Dat ass... :D One smexy card, right there.

You know what's weird, I actually like the look of this card better than the reference design now. Maybe I am just getting tired of the reference design but for some reason I find this card appealing to look at.

well the package indicates already that this card is loud

Good to see companies trying their hand at non-reference blower style coolers. It's a much more thermally efficient design than the DirectCUs and Windforces of the world, as the blower style cooler exhaust all the hot air out of the case. It's an attractive card too.

Petey PlaneGood to see companies trying their hand at non-reference blower style coolers. It's a much more thermally efficient design than the DirectCUs and Windforces of the world, as the blower style cooler exhaust all the hot air out of the case. It's an attractive card too.

Efficient? In what way? The fan used in a blower cooler needd more power to push the same amount of air. It's also louder because it needs to run at higher RPM. The card's core runs hotter which leads to even more power consumption the. The only thing a blower cooler does is dump hot air out the back of you PC. Which can also be done by a very free air flow case design.

why the re-unvieled the reference card again?

buildzoidEfficient? In what way? The fan used in a blower cooler needd more power to push the same amount of air. It's also louder because it needs to run at higher RPM. The card's core runs hotter which leads to even more power consumption the. The only thing a blower cooler does is dump hot air out the back of you PC. Which can also be done by a very free air flow case design.

In many cases, like ITX and other SFFs, don't have a lot of airflow, so getting hot air out of the case is important, instead of just blowing it in every direction (and across your CPU, RAM and voltage regs) in the case, to then be evacuated in a much less linear and therefor less efficient manner, requiring not only the 2-3 fans on the GPU, but another set of 2-3 fans in the case to pull the air out. 6 fans needed to do the job of 1 fan isn't more efficient.

Yes, it can be louder, but that's why i said i'm glad to see non-reference blowers, because manufacturers are more free to play around with the basic concept, and potentially get the noise levels down.

GhostRyderYou know what's weird, I actually like the look of this card better than the reference design now. Maybe I am just getting tired of the reference design but for some reason I find this card appealing to look at.

I find it cheap looking. Remove heavy, rigid metal shroud, replace with plastic. Ugh! Nothing screams Flagship like a cheap plastic shroud...

No mention of, and no picture of the top edge, and whether or not they eliminated the nice adjustible lighting GE Force GTX logo, either.

Looking great :)

rtwjunkieI find it cheap looking. Remove heavy, rigid metal shroud, replace with plastic. Ugh! Nothing screams Flagship like a cheap plastic shroud...

No mention of, and no picture of the top edge, and whether or not they eliminated the nice adjustible lighting GE Force GTX logo, either.

How many people look at their graphics card while it is installed with the shroud down in the case?

moproblems99How many people look at their graphics card while it is installed with the shroud down in the case?

I personally have my computer set up so I can glimpse to the right on my monitor and enjoy all the t3ch pr0n in action

moproblems99How many people look at their graphics card while it is installed with the shroud down in the case?

Depends if you have a window. Just seeing the metal side of my reference 780 is a nice touch.

First, no mention if the lighting is still present, which is a nice feature. Second, lets say I have both versions to sell used. Which one is going to be regarded as the better card by a potential buyer? The one that looks higher quality and has built in flex support because of the rigid aluminum shroud.

It's just an attetion to detail issue for a flagship. If you're going to use plastic, use it on a very nice, quality aftermarket cooler, and leave plastic shrouds for mid-range and below.

Finally, I'm concerned about the "similar" heatsink. The original reference is using a vapor-chamber sink. There's no similar. It either is or it isn't. In a blower setup, if it's not vapor-chamber, it won't cool as well.

The PCB should have been white IMO

Elegant gpu!

That card is sexy enough to run the NAACP.

I really like this.

Will the card have a back plate? I find it unclear the article.

buildzoidEfficient? In what way? The fan used in a blower cooler needd more power to push the same amount of air. It's also louder because it needs to run at higher RPM. The card's core runs hotter which leads to even more power consumption the. The only thing a blower cooler does is dump hot air out the back of you PC. Which can also be done by a very free air flow case design.

You forgot that blowers can generate more static pressure, too. That's why nearly any ventilation in any building is provided by a similarly designed centrifugal fan. 99% of furnaces and air conditioners use centrifugal fans, not axial fans, because an axial fan cannot generate enough pressure. Centrifugal fans also do not generate more noise, or use more power...it's the horrible design of using a fan with a hub that contains the motor rather than a belt-driven fan with different sized sprockets that has the fan rotate at a speed higher than that of the motor, that makes that PARTICULAR design sub-par.

So... yeah... FUD. ROFL.

This is a great looking and interesting card.

@W1zzard will you be reviewing it?

cadavecaCentrifugal fans also do not generate more noise, or use more power...it's the horrible design of using a fan with a hub that contains the motor rather than a belt-driven fan with different sized sprockets that has the fan rotate at a speed higher than that of the motor, that makes that PARTICULAR design sub-par.

Which is every design that a GPU employs. Also unless electric motors get more efficient with lower RPMs the belt thing won't help power draw because the power needed to move the air doesn't suddenly become lower due to the addition of a belt.

cadavecaCentrifugal fans also do not generate more noise, or use more power...it's the horrible design of using a fan with a hub that contains the motor rather than a belt-driven fan with different sized sprockets that has the fan rotate at a speed higher than that of the motor, that makes that PARTICULAR design sub-par.

Besides using more power (but likely not all that much more) a belt driven fan would decrease reliability of the card and increase manufacturing cost compared to the current direct drive designs, which I reckon is why no one uses them.

qubitBesides using more power (but likely not all that much more) a belt driven fan would decrease reliability of the card and increase manufacturing cost compared to the current direct drive designs, which I reckon is why no one uses them.

You missed the point, as usual. :P Being a blower doesn't make it bad, it's the design behind that blower that makes it bad. A properly designed blower will 100% be better than an axial fan, as tried and tested for decades. All I hear from what you said is simple excuses as to why they couldn't be bothered, but reliability and manufacturing costs are not really as much as you might think. Keep in mind these are the things (fans and airflow and all that stuff) you can learn in post-secondary school, including acoustic management. ;)


ROFL.

I wasn't actually contradicting or disagreeing with what you said, just adding to it and those things I pointed out are true. I think you missed my point, lol.

Petey PlaneGood to see companies trying their hand at non-reference blower style coolers. It's a much more thermally efficient design than the DirectCUs and Windforces of the world, as the blower style cooler exhaust all the hot air out of the case. It's an attractive card too.

I used a blower card once and I won't go back to it again. It's clearly louder and hotter than non-ref designs. The only benefit is that it makes dual cards configuration with no space between them possible. I don't care about hot air in my case, that's what case fans are for.

EVGA used to make exclusively blower cards, and now they come up with ACX 2.0 and it's brilliant. Meanwhile, MSI and Asus do the opposite: they go back to blower design because of aesthetic reason, which is a pretty dumb move IMO.

looks nice
powerful and simple card

BensesI really like this.

Will the card have a back plate? I find it unclear the article.

No back-plate.