# GIGABYTE WindForce 5X Cooling Solution on GTX 680 SOC Pictured - 5 Fan Mayhem



## btarunr (Apr 20, 2012)

Here are the first pictures of GIGABYTE's new WindForce 5X graphics card cooling solution, which will likely feature on its upcoming GeForce GTX 680 SuperOverclock graphics card. It turns out that the "5X" in its name indeed denotes the presence of five fans. It's the arrangement of the fans that is its defining feature. While most graphics cards have their fan(s) arranged along the plane of the PCB, on the obverse side of the card, the WindForce 5X cooler has five 40 mm fans (the ones usually featured in rack servers) arranged perpendicular to the plane of the PCB, on the top side of the card. 

This unique arrangement of fans ensures that hot air from the heatsinks are ventilated in a single direction and not all over the card (like with WindForce 3X), heating other components on the motherboard. The front-side of the card has just a swanky-looking molded brushed aluminum shroud. On the flip-side, the card spans across three expansion slots, and appears to be both taller and longer than reference design. GIGABYTE's GeForce GTX 680, featuring this cooling solution, and aggressive clock speeds, will be launched very soon.



 

 

 



*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## InnocentCriminal (Apr 20, 2012)

I refuse to own a GFX card cooler that has more than 3 fans.


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## Ghost (Apr 20, 2012)

40mm? They'd have to spin like crazy to achieve decent airflow. Oh, the noise... THE NOISE!!!


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## HumanSmoke (Apr 20, 2012)

Looks like some kind of mutant Voodoo 5 (with an extra fan for good luck presumeably). Airflow should be fun in a chassis without side fans


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## arterius2 (Apr 20, 2012)

"the WindForce 5X cooler has five 40 mm fans (the ones usually featured in rack servers) arranged perpendicular to the plane of the PCB, on the top side of the card. "

YEA, this is why rack servers are noisy as f***, ever been to a server room? idiots.


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## arterius2 (Apr 20, 2012)

HumanSmoke said:


> Looks like some kind of mutant Voodoo 5 (with an extra fan for good luck presumeably). Airflow should be fun in a chassis without side fans



no it would pretty much disrupt any decent airflow I had inside my perpendicularly cooled Silverstone Raven 2 and Raven 3 case.


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## _JP_ (Apr 20, 2012)

Ghost said:


> 40mm? They'd have to spin like crazy to achieve decent airflow. Oh, the noise... THE NOISE!!!





arterius2 said:


> YEA, this is why rack servers are noisy as f***, ever been to a server room? idiots.


You two summed it all up. Congrats. 


HumanSmoke said:


> Looks like some kind of mutant Voodoo 5 (with an extra fan for good luck presumeably). Airflow should be fun in a chassis without side fans


Notice that the fans are set to extract the heat from the heatsink and not to blow air into it. Not that that's any better. xD


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## neliz (Apr 20, 2012)

That has to be the most stupid cooler I've ever seen on a graphics card 

Anyway that has ever stood near a server with those fans on full blast know that its jet-noise-a-go-go.


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## RCoon (Apr 20, 2012)

Gigabytes entire design department has autism.

5th fan looks like it was slapped on for good measure.
I like the design, and the card would be entirely awesome, if they used 4 sensible fans similar to the gentle typhoons. Server rack fans are purely for cooling in a room where sound isn't a problem, that's why they are never implemented into gaming builds where we like to hear things!


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## bencrutz (Apr 20, 2012)

looks nice, IMHO

the girl, not the card


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## arterius2 (Apr 20, 2012)

bencrutz said:


> looks nice, IMHO
> 
> the girl, not the card



she looks average at best, by Asian standards.


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## neliz (Apr 20, 2012)

Fixed the shirt!


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## zsolt_93 (Apr 20, 2012)

Holy batman... Even the Windforce 2x is enough for a card that uses less power than the GTX580. Why the hell would you mount such a piece of junk to ruin that card. If you have no side vents or your case is narrow.. it will be utterly useless with all its 5 fans touching the side panel.


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## theonedub (Apr 20, 2012)

and the logos are upside down when installed? This thing looks like a train wreck- I hope they pull it together or surprise us all. There really wasn't anything lacking on the Windforce 3X that was on the 580 SOC.


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## erixx (Apr 20, 2012)

GB are crazy but they are freaks for sure!

The girl is a wonderfully beautiful human girl, not some dispensable puppet.


