PCI slots fouling CPU heatsink \ VOGONS

PCI slots fouling CPU heatsink

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First post, by britain4

Posted on 2021-07-09, 08:01

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So I’ve picked up a nice little baby AT machine recently for another “build” - it’s all up and running as is but with onboard everything so the plan was to just throw a Voodoo1 in it and a sound card, and call it a day.

There’s been a fail with the board layout of the PCChips M598LMR though - clearly not designed for any large PCI cards the CPU socket is directly adjacent to both of the PCI slots and the Voodoo card is about an inch too long to clear the heatsink.

pc-chips-m598lmr-socket-7-motherboard-sis-530-chipset-with-isa-system-board-1.1297__45867.1489936678.jpg

I feel like I’m just going to have to swap it for a different board but I’m reluctant as it has all of its extension brackets and stuff. Anyone run into this issue before and used a PCI riser/modified the heat sink etc to get around it?

Edit: having looked at it a bit more I think I can just Dremel just the lower left corner of the heatsink fins off and make room for it that way?

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Reply 1 of 15, by megatron-uk

Posted on 2021-07-09, 08:49

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That board definitely gets a "Fail" for layout! A mix of expansion slots and IO headers where only expansion slots should go?

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Reply 2 of 15, by zyga64

Posted on 2021-07-09, 09:26

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You may try riser like this
...but probably not in the standard AT case. BTW. Onboard soundcard is not that bad (it is rebranded CMI8330).

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Reply 3 of 15, by britain4

Posted on 2021-07-09, 09:50

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megatron-uk wrote on 2021-07-09, 08:49:

That board definitely gets a "Fail" for layout! A mix of expansion slots and IO headers where only expansion slots should go?

The layout is awful - completely defies logic, it would have been a cheap board in its day but if the CPU socket was just half an inch higher for example you could use any PCI card you wanted in the bottom slot 🤦🏻‍♂️

zyga64 wrote on 2021-07-09, 09:26:

You may try riser like this
...but probably not in the standard AT case. BTW. Onboard soundcard is not that bad (it is rebranded CMI8330).

I didn’t think so about the riser - nowhere at all to mount it.

Good to know about the onboard sound, thats a silver lining at least as I can see potential issues with longer sound cards and the front panel headers

I went ahead and just cut some fins off a heatsink - thankfully it all now (just) fits fine with not much material lost from the cooler. What a tight squeeze but nothing can catch on anything else so I think it’ll be fine.

Reply 4 of 15, by pan069

Posted on 2021-07-09, 10:30

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It happens to AGP boards as well 😀

PCPartner Socket 7 epic design fail

Reply 5 of 15, by britain4

Posted on 2021-07-09, 12:38

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pan069 wrote on 2021-07-09, 10:30:

It happens to AGP boards as well 😀

PCPartner Socket 7 epic design fail

It does make you wonder what they were thinking when boards with perfectly fine layouts had been manufactured before… 😂

Reply 6 of 15, by cyclone3d

Posted on 2021-07-09, 15:36

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pan069 wrote on 2021-07-09, 10:30:

It happens to AGP boards as well 😀

PCPartner Socket 7 epic design fail

The ASUS P5A-B also has a bad layout. Almost any AGP card has issues clearing the CPU heatsink. Electrical tape to make the AGP card not short out on the heatsink is about the only thing you can do.

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Reply 7 of 15, by BitWrangler

Posted on 2021-07-09, 16:17

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The other way to go might be to look for tail end of socket A heatpipe sinks that are tall enough that cards fit between the pipes.

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Reply 8 of 15, by cyclone3d

Posted on 2021-07-09, 16:34

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That's a bad idea. Let's sandwich a card in between two towers of heat.

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Reply 9 of 15, by britain4

Posted on 2021-07-09, 16:38

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BitWrangler wrote on 2021-07-09, 16:17:

The other way to go might be to look for tail end of socket A heatpipe sinks that are tall enough that cards fit between the pipes.

Not a bad idea - I’ll keep my eyes peeled for one. For now I think the cut down heatsink works well enough. Top slot is still restricted and I don’t have anything that fits so it’s onboard video + Voodoo for now.

Hopefully a K6 or a Pentium or a Winchip or whatever I decide to go with won’t be putting out enough heat to affect the graphics card too much?

Reply 10 of 15, by jakethompson1

Posted on 2021-07-09, 19:47

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The HOT-591P also had this issue. My understanding was the official recommendation was a low-profile copper heatsink.

Reply 11 of 15, by Miphee

Posted on 2021-07-09, 20:06

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Not a big deal now.

Reply 12 of 15, by PcBytes

Posted on 2021-07-09, 20:07

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I think most AT Socket 7 mobos had bad clearing issues and ATX ones didn't. Feel free to prove me wrong though.

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Reply 13 of 15, by Horun

Posted on 2021-07-10, 00:41

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cyclone3d wrote on 2021-07-09, 15:36:

pan069 wrote on 2021-07-09, 10:30:

It happens to AGP boards as well 😀

PCPartner Socket 7 epic design fail

The ASUS P5A-B also has a bad layout. Almost any AGP card has issues clearing the CPU heatsink. Electrical tape to make the AGP card not short out on the heatsink is about the only thing you can do.

Agree ! Do not want to short the back of video card.

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