Are you using the second PCIe 16x slot? If not why not put the sound card there?

I have a similar setup in an XP machine with the same sound card directly above a GTX 980 Ti. Haven't noticed any thermal issues.

You can always test it out and monitor thermals to see if it's a problem.

SScorpio wrote on 2025-08-21, 17:25:

Are you using the second PCIe 16x slot? If not why not put the sound card there?

Won’t that force my primary PCIE 16x slot to run at 8x?

Just something I read, no idea how much truth there is to it.

All three slots always work at 16x. The white one is rated at 16x PCIe 1.1 though, so it's effectively a 8x PCIe 2.0 slot. Ideally you should set them apart to prolong capacitors life on the sound card. You can place the video card in the lower slot too.

Videocard does not care - you are not blocking airflow or anything. Soundcard... well, it'll get roasted a bit, may cook the capacitors or something else sooner than otherwise.

IMO put it into the lowest x16, judging by the manual all 3 slots are full x16, so should not affect anything else.

Airflow will also play a roll here. If you have cooling fans blowing directly across the sound card and GPU, that will help dissipate the heat from the GPU.

This is not a problem for GPU, but could deteriorate the sound card. I would put the sound card in another slot.

Be sure to disassemble the GTX 280, clean and re-paste it. Update BIOS fan curve, the default is usually terrible and will destroy the card. I use min/max setting of 47/75'C with 47 at 30-35%. That results in max 65'C while gaming and 70'C in Sanctuary benchmark. Higher temperatures are not recommended.

GeForce GTX 275 can easily hit 87'C in Sanctuary benchmark with original fan profile and old paste.

AlexZ wrote on 2025-08-21, 21:08:

Update BIOS fan curve, the default is usually terrible and will destroy the card.

How is this done?

The seller already replaced thermal pads and paste on the GTX 280 before putting it up for sale.

As for air flow, the PC will be housed in a Fractal Design Define 7 Compact case, which has good air flow.

Based on the feedback, I reckon I can place the sound card in the middle PCIE 16x slot, which is the white one (I.e. the 1.0 one), thus keeping it away from the graphics card and leaving the second PCIE 2.0 16x slot free in case I want to put another GTX 280 there.

I was curious to see what the actual temps would get to in my setup, so I ran a couple benchmarks (3DMark2001 and 2003) and took some thermal pics.

Temps on the backplate of the GTX 980 Ti peaked at around 55-56C, mostly staying in the low-to-mid 50's. Temperatures on the sound card shroud and components remained much cooler, in the mid-to-high 30's.

Granted the thermal profile on the GTX 280 is going to be different and use cases will vary. But with adequate airflow I wouldn't be worried about the heat from the backplate cooking the caps on the sound card. I don't see how they would get that hot.

AndreaColombo86 wrote on 2025-08-21, 21:54:

The seller already replaced thermal pads and paste on the GTX 280 before putting it up for sale.

Be really, really careful with this. Some sellers are good, but most treat this old HW like junk some weird people are willing to pay money for.

I've got... a few cards from GF8 series and AMD HD3000 series recently and my experience has been - do not even try to power on before disassembling, checking and replacing thermal compound.

One card arrived with no thermal compound at all (just heatsink installed on top of clean GPU, this was AGP HD3850 too... quite pricey), some arrived with gooey mess (they use junk from aliexpress for $1/KG) and some - with old dry thermal compound reused (cooler removed and then installed without replacing it). Not a single one was good.

I'll just add, make absolutely sure that there's enough clearance between the GPU and the sound card, i.e. don't let them touch. If they do, it might cause a short. Happened to me once, but fortunately, neither card was permanently damaged.

Nowadays, I always double check that there's at least a few millimeters of free space there. Shining a small battery lamp between the two cards can help with this.

AndreaColombo86 wrote on 2025-08-21, 21:54:

How is this done?

Download nvflash from few years after your GPU release, e.g. nvflash 5.117.0.1 from 2012 and run "nvflash.exe --save gtx280.bin". Make a backup just in case. Later versions tend to be larger and do not fit on a floppy. Then use NiBiTor to edit fan settings. I used v6.06 . I also enabled info message on boot for 1.5s - it is off by default. I wouldn't touch any clock/voltage/latency settings or Tcrit, Thyst. I use "Automatic Speed" in fan settings for best cooling. It is very simple to configure as there is textual explanation of settings. I would not use "Dynamic Speed" or Accoustic Enhancement on bumpgate era hardware.

See https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/th … nibitor.119954/