Monday, May 17th 2010
Galaxy Readies Single-Slot GeForce GTX 470 Graphics Card
Galaxy is working on a single-slot graphics card based on the GF100 in its GeForce GTX 470 version. If that didn't boggle your mind, the fact that it's not another card with a water-block, but a single-piece air-cooled card surely will. Enter the Galaxy GTX 470 model known as "Katana" in Japan and "Razor" in other markets. The PCB appears to be a little over 10 inches long, looks-wise makes use of Galaxy's Blue-silver-copper scheme from its other non-reference GTX 470 GC card.
The single-slot air cooler covers the entire length of the PCB, with a fan that draws air from both sides of the PCB, and has grills that reveal the cooler's internal network of copper air-channels, and a slab of copper that is spread across most of the PCB's area that holds the GPU and memory. The cooler makes use of vapour-chamber technology. The card draws power from 8-pin and 6-pin power connectors. It is 4-way SLI capable. It is expected that the card comes with at least NVIDIA reference clock speeds, all other specifications remain the same: 448 CUDA cores, 1280 MB of GDDR5 memory across 320-bit interface, and connectivity which includes two DVI-D and a mini HDMI. It is expected to deck up Galaxy's Computex booth.
Sources:
4Gamer.net, Kakaku
The single-slot air cooler covers the entire length of the PCB, with a fan that draws air from both sides of the PCB, and has grills that reveal the cooler's internal network of copper air-channels, and a slab of copper that is spread across most of the PCB's area that holds the GPU and memory. The cooler makes use of vapour-chamber technology. The card draws power from 8-pin and 6-pin power connectors. It is 4-way SLI capable. It is expected that the card comes with at least NVIDIA reference clock speeds, all other specifications remain the same: 448 CUDA cores, 1280 MB of GDDR5 memory across 320-bit interface, and connectivity which includes two DVI-D and a mini HDMI. It is expected to deck up Galaxy's Computex booth.
70 Comments on Galaxy Readies Single-Slot GeForce GTX 470 Graphics Card
yeah.....I'l be switching to decaff now i think.
... it's OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAND!!
Get on it Galaxy! And don't forget to put both our names on the royalty checks.
Keep in mind that 4x0 cards can still only use two monitors at a time, and one DVI and one HDMI gives you every port you need, via adaptors (DVI to VGA, DVI to HDMI from one, and the other has HDMI to DVI, HDMI to displayport)
oh and if you have the weight of a DVI cable on the HDMI port, you're doing it wrong... put the adaptor on the back of the monitor (DVI to HDMI) and use a HDMI cable.
I can see the point in this card, but I think people would be better with water blocks or getting a dual slot 470.
And I'm more interested in single slot cards for mATX builds, where expansion slots are at a premium.
Also for mATX, I'd still just get a dual slot. Be better in the long run IMHO.
As for your argument about the tiny amount of space between the cards, that is actually more of a concern with dual-slot cards then single, if you think logically. The only time that would be an issue would be if every PCI-e slot was filled, and each PCI-e slot was right next to the other, there are only a very few boards that actually have this configuration and they are rather expensive. Expensive boards don't tend to be the folder's dream. They are spending $400 on a motherboard so they can get 7 PCI-E slots to fill with cards. They are spending $150 on cheap boards with 3/4 slots for cards. Now, with dual slot cards, the issue of the cards being too close and airflow being restricted becomes a problem in these boards. However, with a single slot card, there is now plenty of room between the cards.
Now, as for mATX, as I said, some times a single slot card is the only option. There is no, well I'd still get a dual slot, because that isn't possible. You've got a maximum of 4 slots, and many mATX boards only use the bottom 3 because the top slot would interfere with the chipset. But even with 4 slots, assuming the top one is the graphics. Then you've got the TV tuner taking up a slot, the sound card taking up another slot, and the wireless card taking up the last slot. No room for a dual slot card blocking a slot there.