Friday, February 6th 2009
Galaxy Non-Reference GeForce GTX260+ Spotted
Pictures of the one of the first indigenously designed PCB for the GeForce GTX 260 by Galaxy has been pictured by Chinese website PCPop.com, that show a distinct blue PCB and cooling system. Galaxy chooses to call this accelerator the GTX 260+, perhaps to indicate that it is the newest version (55nm, 216 SP), which the marking on the GPU validates. The accelerator seems to be exclusive for the Asian market. The PCB uses a five phase power circuit. All the memory chips are on the anterior end of the PCB.
The cooling system of the card consists of heatsinks over key components of the PCB: the NVIO2 processor, the VRM area and the memory chips. The GPU is cooled by a massive cooler that can trick you for a CPU cooler. It seems to span across at least three slots. It consists of a contact block from which four heat pipes emerge, that convey heat to large aluminum fin array that is cooled by what looks like a 120mm LED-lit fan. The accelerator is backed by Galaxy's Magic Panel software that monitors the various parameters of the card and controls them. In the first screen-shot below, the core seems to be set at 750 MHz (core), 1575 MHz (shader) and 1300/2600 DDR MHz (memory), with a certain temperature reading (most likely the core) showing a temperature of 43 °C. The card secured a 3DMark Vantage score of P14480 on a Core i7-based test bench. The card also dealt with an ongoing FurMark session where at the same speeds, it was running at 67 °C, showing the cooling efficiency of this card.
Source:
PCPop
The cooling system of the card consists of heatsinks over key components of the PCB: the NVIO2 processor, the VRM area and the memory chips. The GPU is cooled by a massive cooler that can trick you for a CPU cooler. It seems to span across at least three slots. It consists of a contact block from which four heat pipes emerge, that convey heat to large aluminum fin array that is cooled by what looks like a 120mm LED-lit fan. The accelerator is backed by Galaxy's Magic Panel software that monitors the various parameters of the card and controls them. In the first screen-shot below, the core seems to be set at 750 MHz (core), 1575 MHz (shader) and 1300/2600 DDR MHz (memory), with a certain temperature reading (most likely the core) showing a temperature of 43 °C. The card secured a 3DMark Vantage score of P14480 on a Core i7-based test bench. The card also dealt with an ongoing FurMark session where at the same speeds, it was running at 67 °C, showing the cooling efficiency of this card.
32 Comments on Galaxy Non-Reference GeForce GTX260+ Spotted
Every single one in a mATX board/case!(edit, doesnt fit!)A smarter move would have been to design a three slot back plate. The cooling system then exits air OUT THE BACK using not the usual one slot, but a much wider two slot system. Heat pipes and all.
6 slot monster! LOL. It wouldnt even fit in a mATX system!
Actually, I think this a HOME BREW mod, or just an "april fool" picture, and NOT a card for general release! I think we have been suffering from not being able to read the chinese site! LOL. Look, there arent even any screws mounting this thing. It says on via magic.
hi-res picture here: img2.pcpop.com/ArticleImages/0x0/0/972/000972272.jpg
Reminds me of my X1900XT + AMD 939 Cooler mod:
Oh, there's the mounting. You can see bolts, which have threading, and the screws should ideally be on the other side of the PCB, right?
However, I guess look at this picture:
means they must be using the INNER hole set. OK stand corrected. I hadnt spotted the PCB was of the swiss cheese variety.
Anyway, never mind the holes, a 6 slot cooler is pushing it a bit on the sensible/practical level? Or is it 6 slot? Could be bigger? Do you have the dimensions?
Maybe this PCB design is meant to utilize home-brew type cooling for those that want to do that, with extra mounting holes so most CPU heatsinks fit. That would be interesting.
Indeed the cooler is made by PCcooler, one of the popular heatsink manufacturers in China, you can view more details here:
www.pccooler.cn/Products/HP4-1226/HP4-1226.htm
Our mass production model will use more "generic" heatsink design, more details coming once spec is finalized.
Actually the cooler was designed to be use as a passive cooler for lower end cards, which it will still take up 3 slots.
In my opinion the cooler needs to be modified to fit in 3 slots (including cooling fan), plus the height has to be reduced to be a true mass production design.