Graphics card buying guide

The final issue when picking a graphics card that we want to mention is space requirements. This applies in both a vertical and horizontal sense. By horizontal we mean the length of the  graphics card, this is the most common issue of space you may encounter. By vertical we mean the height of the graphics card, how high is the graphics card in relation to how much space your case has available to it, this tends to only be an issue with small form factor cases and systems.

For example if we look at this Antec One case below, you can see that there is a maximum graphics card length of 10.5″ which means monster cards like the HD 6950/6970 and GTX 580 are essentially ruled out as they both reach 10.5″ or more in length. What this also fails to mention or show is that once you have installed a hard drive in the bay which lines up with where your graphics card would go you further reduce the space available as the back of the hard drive sticks out reducing the room by a further inch or so.

Another thing to consider is if your graphics card doesn’t fit, can you make it fit by removing the hard drive cage. In the Antec one above that is clearly not possible as it is rivetted in but in other cases it is possible such as in the HAF 912 case where with the hard drive cage in you have roughly 11″ in space when removing the hard drive cage you get about 4.5″ more in space allowing for the largest card on the market the HD 6990.

With regards to vertical height we are talking now about whether your particular case supports full sized PCI-E cards or whether it only supports half height PCI-E cards. This is a simple thing to see, simply check the PCI brackets on the rear of the case and if they are half of what they should be then your case supports half height graphics cards. Although sometimes your case will support full sized PCI brackets but not full sized cards internally. Therefore it is always important to measure available space. Immediately below you can see a half sized card with a full sized PCI bracket, below that you can see a half sized PCI bracket comparison: