Asus P5N-D woes/ Physx Advise

[ncsugray90]

ooooook, so

I consider myself to be a casual gamer, and i recently put together my current rig:

Processor: Intel Q9450 2.66
Mobo: ASUS P5N-D 750i
Graphics: EVGA GTS 250 1GB
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50
Memory:2x A-Data 1GB, 2x G Skill 1GB (both ddr2)
psu: Corsair 950 watt non-modular
HDD: WD Blue 500gb 8MB Cache 5400rpm System drive (i know, i know.......)
WD Caviar Green 1TB 64MB Cache 7200rpm Storage Drive

I consider this to be a pretty decent computer, system drive excluded, but I wanted to go SLI when I built it, just lacked the funds. Now, however, the prices on cards has gone down, and I can afford another 250. When test fitting my current card in the second slot, thinking I may need to move my HDD to accommodate the card, I found an even more troublesome problem: The GTS 250 hits the SATA connectors .

What I am wondering is, is there any way to have an adapter that allows me to mover where I connect my HDD's, similar idea to a surge protector? If not, would I benefit as much in buying a GTX 460 and running my current 250 as a dedicated PhysX card as I would running 2 250's in SLI? Should I just quit while I'm ahead?

Thanks in advance for the advice guys!

 

[Aastii]

Getting a GTX460 + GTS250 won't work, because you will still need to have the GTS250 in the second slot, which doesn't work

You can get some double sided sticky pads and stick it to the side of the hard drive bay instead, but that will make it a little more difficult to put in any other hard drives. The only other things you could do is get a bigger case, or one with side mounted hard drives, though depending which case this is, the PCIe connectors may still collide with the hard drive bay

 

[ncsugray90]

its not the hard drives that are in the way, its the SATA ports on the motherboard, this stick up right underneath where the gpu sits. Would I have to run the 250 in the second slot for SLI? I thought you would choose the PhysX card through the Nvidia Control Panel, not through placement on the mobo....

 

[Aastii]

Oh I see what you mean. Are you using 90 degrees sata cables? That might aleviate the problem

 

[ncsugray90]

possibly, but they lay in a line, which would make it to where i could only use 2, which means when i get my SDD, i would have to get rid on one of my other HDD's :/ idk, my friend has a 460 I may test out just to see if i can get it to work, worst come to worse, ill just have to keep it to 2 drives, as much as i dont want to

damnit, tried to run the 460, but apparently the GTS and GTX gpu's dont communicate with each other, so i cant run physx between the 2. I can, however, fit another 250 in if i lay my SATA cables with the 90 degree at the board, i just wont be able to add another drive unless I get a RAID controller or something