Idiotic tariffs, indifferent retailers, depraved flippers and AI mania are making the simple act of buying a graphics card the defining misery of PC gaming in 2025.
Won’t fit. That case supports GPUs up to 310x145x47 mm, but the one I just bought is 288x132x56 mm. It’s that extra width beyond “2 slots” that’s the killer, both for your suggestion and my existing case.
fractal ridge
That one does fit the new GPU, but did I mention that I’m also still using a 3.5" drive and a full-size ATX PSU?
What I really want is something that has a layout similar to my old case, but literally just maybe half a centimeter wider:
The Silverstone Sugo SG09 and SG10 were awesome if you can find them. A bit bigger, but they support full PSUs, with the option for cheaper micro atx mobos. Cooling is good too.
I’ll probably end up with a cheap Cooler Master Q300L, or maybe one of those Fractal Design tower cases with the walnut strips on the front if I decide to spring for it.
The main thing is, though, that I didn’t want to have to buy a new case at all. I’m annoyed at having bought the wrong card because of the urgency of the situation and then not being able to easily fix my mistake.
No, you’ve got that backwards. Standing in line at a brick-and-mortar store on launch day is the best strategy to reliably get a card at MSRP. Otherwise, you’re either having to constantly keep checking for months on end to snag a card during the brief windows when it’s in stock, or pay way over MSRP for the privilege of easy availability, or deal with all the risk and complexity associated with Craigslist/eBay sales of used stuff.
Won’t fit. That case supports GPUs up to 310x145x47 mm, but the one I just bought is 288x132x56 mm. It’s that extra width beyond “2 slots” that’s the killer, both for your suggestion and my existing case.
That one does fit the new GPU, but did I mention that I’m also still using a 3.5" drive and a full-size ATX PSU?
What I really want is something that has a layout similar to my old case, but literally just maybe half a centimeter wider:
The Silverstone Sugo SG09 and SG10 were awesome if you can find them. A bit bigger, but they support full PSUs, with the option for cheaper micro atx mobos. Cooling is good too.
Also, the node 202 width restriction is a bit conservative, it fits my much larger/thicker ftw3: https://www.evga.com/products/specs/gpu.aspx?pn=E2763314-163F-4391-8935-EA2C5DFFD06B
But like you said, no full sized psu.
I’ll probably end up with a cheap Cooler Master Q300L, or maybe one of those Fractal Design tower cases with the walnut strips on the front if I decide to spring for it.
The main thing is, though, that I didn’t want to have to buy a new case at all. I’m annoyed at having bought the wrong card because of the urgency of the situation and then not being able to easily fix my mistake.
I mean this in the most polite way possible, but why did you need a new GPU so quickly? Did the old one conk out?
Maybe I’m lucky, but no used GPU I bought has ever died. Ironically, only a new 6850 I had ages ago was kinda funky.
7.5 years is “quickly?!” I’m replacing a Vega 56 from 2017!
If you mean why did I have to buy it on launch day, that’s obviously because that was my best shot of getting one at MSRP, or at all.
Then don’t buy on launch day? It pretty much always sucks, better just to go back a generation.
Again, not trying to be disrespectful, but launch GPUs just seem super unappealing to me.
No, you’ve got that backwards. Standing in line at a brick-and-mortar store on launch day is the best strategy to reliably get a card at MSRP. Otherwise, you’re either having to constantly keep checking for months on end to snag a card during the brief windows when it’s in stock, or pay way over MSRP for the privilege of easy availability, or deal with all the risk and complexity associated with Craigslist/eBay sales of used stuff.
Also, in this particular case, (a) a $600 9070 XT is a much better value than a $700+ 7900 XT with similar performance, and (b) this generation has tangible feature improvements (namely, decent ray tracing) that you just can’t get at all going back a generation. Edit: and oh yeah, © there’s also the imminent threat of Trump tariffs inflating the price 25% if you don’t buy pretty much immediately.