's still 'OK' for many games but it won't keep up with the likes of an RTX2060 in most cases. Assuming you are using a 1080P monitor a 1660 is a much better match. In most new games the RTX2060 would be sitting only half working because of the CPU ceiling.

Considering the RTX2060 is £300 it might be time to consider a new PC. If you can return that, you could build a nice, rounded new PC with the latest tech for about €600 that would run all the latest games very well.

Homelander

Or else just return the RTX2060 and get a basic GTX1650 for €140 without a backplate? It's a decent card, and you can avoid all the hassle, and it will work fine on a 180w oem psu.

It is what I would do personally rather than having to go through a load of hoops - you would need to replace the power supply and then somehow jerry-rig the rtx2060 in the case....and still be left with totally sub standard performance from the rtx2060 as the 2600s is an old and limiting cpu. Just not practical really.

K.O.Kiki

Smiles35 wrote: »

Hello. Op here. Just on someone else's account while I sorted out this PC.


I had to laugh Ed-E, it's not that bad. I don't think some of the mini versions of today's graphics cards would fit in that. I wouldn't like to try.




No six pin connectors (or 8 pin which is what I need for the 2060). I have adaptors for both though.

LENOVO 1577G1G ThinkCentre Edge71 is the full model name. It's LGA LGA1155 with a i7-2600s in it.

How are you getting on framerate wise after your upgrade? It's always in the back of mind that a branded 3rd party board would be quicker than this Lenovo. Is their any truth in that I wonder.

So assuming this is your machine:



It sounds like you are restricted by length.

Academically, I'd say to get a ruler, measure how long you can have for a GPU, then get a 75W (no PCI-e power) GPU yadda yadda.

But the i7-2600 is 9 years old.
It's time to build a new machine.

Even a lowly Ryzen 1200 (or 2200G with iGPU) would be faster.

Smiles35

Homelander wrote: »

However, the bigger problem is I suspect you will have an issue anyway as an RTX2060 + 2600S machine would need probably at least a decent quality 280-300w power supply. From looking online it seems the ThinkCentre comes with a 180w PSU, not even close to being enough.

Oh no, the PSU it came with is 620w. I bought it second hand and it was one of the plus points it had when I bought it.


I'll take those comments about bottlenecking on board. Will it get me to 30fps in Cyberpunk with hairworks off do you think?

Smiles35

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

It sounds like you are restricted by length.

I certainly was restricted by length. I had one of the older full length behemoth graphics cards in it and I had to bend the chassis to get it in.

Homelander

Well, that's not too bad then. But what brand PSU is it? A 620w with no pci-e connectors would have to either be ancient, or very low-end.

A 2600S would be OK for most new games to varying degrees, but matched with an RTX2060 is a very bad mismatch.

Think of it this way. This is how bottlenecks work. Let's say the i7-2600S has an average framerate of 50fps in say...Assassins Creed Odysessy.

2600S + 1660 = 50fps ultra (card working at 80-90%)
2600S + 2060 = 50fps ultra (card working at 40-50%)

Whereas if you had a €120 Ryzen 2600 processor it would look more like this:

R-2600 + 1660 = 60fps ultra (card working at 100%)
R-2600 + 2060 = 90fps ultra (card working at 90-100%)

It's hypothetical, not exact figures, but you get what I mean - an RTX2060 is just money down the toilet matched with an i7-2600S. I still think you should return the 2060 and just get a regular GTX1660.

Smiles35

Homelander wrote: »

Well, that's not too bad then. But what brand PSU is it? A 620w with no pci-e connectors would have to either be ancient, or very low-end.

Here, you might laugh at this. The PSU brand is ACE.

Many thanks for laying out how bottlenecking can affect performance. I mean that sincerely.

Homelander

Unfortunately, not to be the eternal buzzkill, but ACE are in the 'fire hazard' category of power supplies. Grand for office machines, not a hope I'd chance an RTX2060 with one!

K.O.Kiki

Just to iterate on "fire hazard" PSUs:

Cuddlesworth

The big PC manufacturers overspec their PSU's.

Homelander

The ACE PSU didn't come with it though. ACE is a low-end brand, Amazon have their '750W' PSU's for £22 and '500w' PSU's for £15.