Newb Question: Do all heatsinks face down?

[CClyph]

Hi, the following is probably a complete newb question. It looks to me like all video cards are made so that when they are put into a computer, the heatsink (or fan) is facing down. I had Diamond Viper tnt2 ultra in my Dell Dimension, and it was oriented so the fan was below the pcb, blowing down.

It looks to me like the standard design is when you look at the back of a computer, the motherboard (and subsequently the agp connections) will be on the left side. At the same time, it looks like the standard design of video cards is that when put into a computer of this configuration, the heatsink or fan will be facing down. Wouldn't placing a heatsink at the top of the card be better for heat dissipation?

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: CClyph
Wouldn't placing a heatsink at the top of the card be better for heat dissipation?

Yes it would but PCI and ISA slots were designed before tower cases existed - there was no 'up' or down in original desktop cases. PCI slots were designed to have chips on the right side, since ISA had chips on the left side. Unfortunately, once tower cases were invented, all PCI cards (including video cards) had components facing down. AGP was designed as an extension of PCI with higher bandwidth; they kept the same specs from PCI for component spacing, etc, to comply with the same specs that PCI did. Sadly, the downward-facing chips were carried over as well.

It would take a rewriting of AGP and/or PCI specifications to get chips facing the "correct" direction, which is a much more difficult proposition then it seems, unfortunately.

 

[CClyph]

Thanks

 

[Jeff7]

There's been much discussion of this lately, especially since the Geforce FX boards were seen with their massive cooling dealy - it's been called the "dustbuster" by some, because it can be very loud.

Funny thread of alternate uses for the FX

I can't seem to find the other threads right now that discuss the possibility of revising the AGP spec to allow for components on the top of the boards; they are around here...somewhere.

 

[Lonyo]

I doubt they'll change it, since in less that 2 years (hopefully), we'll have the new PCI bus which will eclipse AGP anyway (supposedly) because it should have much higher bandwidth. They could design that spec with upwards chips in mind, but we'll have to wait and see.