Fan & Heatsinks on Wrong Side?

[Optimal]

Is there a Video or Expansion card standard that keeps all the manufacs putting the components on the UNDERSIDE of every video card I've seen? Is this an old leftover from when people used "desktops" rather than the 90% of us now using tower cases?
I must be missing something, since we want heat to go UP and OUT, not collect under the card like a hotplate. Can anyone explain this lack of logic or provide a manufacs response?

I also need a mirror card to install below my Geforce3 so I can see the sporty fan and heatsink I paid all that money for....

 

[NASsoccer]

only thing i can think of is so that all the heat is not going straight to your hsf from your OVERCLOCKED video card. I think my temps would be a little higher it the card were flipped.

 

[Captain Slug]

If you flipped it, the side that doesn't have a fan wouldn't get wash-off air from the CPU HSF. Therefore the performance of your card might actually decrease slighty. The best thing to do is to attach or place an 80mm fan near your card to move the air around it.

 

[Ugmore Baggage]

Everybody knows heat sinks

hee hee.

You could turn your computer over...
A long time ago, computers used to lay flat. Thats the only reason I can think of why the cards are upside down. I remember I was slightly surprised to see that AGP cards are still upside down.

 

[Optimal]

Looking at the tight spacing tween PCI slots, I'm thinking the board manufacs agreed on a standard for all components on one side to avoid touching each other, but since the AGP slot is always the first slot next to the MB, there's no reason it couldn't use the 'top' side of the board or even BOTH sides!
Having the fan on top to blow/suck air off the chip and right out a sidedoor blowhole would make perfect sense to me.

BTW, since nearly every OC video card sold in going into a tower case of some kind, why don't they at least put a pic or logo on the other side so I can see something other than just PCB traces!

I'm betting this is one of those, "Duh, never thought of that..."
from the manufacs... just going with status quo or old specs. buh.
excuse the ranting.