GPU [SFF Network] Gigabyte Launches a Unique GTX970

[confusis]

In the SFF world, the bane of our existence is heat. We find many creative ways to exhaust the watts of heat our hardware put out, from adding extra vents to crazy fan combinations. Constantly fighting us, however, is the general trend of GPU manufacturers insisting that having open style coolers on the cards is a good thing. All this does is add even more heat to our already sauna-like systems.

Read more here.

 

[EdZ]

I guess if you can't find a 970 on a 980 PCB with the NVTTM-lite cooler (same shroud, same fan, same baseplate and backplate, but the heatsink itself uses heatpipes rather than a vapour chamber), this might be an alternative.. Previous OEM 970 blowers have been pretty dire (rebadged 670/760 coolers), so probably best to wait for reviews. That rear exhaust area looks pretty teeny though...

 

[jeshikat]

Good, it has air intake cutouts on the back. I wish the reference 980s had that because even with spaced SLI the top card runs a bit hotter and louder than the bottom card.

Edit: Is it just me or do the HDMI and DP connectors look like they're gold-plated?

 

[Necere]

That blower looks to be ~65mm in diameter, which doesn't bode well for noise. Blowers aren't exactly quiet in the first place (under load), so using a smaller one just seems like a poor idea. I kind of wish some company would make a larger-than-reference blower card, that utilized the space past the top edge of the card already used by the PEG connectors (but leave those recessed). I know EVGA has made some oversized blower cards in the past, but they used an oversized PCB as well, making it extra tall with the PEG connectors.

 

[iFreilicht]

And it should be noted that this GPU seems to use the oversized PCB Gigabyte is already using for their ITX 970, so it's a little taller, still.

 

[Vittra]

Unique? This is derivative of the Asus 970 Turbo, which has been out for some time.

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Graphics_Cards/TURBOGTX970OC4GD5/

 

[confusis]

Its unique to Gigabyte.. Plus it a different design. Seems the gigabyte card uses a smaller blower.

 

[iFreilicht]

Its unique to Gigabyte.. Plus it a different design. Seems the gigabyte card uses a smaller blower.

"The only card of this type on the world (we manufacture). We made sure to differentiate it from all our competitors products (by making it louder and hotter)." Good job gigabyte!

 

[TheInternal]

Hopefully cards like this will address the biggest I've encountered while researching SFF viability for a VR box (aka something powerful yet tiny enough to fit in a easily portable case). For the meantime, I've had to rule out most of the really small cases due to lack of full sized high end GPUs. :/

 

[Phuncz]

That's where the Geforce GTX reference coolers or "Founder's Edition" come in, most 3rd party designed blower-type coolers are cheaper, less performing versions though.

 

[iFreilicht]

Hopefully cards like this will address the biggest I've encountered while researching SFF viability for a VR box (aka something powerful yet tiny enough to fit in a easily portable case). For the meantime, I've had to rule out most of the really small cases due to lack of full sized high end GPUs. :/

I believe that this will only be alleviated by an ITX version of the GTX1070 or the HBM2 cards by AMD. The ITX 970s are already quite capable and smaller than this card, though, so I'm not sure why you'd say that this type of card will help in any way.