Shortest "Reasonable" Videocard?

neocpp

Senior member
Jan 16, 2011
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Hey guys,

I wasn't really sure where to search for this (aside for looking at specs for tons of videocards online individually... which would take forever), so I figured collectively we would know what the shortest length "reasonable" videocard was.

Before anyone asks, I'm building a custom case, and to cut down on material costs and machining time I'm trying to get mostly small components and squeeze them in as tight as possible. I don't play particularly demanding games (Starcraft II, Mafia II, Just Cause 2, and Civ V all at 1920x1080), so if it gets playable framerates I'd be happy. I'd prefer an nvidia card because I'm planning on learning CUDA at some point, but its not strictly necessary.

Budget isn't too much of a concern (I figure I won't be spending $700 for the GTX 590...), but I'd like to stay around/under $250 or so.

If anyone has suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Thanks,
neocpp
 

cusideabelincoln

Diamond Member
Aug 3, 2008
3,268
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The GTX 460 and 560 are your options. Neither are particularly long and should be shorter than the motherboard - which is usually 9.6".
 
Feb 25, 2011
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Even a fairly "long" card will probably be shorter than an ATX motherboard. mATX is questionable. (don't even ask about ITX. Most cards will be bigger than the mobo.)

But going low-profile might be a better plan, depending on your intended case layout.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
6,719
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Powercolor's PCS+ 5770 is absolutely freaking tiny. The card itself is barely longer than the pcie port itself. Just throwing that out there.

Edit: Sorry its not the pcs but their ax model thats so freaking tiny.
 
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stahlhart

Super Moderator Graphics Cards
Dec 21, 2010
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Getting extremely good results with the card(s) in my sig. There's a $20 rebate on it at the moment, too. I haven't measured them, but they're about equal to the width of the motherboard, eyeballing it.
 
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neocpp

Senior member
Jan 16, 2011
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@cusideabelincoln: Thanks for the suggestions, that's pretty much what I figured, just wanted to see if there were alternatives.

@dave_the_nerd and @tweakboy: Thanks for the suggestions. I was looking at mATX and ITX boards (not sure if the ITX would really save anything, since the videocard seems like it will be close to mATX size anyways). I know the spec says 9.6" x 9.6" max for mATX, but a decent number of boards are actually a couple inches shorter (I'm looking at you, Biostar). ITX is only 6.7" x 6.7", so the more rectangular mATX boards can actually come close in size along one dimension. I know it'll make the case pretty hardware-specific, but this is a one-off job that's mostly for the lulz, so I'm okay with that.

@GodisanAtheist: Didn't see this card. Its just barely larger than an ITX motherboard, pretty impressive. Thanks!

@Leyawiin: Thanks for this find, I was looking for an nvidia card (and a gtx 560 Ti seems pretty nice). Has anyone used a Palit card before? It only has one review on newegg (at least its good), but not really sure what I can draw from that.

@stahlhart: Thanks for the suggestion, they're definitely shorter than my current videocard. Do you know if you can take off the part that sticks out the back? Or sand it down or something? This is a one-off job, so I'm willing to modify things a little bit.

Thanks everyone,
neocpp
 

stahlhart

Super Moderator Graphics Cards
Dec 21, 2010
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@stahlhart: Thanks for the suggestion, they're definitely shorter than my current videocard. Do you know if you can take off the part that sticks out the back? Or sand it down or something? This is a one-off job, so I'm willing to modify things a little bit.

Unfortunately, no, I don't think you will be able to -- that's where your two PCIe power connectors for the card are. The circuit board pretty much extends the full length.

I'll take a second look when I get home tonight just to make sure...
 

stahlhart

Super Moderator Graphics Cards
Dec 21, 2010
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They're about 9" from the bracket to the end of the card. It looks like you could lose about 1/2" by cutting the end of the cover down, but the power connectors would still be protruding (mabye there's right-angle 6-pin adapters available).

Isn't the MSI 460 Cyclone a relatively short card?
 

n0x1ous

Platinum Member
Sep 9, 2010
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In regards to Palit, I have installed two palit gts 450 cards in customer builds precisely due to their shorter than reference PCB. they have both been running perfectly since they were installed shortly after the 450s came out.
 

mosox

Senior member
Oct 22, 2010
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You can make a small case that can take any video card, the HDD cage must not be in the way, that's all. Faster is to buy a small one and modify it by removing that cage and using the top bays for the HDDs and make all the other modifications you like.
 

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
5,493
3
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I used a Palit 460 in a 2nd build I had for a while, It was highly factory overclocked and like 7.5 inches long. "supersonic" i believe. Worked 100%
 

Arkadrel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2010
3,681
2
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Tiny custom case :)

make sure to post pictures afterwards =)
( I love seeing what people come up with)
 
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neocpp

Senior member
Jan 16, 2011
490
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Hi everyone,

Thanks for all of your suggestions and feedback. I was a little worried since I hadn't heard much about the Palit cards before, but it looks like I'm going to go with their smallish GTX 560 Ti... I'll upload pictures as soon as the build is complete! (Could be a while because of school :/)

Thanks,
neocpp