I'm currently looking at the passively cooled HD3850 and HD3870 GCs. Problem is, with the size of the heatsinks Im already gonna lose a PCIe slot because of the size of the heatsink. But I'm wondering what will happen if I use the PCI slot next to the heatsink? A card in that slot would be pretty close to the heatsink - could it therefore get damaged if the heatsink gets too hot? I've got an INtel DP35DP motherboard.
Behind the GC I have a large heatsink on the CPU which has a kind of material wrap round it to act as an exhaust duct. Likewise, I'm worried about the heat of the card near this. I can try to post pics when I get home. The case is made by PaQ.
Also, will it cause problems if the heatsink is near the part circled in red? (North/south bridge - I'm not sure which it is).
![Image](http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii133/Maxdread/intel-dp35dp_472505mine.jpg)
Would really appreciate any advice.
Cheers
Max