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

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).

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.

It happens to AGP boards as well 😀

PCPartner Socket 7 epic design fail

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… 😂

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.

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.

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

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?

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

Not a big deal now.

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

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.

PcBytes wrote on 2021-07-09, 20:07:

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

And many Socket 5 boards had the CPU placed behind the ISA slots, blocking long cards.

Yeah, I see this problem with most Pentium and newer AT boards, 486 and 386 boards not that often.