The Upgrade that Wasn't

Ok, here is the box we're dealing with -

http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/5876/5876nv.shtml

I know, I know....that's problem #1, but I got a good deal on it at Best Buy.

Added a gig of Corsair XMS RAM and replaced the stock 350W PS with a 550W PS. Went to install a Sapphire X850 XT Platinum Edition and much to my dismay, it does not fit in this box. The fan and backplate hit the interior PS2 ports on the Motherboard.

Any Ideas? Suggestions on how to make this work? Condolences?

 

Maybe an aftermarket cooling system such as:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186129

 

Yeah - that's pretty much the type of fan the Sapphire X850 Platinum comes with stock.

The video card also has 2 backplates instead of 1 - does anyone know if it's possible or easy to change this to 1 backplate(if that's even the correct term for it?).

The card looks like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI... 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - OEM

- only it's the platinum edition.

Again, the problem is that the fan and backplate are too big and bump up against the internal portion of the PS2 ports.

This is what the motherboard looks like: http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/FIC/105552/105552nv.shtml

I thought about watercooling - which is one possibility - but I'm not entirely comfortable with doing that.

 

It might be cheaper to just replace the motherboard before you start worrying about watercooling. Just be careful doing so many prevent some of the Gateway install disks from working.

 

Is returning the card an option? I don't see anyway you could do this short of modifying it, which could get ugly, or replacing the mobo, which wouldn't be fun...