Member Avatar for belikemike

Hi everyone,
My son has been saving up all summer for this card. It is huge!
It will not fit in his MB. because the system fan is in the way.
MSI K8N Neo4. not platinum.
Will the MB run fine if I remove the fan. It seems to sit on a small processor.
If not, is there a MSI board that will accept this card as he doesn,t want to reformat.
It would be nice to just load motherboard drivers.
If I got a different brand could I just load motherboard drivers.
thanks

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by disophisis

Dani AI

Generated

Quick practical notes for building on the replies from and .

Measure first, then decide. With the card and system powered down, measure clearance from the PCIe slot faceplate back to the obstructing fan/heatsink and compare that to the card's full depth (shroud + bracket). Check the board manual for any alternate PCIe x16 slot that sits further from the chipset — some boards put a second slot a little lower where a long card will fit.

If the board/case geometry is the problem, options that do not destroy the cooling assembly:

  • Move the GPU: try a quality right-angle PCIe riser/extender to relocate the card into a free bay area (use shielded, short risers to reduce signal issues).
  • Free up space in the case: remove or reconfigure drive cages, mount the card in a different slot or case bay.
  • Use a shorter card variant: some 8800 GTS models have shorter PCBs or single-slot coolers; those will fit where a full-length card will not.
  • Replace the small motherboard cooler only with a compatible low-profile northbridge cooler that preserves cooling while increasing clearance — confirm mounting style and thermal interface first.

If a motherboard swap becomes necessary and a fresh OS install is to be avoided, prepare a disk image and uninstall chipset/storage drivers before the change. Use the OS vendor tools to generalize the install (or be ready to run a repair install after swap). Always verify PSU has the required PCIe power connectors, set BIOS video init to the correct slot, and test temperatures with a monitoring tool after any layout change.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

No. If he removes the fan his system will overheat and suffer potentially permanant damage

if you get a new board you will nearly always need to reinstall

Member Avatar for disophisis

You might try finding an aftermarket cooling solution for the chipset that is smaller/more effective.

www.newegg.com has things like this. (under cooling devices I think) but you'd best be confident in your ability to install these things.

Or a new motherboard works too.

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