GPU MSI GTX 1060 "Mini" cards

K888D

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Feb 23, 2016
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Mini rant about mini cards:

MSI have released a range of new "mini" GTX 1060's, but unfortunately they have missed the point of what a Mini-ITX card actually means. they have 4 new models, 2 of which linked below:

https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/GeForce-GTX-1060-3G-OCV1.html#hero-specification

https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/GeForce-GTX-1060-6G-OC.html#hero-specification

MSI don't claim these cards to be Mini-ITX, but they quite easily could have been if they tried.

Their shroud appears to be a reasonable height with a claimed measurement of 116mm, but their length is stated at 188mm, making them too long for many ITX cases, I think MSI have really missed an opportunity here.

Once again it appears that the PCB conforms to ITX length but they have overdone the shroud by allowing it to extend beyond the rear of the card.

Surely they could of moved the shroud toward I/O plate into that giant gap! Even better, they could have hooked it up directly to the I/O plate to help with heat exhaust, this design looks like the shroud will actually block air moving toward the I/O exhaust slots, strange.

So close, yet no where near:



Deep breath. Rant finished.
 
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BirdofPrey

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Sep 3, 2015
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Well at least they don't have a DVI port blocking the second I/O slot (though being a nonstandard card, there's little hope for waterblocks, and not being a blower design, the extra "vent" space amounts to little)
 

jtd871

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Jun 22, 2015
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The actual sink appears to have a radial fin pattern, not unlike the lowest-tier EVGA units, with raised fins on either side of the fan. Somebody in marketing sure liked how that sculpted shroud looks.
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
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I'm not certain you'd find many commercially available cases that won't fit this card. Can you name any?
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
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I was just playing Devil's advocate here. But from the manufacturer's perspective there isn't any reason to go under 20 cm right now. The R9 Nano would obviously be the gold standard for size, but the only reason I think AMD made it so small was to showcase how much smaller a card could be using HBM. I'm hoping and praying that the Vega Nano will come in around 150W and beat the piss out of he 1070 at the very least, all under six inches.
 

iFreilicht

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Feb 28, 2015
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Well at least they don't have a DVI port blocking the second I/O slot (though being a nonstandard card, there's little hope for waterblocks, and not being a blower design, the extra "vent" space amounts to little)

Actually, only the 3GB version has single slot I/O, so that's practically worth nothing. But the PCB could be very similar to reference, at least in terms of height it seems fine. Maybe waterblocks would fit.

The actual sink appears to have a radial fin pattern, not unlike the lowest-tier EVGA units, with raised fins on either side of the fan. Somebody in marketing sure liked how that sculpted shroud looks.

That's one of the most interesting parts about this unit. It looks like those raised fins are actually connected to the GPU with heatpipes, so it's a hybrid solution between reducing cost with the extruded heatsink and maximising cooling performance. I really wonder how short this GPU will be after removing the shroud.

I was just playing Devil's advocate here. But from the manufacturer's perspective there isn't any reason to go under 20 cm right now. The R9 Nano would obviously be the gold standard for size, but the only reason I think AMD made it so small was to showcase how much smaller a card could be using HBM. I'm hoping and praying that the Vega Nano will come in around 150W and beat the piss out of he 1070 at the very least, all under six inches.

I think there absolutely is. There are quite a few case manufacturers going towards ITX GPUs, most notably of course is LianLi, and short GPUs have existed for a very long time now. While they were most popular with mid-range cards like the 750Ti, the support and use for them is certainly there, and if you can put a well-performing chip onto such a small package without too much effort, there's little reason not to do so. And, at 170mm (*cough* and reference height *cough*) you can be sure that every case out there will support your card.
 

BirdofPrey

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Sep 3, 2015
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Given how most cases are manufactured, I think card height is a more important factor than length anyways.
Even the small cases I tend to see arrange things so that the GPU compartment is fairly long. In mITX cases especially, the PSU is often in front of the motherboard which leaves quite a long distance left over for the GPU portion of the case. Larger cases usually have drive bay space, into which a GPU might be able to extend.
 

K888D

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Its frustrating because in this instance MSI could have moved the shroud up against the I/O plate (if they tried) and the card would be closer to the golden 17cm length.

To me it looks like a lazy design, either through using parts from a previous card which can be argued to save development costs, or they hit some kind of clearance issue and had to move the shroud accross.

It looks like the shroud is sized to be the same length as an ITX PCB, but the shroud designer didn't talk to the PCB designer to line them up.
 

BirdofPrey

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Sep 3, 2015
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I was talking in general.

Anyways as far as this card is concerned a pseudo blower type card where at least some air is exhausted out the back would be appreciated.

On of the biggest things that both enthusiasts of small systems and manufacturers aiming a product at them seem to forget is that small systems not only have harsher space constraints, but often also have harsher thermal constraints.
 
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CC Ricers

Shrink Ray Wielder
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Nov 1, 2015
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I was talking in general.

Anyways as far as this card is concerned a pseudo blower type card where at least some air is exhausted out the back would be appreciated.

On of the biggest things that both enthusiasts of small systems and manufacturers aiming a product at them seem to forget is that small systems not only have harsher space constraints, but often also have harsher thermal constraints.

This is another benefit to having all video outputs on just one slot. If the cooler still makes the card of a double slot height, the second slot could be used exclusively to provide more ventilation for exhaust.
 

jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
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Feb 22, 2015
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I wonder if Mini-DP caused too much user confusion because it seems like it's been abandoned with the latest generation of cards.
 

jeshikat

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At work I ran into several people who were trying to figure out how to hook up a second or third monitor and didn't even realize the MiniDP ports were video connectors.
 

BirdofPrey

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What else would a video card have on it?

I can see some people being annoyed by the fact that you're more likely going to get a DP to DP cable with a monitor that's not made for an Apple product, and nobody likes having to use adapters.
 

Phuncz

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At work I ran into several people who were trying to figure out how to hook up a second or third monitor and didn't even realize the MiniDP ports were video connectors.
This reflects solely on your customer's intelligence. Take appropriate action, soldier, for the motherland.

Honestly, if they included mini-DP to DVI adapters as-standard, this would/should not have happened.
 

EdZ

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May 11, 2015
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I really would like to see Mini-DP++ become more prevalent outside of workstation GPUs. One compact connector that can pull duty as DVI (single link), HDMI and DP.
 

jeshikat

Jessica. Wayward SFF.n Founder
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What else would a video card have on it?

This reflects solely on your customer's intelligence. Take appropriate action, soldier, for the motherland.

I'm not sure what they think the connector is, but since it's so different looking to any other video connector it just doesn't seem to register.

Honestly, if they included mini-DP to DVI adapters as-standard, this would/should not have happened.

Yeah, but that increases cost so I can see why the manufacturers would rather just go dual-slot with the IO to fit full-size HDMI and DisplayPort.