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wbino49
wbino49
Join Date 10/2012
+6

Why are videocards upside down?

January 11, 2017 12:46:20 PM from Stardock Games ForumsStardock Games Forums

Just installed my latest VC and it dawned on me that the best looking side of it is facing downward.

   Why is the back-plating side up and the fans LED lighting facing the bottom of the case where no one can see it?

 

         Just wondering..........

 

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wbino49
BlackSmokeDMax
Join Date 03/2006
+60
Reply #1 January 11, 2017 1:27:45 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

My guess would be the best heat dissipation is how they set the orientation.

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wbino49
psychoak
Join Date 07/2007
+225
Reply #2 January 11, 2017 2:24:56 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

There is many a board layout that simply lacks the room for a top mounted heatsink and fan, it would be impractical to have one reversed.  There will often be a CPU slot, memory, something, within half an inch of the top slot.  There is also the exhaust out the back, the porting is south of the PCB, not north.  Card orientation has been universal, or near to it, since before video cards.  They're just doing it the same way they always have, with the components on the underside, which most definitely does not help the typical expansion card cool better.

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wbino49
Pyro411
Join Date 12/2004
+32
Reply #3 January 11, 2017 4:57:21 PM
from Star Control ForumsStar Control Forums

Actually... WAY back in the day, tower cases were rare & motherboards were mounted horizontally so it'd be parallel to your desk.  This would leave the add-on cards such as Modem/Sound Card/Video Cards to be standing straight up & down.

Cooling was really neglected in design work up until probably the late 90s "Yes early/mid 90s CPUs would have passive cooling"

 

There are some cases out there that actually flip the board upside down, the only issue is the heat from the CPU rises into add-on cards with that design, as well as the BTX motherboard standard which fizzled out due to lack of proper scaling when it came to cooling. -- BTX died about 10 or so years ago.

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wbino49
Jafo
Join Date 03/2001
+1716 sdemployee
Reply #4 January 11, 2017 6:22:12 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

Dust.

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wbino49
psychoak
Join Date 07/2007
+225
Reply #5 January 12, 2017 12:58:15 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

When it comes to active cooling, dust is a product of airflow, not gravity.  Having them upside down simply collects dust on both sides.

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wbino49
Jafo
Join Date 03/2001
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Reply #6 January 12, 2017 1:12:08 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums

Ah....but it's some techie's vain attempt to rely on gravity to have it fall off again...

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