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## DOM (Apr 20, 2012)

wtf is that


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## hhumas (Apr 20, 2012)

DOM said:


> wtf is that




its crazy stuff


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## DOM (Apr 20, 2012)

hhumas said:


> its crazy stuff



not in a good way, who ever came up with this dumb idea should be shot  

if it was a guy, sure he doesnt have any kids


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## btarunr (Apr 20, 2012)

After 0:17.


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## THE_EGG (Apr 20, 2012)

GB, why oh why did you change it. I was and still am very happy with the windforce X3 on my 580 SOC. Surely that would have been more than capable for the GTX 680 considering it uses less power.


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## Quantos (Apr 20, 2012)

What the hell, it looks like they just strapped 5 server fans on top of the thing with duct tape and plan to release it? :shadedshu


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## NdMk2o1o (Apr 20, 2012)

I can only fathom one thing...... WTF

That's the craziest, biggest ass GPU cooling solution I have seen from a vendor (as in not a ghetto mod)


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## parkcah (Apr 20, 2012)

not sure if the card is huge, or the girl is tiny


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## HumanSmoke (Apr 20, 2012)

arterius2 said:


> Me]Airflow should be fun in a chassis without side fans[/QUOTE] no it would pretty much disrupt any decent airflow I had inside my perpendicularly cooled Silverstone Raven 2 and Raven 3 case.[/QUOTE]
> Should I have used sarcasm tags ?
> [QUOTE=_JP_ said:
> 
> ...


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## entropy13 (Apr 20, 2012)

arterius2 said:


> she looks average at best, by Asian standards.



I would blame the camera.


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## rjkoneill (Apr 20, 2012)

why wont someone think of the children


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## AnnCore (Apr 20, 2012)

btarunr said:


> After 0:17.



That sounds like planes waiting to take off at the airport (relatively speaking).


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## ZoneDymo (Apr 20, 2012)

itt:
Bunch of jelly haters


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## xBruce88x (Apr 20, 2012)

for some reason the date of this announcement, 4/20, seems appropriate for this card.


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## THE_EGG (Apr 20, 2012)

xBruce88x said:


> for some reason the date of this announcement, 4/20, seems appropriate for this card.



because when the date is properly displayed at 20/4, it is 20 divide by 4 which = 5 (for number of fans on the card)?


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## xBruce88x (Apr 20, 2012)

hahaha that's a good one... but i was referring to them smoking something. (in the u.s. its MM/DD/YYYY)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_(cannabis_culture)


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## H82LUZ73 (Apr 20, 2012)

btarunr said:


> After 0:17.



so were did his wife put that vacuum hose.It sure sounds like one.
 leave it to Gigabyte to make a crazy ass wild noisy fan setup for a card.


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## Munki (Apr 20, 2012)

uhm, yeah, that's one less GPU I will be buying.


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## HossHuge (Apr 20, 2012)

I hope they don't start having a *"Who can have the most fans"* contest like they do with razors.

They have those girls at lots of computer places here in Taiwan.  I try to pick them up but then the wife and kids tell me not too.


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## No_Asylum (Apr 20, 2012)

I could probably get over the fan noise if the card performed better than average ... but damn its so UGLY!.  It better be well below $500 or they arent selling any.


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## Random Murderer (Apr 20, 2012)

OH GOD, WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?
*cowers in corner*


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## OneCool (Apr 20, 2012)

:shadedshu


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## THE_EGG (Apr 20, 2012)

OneCool said:


> :shadedshu



well said.


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## zargana (Apr 20, 2012)

Hmm and interesting cooling solution. I would like to see some db and C numbers before put any comment. 

But if those fans works like the server fans, i would suggest Gigabyte to give a "jet fighter game" with "True Sound" effect along the card.


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## NdMk2o1o (Apr 20, 2012)

everyone banging on about the sound, just because they are using 40mm fans typically found in servers doesn't mean they are going to run them at 5k rpm at 150dba they would most likely limit them, seriously thinking they wouldn't is just silly


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## cadaveca (Apr 20, 2012)

I can't say that I am not curious...


I'll take a couple....?


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## Athlon2K15 (Apr 20, 2012)

im sure there a screws somewhere I can take off and mount some WB?


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## p3gaz_001 (Apr 20, 2012)

is a pair of these







included in the bundle?


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## Prima.Vera (Apr 20, 2012)

AnnCore said:


> That sounds like planes waiting to take off at the airport (relatively speaking).



