Aurora R9, maximum GPU length size?

PNY, it is an overclocked model I purchased from Dell back in Feb 19. It is 12.36" long. While looking for a replacement I have seen them at 10.5" for the base model with them going up from there, 10.55, 10.6, 10.7, 11.xx, etc.

The 10.5 ones seem to be out of stock everywhere, so I didn't want to get a >10.5 and <10.7 without knowing for sure.

Thanks for the reply.

@mbraden :

PNY, it is an overclocked model I purchased from Dell back in Feb 19. It is 12.36" long. While looking for a replacement I have seen them at 10.5" for the base model with them going up from there, 10.55, 10.6, 10.7, 11.xx, etc.

The more important question is, have you used this 2080 Ti you bought from Dell in another system previously? Was it a new or refurb unit from Dell? Reason for this concern is because of 2080 Ti "space invaders" artifacting issue seen on some Dell OEM cards in 2018. I hope you have put this card through the motions and made sure it's good in the first place.

12.36" is just way too long for an R9 chassis. You could try to remove the front fan + mount and replace them with a single Noctua AF12x15 stuck right on the chassis wall. That might be a close call. Or placing the fan outside of the chassis, sandwiched in the bezel.

Otherwise, if the card is in good condition, I'd just sell it on auction site for a good price and use proceeds to buy a card that fits.

I was using it in my Alienware Area 51 R2 that I gave to my wife, I put the original 980 TI back into it for her.

As for your comment below, do you know what teh fix is? If not, I can tell you.

"The more important question is, have you used this 2080 Ti you bought from Dell in another system previously? Was it a new or refurb unit from Dell? Reason for this concern is because of 2080 Ti "space invaders" artifacting issue seen on some Dell OEM cards in 2018. I hope you have put this card through the motions and made sure it's good in the first place."

When I first purchased the PNY from Dell I did get the "space invaders" and I went on nVidia's site, Dell's, all over the web and the answer was the same, RMA. Well, I have worked in IT for over 30 years so I thought, let's do some troubleshooting.

The "space invader" issue could happen with any RTX this is because you need a specific Windows 10 version or higher. Since I had install important updates, but download others and let me know I had an update that didn't apply. Why, well Microsoft listed it as optional and because of that, the system wouldn't update to the 1803 (I believe that was the version number). So I had to tell it to install the optional one, then the 1803 and I had no problems after that.

I am going to sell the PNY on an auction site and hope to get something back for it. Thanks for the response.

Mike

Mike, it's great to hear that your "space invaders" artifacts were due to a software albeit OS issue and not a hardware issue. Gamersnexus (I could be wrong) did some investigation on the same issue by collecting samples of 2080 Ti cards and found that there could be a mix of GPU die + board design + GDDR that was causing the issue. But if you fixed your issue with the OS patch, then it's a good card.

All the best with the auction!

I did precisely this myself. Bought a 2080 super oc without realizing it wont fit. I finally gambled by removing the front fan and casing and purchasing a noctua 12x15 which i attached using bluetack to the inside casing as it didnt have any place for screws on the alienware mount. This gave me barely 5-10mm allowance which was needed when trying to squeeze the card in while making sure there were no vibrations.

Phew!

@tm_teo :

If you have a Noctua 12x15, you can consider moving the fan outside like this:

You'll need to cut off the notch in the bezel that goes into the chassis.

@GTS81, can you give us in detail what you bought and how you moved the fan outside?

@Chanmanx2k :

It's this fan: https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-A12x15-PWM-Premium-Quiet/dp/B071W6HJP6/ref=asc_df_B071W6HJP6/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309773039951&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3668033967748980603&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032188&hvtargid=pla-359637206535&psc=1

There's a black version now I think. You'll need to open up the front bezel by removing all the side panels and top panel before being able to remove this front piece. Then put the fan in and mount it (some way). I just used shipping tape on mine.

ML120 Pro doesn't fit

@tm_teo 

Hi i am thinking of doing the same with the blu tack + new slimmer fans. how did you use it to hold the fan up? put it on all 4 corners?

Thanks.

Sorry GTS, the computer you showed is not an Aurora R9. BTW, attaching the fan to the external front doesn't work on an Aurora R9 because of its front design. Attaching it to the back will only achieve substandard ventilation so the best option was to find a way to fit a new fan where the old front fan was situated but going down to a thinner fan to shave off a bit of space.

@Sharbs 

Yup, with blu tack on all four sides stuck to the inside front of the rig where the old fan used to be. The noctua has been fantastic as its uber quiet but does a nice job.

So far the modification has worked wonderfully and has not given me any problems with noise/vibrations or performance issues. Would highly recommend this setup for anyone who wants that little bit more space to fit a high end card. Hope it helps.

@tm_teo 

Hi, thanks for replying. Wasnt sure if i'd get a response being the thread's been inactive for a while.

The reason why i asked, is with the new Nvidia GPUs out, the aurora owners at the alienware subreddit, are realizing these new cards are super long, and in order to fit the card into the case, some clearance need to be made.

And they're suggesting we remove the front fan, and put in the exact replacement slim fan you have in your case, except, they're drilling the case, to put in the new fan. i dont wanna do any crazy drilling if i can help it.

And i came across your post. Blu tack. Thats genius brother!

Thanks again.