Why are video cards with fans made with the fan on the wrong side?

Question

It may just be me or something but it seems with this motherboard:

BFG Tech BFG680i SLi
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813189003

and SLI with these Video cards:
XFX GeForce 8800GTX 768MB(x2)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150214

That its a waste of a pci slot because you would think that the fan would be made to occupy the side with the x4 PCIE slot?

I have never built a computer before so I might just be looking at it wrong.

Answer 1

Well you have a point, but it becomes a bit difficult to organize things. Think about it, first you only have 7 slots to work with. So if you are running 2 of those in SLI, that will take up 4 slots, leaving you only 3 to work with. Now since this board is made to use that third PCI Express x16 (it runs at x8, but you get the point) for a physics card in the future, that one has to be left open. So now you only have 2 slots open. So I guess they figured best way to do it was to have one plain PCI and one PCI Express x1 fill those open slots, that way you have one of each to work with.

Answer 2

well for the 8800GTX, since it is so large in height wise (same as all other 512mb or higher vid cards) it would block your CPU fan if you were to get an after market one.
I have an aftermarket fan, taht if the card was upside down, i wouldn't be able to fit it in.
and plus, who and what uses a PCI x4 slot?

Answer 3

That's the side where the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is situated. i.e., the side that needs to be cooled down to prevent the GPU from overheating, and causing it damage. It's an industry standard that the GPU is on that side of the card.

Sadly, because of the fan, it does usually block the next socket on the motherboard. (Earlier video cards hadn't used to have fans fitted, so it wasn't a problem.)

Answer 4

The fans keep the card cool down as you play your games it would heat up