Sound card placement?

Tardan · Jan 8, 2013

So I think I'm going to throw down some cash for a ASUS Xonar Essence STX sound card. One thing worries me though, I'm looking at my motherboard and GPUs and it's definitely going to be a tight squeeze with two 670s.

I'm not entirely sure where the sound card should be placed, above or below? I'm worried if I place it above them it might get too hot and if I place it below it will practically be kissing the second card therefore blocking its intake fans.

Is it even a good idea to buy a sound card with an SLI configuration?

Any thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated!

cadaveca · Jan 8, 2013

if not overclocking, you should have no issues plugging it where ever you like.

Other than heat concerns, no, there's no reason to NOT use one...if that's what you are after for sound.

Tardan · Jan 8, 2013

cadaveca said:
if not overclocking, you should have no issues plugging it where ever you like.

Other than heat concerns, no, there's no reason to NOT use one...if that's what you are after for sound.

I am definitely overclocking right now. Far Cry 3 demands it! :laugh:

Yeah the speakers on my TV sound crappy so I figured I'd try this out.

Jetster · Jan 8, 2013

If the speaker are not good the cards not going to help

Idea: Will a pci sound card help the placement? You could get a Xonar GD for considerably less money

Or the ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 that is a short card

eidairaman1 · Jan 8, 2013

Tardan said:
So I think I'm going to throw down some cash for a ASUS Xonar Essence STX sound card. One thing worries me though, I'm looking at my motherboard and GPUs and it's definitely going to be a tight squeeze with two 670s.

I'm not entirely sure where the sound card should be placed, above or below? I'm worried if I place it above them it might get too hot and if I place it below it will practically be kissing the second card therefore blocking its intake fans.

Is it even a good idea to buy a sound card with an SLI configuration?

Any thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated!

the sound card wont get too hot so just put it above, its safter than the cards making contact with one another plus you dont want to block fans.

Tardan · Jan 8, 2013

Jetster said:
If the speaker are not good the cards not going to help

Idea: Will a pci sound card help the placement? You could get a Xonar GD for considerably less money

Or the ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 that is a short card

I'm sorry. I forgot to mention the fact that I have a headset ready to go. I have a bunch of PCI-E slots on this motherboard, so I'm not sure a PCI card would help too much. Thank you for the suggestions though!

eidairaman1 said:
the sound card wont get too hot so just put it above, its safter than the cards making contact with one another plus you dont want to block fans.

Alright! I think putting it on top might be the better option as well. Thank you for the confirmation!

KingPing · Jan 8, 2013

I hope it's a very good headset, it would be a shame to waste such a card with some average headset.

I have 2 sound cards and 2 video cards on the same PC, one between the 2 video cards and the other one on the top PCI-E, never had a problem with temp., but my case is well ventilated.

Tardan · Jan 8, 2013

KingPing said:
I hope it's a very good headset, it would be a shame to waste such a card with some average headset.

I have 2 sound cards and 2 video cards on the same PC, one between the 2 video cards and the other one on the top PCI-E, never had a problem with temp., but my case is well ventilated.

I have a Sennheiser PC 360 waiting to be used.

Oh wow, that's quite the setup! That is reassuring to say the least. :laugh:

Why the need for two sound cards?

silapakorn · Jan 8, 2013

670 SLI here. Just put the soundcard above the top card. It is going to be HOT, but the card will survive with no problem.

My top GPU is 85c full load, bottom is 79c. My soundcard is X-FI titanium HD. Granted, the EM shield on the card gets kinda hot when you touch it. But so far no problem regarding the soundcard and GPUs.

Tardan · Jan 8, 2013

silapakorn said:
670 SLI here. Just put the soundcard above the top card. It is going to be HOT, but the card will survive with no problem.

My top GPU is 85c full load, bottom is 79c. My soundcard is X-FI titanium HD. Granted, the EM shield on the card gets kinda hot when you touch it. But so far no problem regarding the soundcard and GPUs.

Hey, that almost looks pretty similar to my rig, except with blue lights! :laugh:

Thank you for the picture, gives me an excellent idea of what it how it will turn out. :toast:

Processor	Intel i9 7900X @ 4.5 GHz
Motherboard	MSI X299 Gaming M7 ACK
Cooling	Corsair H110i
Memory	G.Skill TridentZ 32GB DDR4 3866 MHz
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal
Storage	Samsung 500GB EVO / Seagate 2TB 7200 RPM
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime 850w Titanium

Processor	Intel i9 7900X @ 4.5 GHz
Motherboard	MSI X299 Gaming M7 ACK
Cooling	Corsair H110i
Memory	G.Skill TridentZ 32GB DDR4 3866 MHz
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal
Storage	Samsung 500GB EVO / Seagate 2TB 7200 RPM
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime 850w Titanium

System Name	Juliette // HTPC
Processor	Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard	ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory	Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s)	ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s)	ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case	Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s)	Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply	Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse	Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard	Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software	Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro

System Name	PCGOD
Processor	AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling	Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory	16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s)	NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case	AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply	Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64

Processor	Intel i9 7900X @ 4.5 GHz
Motherboard	MSI X299 Gaming M7 ACK
Cooling	Corsair H110i
Memory	G.Skill TridentZ 32GB DDR4 3866 MHz
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal
Storage	Samsung 500GB EVO / Seagate 2TB 7200 RPM
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime 850w Titanium

Sound card placement?

Tardan

cadaveca

My name is Dave

Tardan

Jetster

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

Tardan

KingPing

Tardan

silapakorn

Tardan

System Name	Classy Gal
Processor	i7 2600K
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3
Cooling	CM Hyper 212 plus
Memory	16GB Kingston Hyper X
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX1070 FE
Storage	2x120GB Vertex 3 - 1x1TB WD
Display(s)	LG 23" 1920x1080
Case	Coolermaster Cosmos S
Audio Device(s)	Creative SB Titanium HD
Power Supply	Seasonic M12II 750W
Software	Win10 / Linux Mint

Processor	Intel i7 10700K
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Pro AX
Cooling	Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4
Memory	DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHZ (2X16GB)
Video Card(s)	Palit GTX1080ti Super JetStream 11GB
Storage	Trandscend 370s 256GB / WD Caviar Black 2+1TB
Display(s)	Acer XB270HU 144hz Gsync
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P600S White
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster ZXR
Power Supply	Corsair RM1000X 1000W 80 Plus Gold