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Is your graphics card SAGGING? [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2025-08-14

Graphics cards have gotten larger than ever, with Nvidia's RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 models weighing more than 2 kilograms and sometimes sporting enormous aftermarket cooling fans. The humble PCI slots on motherboards were't designed to hold them sideways, but that's often how they are. In the age of overstuffed, poorly-designed desktop PC cases that put the Mini in ITX, the result is sagging GPUs.

The problem has gotten to the point that the ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 card added a Bosch Sensortec BMI323 inertial measurement unit (IMU) to provide an accelerometer and angular rate (gyroscope) measurements, as reported by [Uniko's Hardware] (in Chinese, see English [Videocardz] article). There are so-called anti-sag brackets that provide structural support to the top of the GPU where it isn't normally secured. But since this card weighs in at over 6 pounds (3 kilograms) for the air cooled model, it appears the bracket wasn't enough, and active monitoring was necessary.

More on Asus's anti-sag software from VideoCardz:

One user has shown how this looks. It is a feature that ensures proper installation of the GPU and alerts users if the card tilts beyond a set degree. This means that if the GPU moves, either due to case movement or GPU sagging, an alert will appear. The alert is important because the card can weigh up to 3kg (for the air-cooled model). The same board is used for both the liquid-cooled and air-cooled models

I used to make mockups of freakishly specific tech magazines from the exact moment before the internet came along. There was a time where one really might sell 50,000 copies a month of something called, say, "PCI Audio Card Magazine", all with attention-grabbing headlines about abstruse matters.

What better cover story for such a magazine than "IS YOUR GRAPHICS CARD SAGGING?"

ASUS GPU Uses Gyroscope To Warn For Sagging Cards [Hackaday ↬ Theophrastus]

Previously:

• RTX 5090 graphics card will cost $2k

• The graphics card sadness index

• Nvidia's 5060 GPU out later this month for $299

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