What's the point of this video?? The fans similar to the videocard weren't even working!! Check from 0:18.

Trolling much??


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## radrok (Apr 20, 2012)

Call me crazy but I like it


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## cadaveca (Apr 20, 2012)

Prima.Vera said:


> What's the point of this video?? The fans similar to the videocard weren't even working!! Check from 0:18.
> 
> Trolling much??




Yes, yes they were on, there are guides similar to fan blades on those fans.


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## xBruce88x (Apr 20, 2012)

well looking closer at the fans... they seem to resemble a design like this one

Delta AFB0412LB-F00 40mm Case Fan

which has decent noise specs at 18.5dba or so. each with 6.5CFM. If Gigabyte uses a similar fan then the noise won't be so bad, and the total airflow won't be bad either, about 32CFM, but could be a little more depending on what fan they're using. I don't think they're the type used in servers... they don't look that deep and don't look like they have the air flow guides either, so they're a simpler design fan.


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## the54thvoid (Apr 20, 2012)

I can't tell what size the thing is - it looks awful to me.


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## illli (Apr 20, 2012)

so.. this thing looks like it takes up 4 slots =/
 this cant be a real product.. can it?


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## erixx (Apr 20, 2012)

Gigabyte reads our forums and reach conclusion that most "diehard" "hardcore" "professional" "gamers" "Fatal1ties" (LOL) use headphones (with additional 200$ headphone amplifiers, OMG!!!) when playing, so noise stopped being an issue for the Chosen Folk!!! Bend and obey the trends!


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## lZKoce (Apr 21, 2012)

What an awesome product this card is  It makes a mini-ITX MB look insignificant . There are some silent 40mm fans from Scythe, so until I actually hear this at 30%-100% speed, I say it's a very cool thingy


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## M.Beier (Apr 21, 2012)

Sure, 40mm fans can be noisy.

But from the pictures we see, it could just as well be very low restrictive heatsink design with a crazy huge surface area....? 
20*4cm^2 to be more exact

Also... IF it was high rpm fans, they would have turned them the other way, to blow air through the card.

Just my 10 cents.

NB: Would really be suprised if it is noisy, I have had 3 SOC cards over the last 2 years, and they have been the most quiet VGA's I've had.... Using the GTX580 SOC daily, this might replace it though.

... Fingers crossed that Gigabyte VGA doesnt read this, but, all the sales and marketing women in that division, look really cute


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## NdMk2o1o (Apr 21, 2012)

So are these sucking away from the card?


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## M.Beier (Apr 21, 2012)

NdMk2o1o said:


> So are these sucking away from the card?



From the look on this picture they do.
On the right side, you see SLI connector, and the backside of the fan facing towards  the cam.
They are sucking air through the card.


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## neliz (Apr 21, 2012)

M.Beier said:


> From the look on this picture they do.
> On the right side, you see SLI connector, and the backside of the fan facing towards  the cam.
> They are sucking air through the card.
> http://www.techpowerup.com/img/12-04-20/191a.jpg



How would that work out in a Z77 Sabertooth with thermal armor?


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## M.Beier (Apr 21, 2012)

neliz said:


> How would that work out in a Z77 Sabertooth with thermal armor?



I do not have the VGA here, hard  to tell, but from another picture, it looks like there are holes (oval) near PCI-e, which also allows air passage, but dont think that is suffecient..





But personally, I'd rather eat a hat of hay, then own a Sabertooth product... They are fugly, and perform nowhere near what I expect from a motherboard... A big bang, G1, Extreme6/9, ROG is more likely to be paired with this beast of a card.
... And I have not had a ROG that didnt break within 6 months, so rule that one out too, I am not a big fan of loosing DIMM or frying CPU...


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## micropage7 (Apr 22, 2012)

sad, its more like ghetto mods


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## Kast (Apr 22, 2012)

The fans looks like they just it threw together. Kinda like something we would see in the ghetto mods thread.


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## Depth (Apr 22, 2012)

Why not put 5 fans on the opposite side as well? It would go very well in this case:


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## dude12564 (Apr 22, 2012)

Kast said:


> The fans looks like they just it threw together. Kinda like something we would see in the ghetto mods thread.



Yeah, needs to be straightened.


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## mamailo (Apr 25, 2012)

Unlike previous Nvidia chips; the 680 is not a furnace and the heatspreader fins are huge.Therefore the 5 fans will have a very low RPM making the card among the silents IMO.
And that girl is a beauty; anywhere in the world


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