9NDA3: Can I fit Leadtek 6800 with SATA 1/2?

[Mike abcd]

Newegg just dropped the price of the Leadtek 6800 to $188 delivered and I couldn't resist as many folks are getting all the pipelines unlocked without artifacts and almost everyone seems to get the shader unlocked.

I'm overclocking and running a SATA drive (+ 2 IDE, 2 optical). I suspect I'll need a right angle SATA cable and still have to do some carving on the connector housing but can I make this work??? I'd rather not have to modify the massive heatsink on the card but really want to keep a SATA drive.

Link to an imgae of the card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Showim...+Card+-+Retail

Attempt to attach images :-)

Any help would really be appreciated! I've looked at some right angle SATA cables on the web but they still seem to have a fairly high profile.

EDIT: More and better image are here in this review. Click on thumbnails for decent resolution ones.
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=726&pageID=1158

Thanks,
Mike

[dsio]

given that sata doesnt have too many, or too tight pins, could it be possible to cut the connector off a sata cable, and solder the wires directly onto the sata port connector legs on the back side of the motherboard. Some time ago someone did a "wireless PC" in which is ran soldered cables from the back side of his mobo to IDE drives, which looked quite cool, and might even be practical in your case.

[Mike abcd]

Way beyond me. I've been trying to get my courage up to do the VDIM mod to try to get my HyperX (KHX3200AK2=ch-5?) off the 133 divider. Running 286x9. 2574 with +.075 core BIOS, 1.42V idle, 1.45V load in USDM. I haven't been able to get the memory happy at anything over 210 MHz with any timings but it does 2-3-2-8 happily at 2.6V up to there. Stuck at 184 for now.

Mike

[Mike abcd]

Oh well, I'd hoped someone had tried fitting AGP cards with large coolers and could offer some advice...

Can anybody recommend a US source for low profile right angle SATA cables with reasonable shipping costs? Any advice on cutting the connector housing to get even more clearance?

From looking at the pictures I've seen of the card, I hope, at worst, I can get it to fit with some cutting of the SATA cable housing and possibly cutting a slot in the card's plastic cover over the heatsink without having to cut the heatsink.

I guess I'll find out Wednesday when it gets delivered and I see just how high the heatsink and plastic cover are...

Mike

[danrok]

Looks similar in size to the reference cooler on my card which does obstruct the ports.

[Mike abcd]

Originally Posted by danrok

Looks similar in size to the reference cooler on my card which does obstruct the ports.

Thanks for the reply. I haven't quite given up hope yet... I did manage to find posts on other forums from folks who claimed they managed to use 9NDA3 SATA with other 6800 cards and the Artic Silencer by shaving the SATA connector. I did some initial carving on one. I think it was the one that came with my 9NDA3J but it might have been the one with a Seagate SATA drive.

The rubber housing is very soft and easily cut. Once I got it started, I could almost peel it back with my fingers. Under the black housing, the 4 wires seem to have a clear plastic shield around them that seems flexible enough to bend. I held off going further until the card arrives tomorrow and I can see exactly what I'm up against.

Plan B is to swap the stock cooler for a Zalman VF-700. I found a post in this thread by vext who claims the VF-700 works on the 9NDA3 without obstucting the SATA ports when mounted 90 deg from the recommended Zalman mounting. He also claims he got his eVGA 6800 Ultra with the stock cooler working with SATA by shaving the SATA connector.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

Any other comments or advice would be appreciated. My biggest fear is stressing the SATA connector on the board too much trying to get everything connected and seated and breaking it...

Mike

[Rocketman6800]

Mike,

I had no problems fitting my SATA connector with my BFG 6800 OC. It was tight but it fit fine. I did not need to shave anything. Check the attached picture. The gray color cable is my SATA connector. If the cooler was any taller it would have not fit. Lucky me it did!

I think Epox need to make some adjustment on their board layout. I would say they need to move the SATA port 1 and 2 out of there and the CPU socket a little more toward the power supply area.

You just got a great price on a great card! I paid $300 for mine back in November

I have unlock the extra pipes with no artifacts at all. However, it does not overclock well even if I don't unlock the pipes. I can only get about 10MHz more before it becomes unstable or start showing artifacts.

Good luck on yours.

[Mike abcd]

Wow, many thanks for the reply and taking the time to take and post a pic! It is really appreciated.

From the little I found on the Leadtek with our MB, I suspect the cooler may have a higher profile than yours and I'll have to try to sneak underneath with a shaved SATA cable. Worst case, it sits around until I update the cooling. I've gotten pretty noise sensitive when running light load and the NF3 fan is by far my biggest noisemaker. I'm sure this card with stock cooling will be even worse. Unfortunately the 6800 kills my idea of quieting the chipset fan by using stacked fan adapters and a slow quiet 8 cm fan :-(

I've read the Zalman VF700-Cu works on the 9NDA3 but I'm going to look at a 12 cm fan PCI card (with a fan change and a fanmate) blowing at the stock heat sink (with the stock fan and plastic cover removed).

Congats on unlocking everything. I hope I'm as lucky. I know about Rivatuner. Any advice on which drivers to use? I'm running the omega ones now on an overclocked 9550.

Again my thanks! I'll post after I try to get it to fit...

Mike

PS What CPU cooler are you running? The fan setup is 90 deg different than the stock one and the XP-90 I'm running now.

[bradmax57]

You can get angled SATA cables like the one attached which may help, I know I used them on my 9nda3+

[Rocketman6800]

Originally Posted by Mike abcd

Congats on unlocking everything. I hope I'm as lucky. I know about Rivatuner. Any advice on which drivers to use? I'm running the omega ones now on an overclocked 9550.

I am using the older official 66.93 drivers since they seem to work very good for me. I tried the newer ones but ended up switching back due to issues on one of my games. I have never been too interested about testing modded drivers. There are plenty of these modded drivers out there. you can download them from this site:

Good luck unlocking the extra pipes. You should get around 10% boost in speed.

http://www.guru3d.com/

[Rocketman6800]

Originally Posted by bradmax57

You can get angled SATA cables like the one attached which may help, I know I used them on my 9nda3+

For sure it is better than bending the cable. Do you know if the connector itself is lower profile. I can't tell by looking at the picture. My SATA connector need about 1/4 less height for complete clearance.

[dsio]

We actually have the modified drivers here as well. We only stock one flavour of modded drivers, to keep things simple, and they are very thoroughly tested and benchmarked. The absolute best for an Nvidia card at this point in time are the Valance Studios / Xtreme G 76.50 drivers which are available at AOAFiles.com.

Expect a 10% or more performance increase over those old 66.93s in most things and a huge boost in far cry, as well as improved image quality in all games.

http://files.aoaforums.com

Always up to date, and at the moment, 380 of our members have downloaded and used the current modified set, with great success.

[swiharta]

If you just have one sata drive it will be no problem to use a 12-inch right-angle SATA cable, it fits snug even under an arctic cooler. My right-angle connector fit so that the cable exits the mobo to the left towards the pci brackets, so I just have to swing it back around towards my hd's and it works great. Since I have 2 hd's, I just shaved down another cheap 6 inch SATA cable as has been mentioned, I didn't even do the greatest job and I accidentally cut away down to the actual wires in a small area, but it works perfectly regardless.

The cable I shaved away sits even tighter against the plain of the mobo than the right-angle connector. If you should run into any trouble with the leadtek cooler and right-angle plugs, I think shaving the cable down yourself (which is very easy) will allow you to use virtually any cooler you could want.

Here's some pics, I'm not using the arctic cooler anymore so there's a good view of the cables: