Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 G1.Gaming Pictured

[btarunr]

Here are the first pictures of Gigabyte's GeForce GTX 960 G1.Gaming graphics card. This factory-overclocked card is designed to woo mid-range graphics card buyers with a hefty, high-end looking package. To begin with, Gigabyte deployed its large WindForce 3X cooling solution on this 120W TDP chip, the same one it used on the GTX 970 and GTX 980 G1.Gaming products. This cooler may seem overkill, but Gigabyte may set a temperature-activated fan profile, which keeps the fans off until the GPU hits a temperature threshold, which we imagine will be very high, given this chip's thermals, and the size of this cooler's heatsink.

The GTX 960 G1.Gaming from Gigabyte will also be different from other offerings based on this chip, due to its display I/O. While most other GTX 960 cards will feature two dual-link DVI and one each of HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2, this card features an I/O that looks identical to Gigabyte's GTX 980 G1.Gaming, with two dual-link DVI, three DisplayPort 1.2, and one HDMI 2.0 connectors. NVIDIA will launch the GeForce GTX 960 on the 22nd of January, 2015. Looks like some stores are already stocked-up.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Nullifier]

One thought comes to mind when seeing that beast of a cooler strapped onto that card.
Why?
It's more than likely never going to need the amount of cooling supplied by that awesome cooler / going to hit overclocking voltage limit before hitting temp limit.

Did they put a backplate on it?

 

[Constantine Yevseyev]

Did they put a backplate on it?

Yep, and it looks exactly like the one they've been putting on their GTX 970 & 980 cards:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GeForce_GTX_980_G1_Gaming/images/card2.jpg

 

[Nullifier]

Yep, and it looks exactly like the one they've been putting on their GTX 970 & 980 cards:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GeForce_GTX_980_G1_Gaming/images/card2.jpg

This just totally seems like overkill for this card. I mean they could have gone with a 2 fan design IMO.
But if they were going for the looks department, they did good keeping the same design.

 

[dj-electric]

I can kinda get why - for people who want more bling to their budget.
Personally, i would prefer a smaller quiter card sure.

As long as it wont be much more expensive, there is a market for these kind of cards.

 

[The N]

Damn, 3x cooling to 960 hardly draw 150w power outta maxwell. but seriously these gigabyte G1 cooler fans are too awesome to look. Gigabyte really captured the whole marke twith there new devil style cooler. just great to see. Backplate umm, i dont think so. its not heavy performance card. medium end gpu.

 

[THE_EGG]

There is a difference between the 970 and 980 Windforce coolers. I believe the 980 has 6 heatpipes vs the 4 heatpipes on the 970 and the 980 also has a much larger copper plate compared to the 970 which has a direct touch heatpipe design. The 980's cooler also has noticeably more fins. On the outside though they look almost identical. It wouldn't surprise me if this G1 Gaming 960 was a nerfed 970 cooler (or uber nerfed 980 cooler) but looking at the picture more closely it looks to have the same heatpipe arrangement as the 970.

 

[hat]

Maybe they're just using the same cooler they use on other gpus.

 

[dj-electric]

when it comes to coolers - gigabyte have a plan for some cards.
sometimes, they would over-kill a gpu with a cooler that was used for higher end card before
Than, they would redesign a cooler for another revision of the card. The new cooler would be cheaper and less powerful than the first one.

There's a big possibility that the cooler you see in the picture will actually change soon into something more domestic.

Examples can be found with GTX 760 windforce rev.1 (PCB 1.0 was 670 WF3's and the same cooler, PCB 2.0 was something simpler and cheaper in both).

 

[The N]

but this is all for attraction purpose toward 960, the better the look, more liking would be. just a display. 960 from leaked specs and performances looks surprising i was expecting much better performance something better than 770 or touch 780, its kinda disappointment not hacinbut Good cooling solutions and more heat pipes always plus point for any GPU for selling/marketing perspective for any company.

 

[bubbleawsome]

I don't know about the silicon, but if that is an equal to last-gens windforce that's going to be a nice card. Mine is near silent while cooling 250w, so this should be cool and quiet.

 

[64K]

I don't know about the silicon, but if that is an equal to last-gens windforce that's going to be a nice card. Mine is near silent while cooling 250w, so this should be cool and quiet.

I doubt that you would be able to hear it over your case fans.

 

[RejZoR]

Is such cooling really necessary on such crappy card?

 

[HisDivineOrder]

Well, perhaps Gigabyte believed nVidia when they said, "Massive overclocking."

I think that's a con, but hey, price this particular card at $200 or less and I'm guessing people would buy in.

 

[peche]

I like so much Gigabyte's WindForce Cooling, it is absolutely efficient, a little bit noisy but efficient, my GTX 760 has one, cannot complain about how it works...the new one may perform better, triple curve fans are an improvement over the old one, also the backplate its another improvement, for the older models you have buy it separately and as far as I know there is a couple of backplates and they are not for all 700 series models, Coldzero makes for 780FTW only that’s the only source of backplates I know, so the fact that the new GTX 960 G1-Gaming features one is an improvement for all the users,

i would like to get Windforce and backplate of the new 960 into my 760.. to test if it may outperform the old one..

 

[HumanSmoke]

Maybe they're just using the same cooler they use on other gpus.

Bingo.
What some people here seem to be missing is the continuity of design and marketing. The Windforce coolers are synonymous with the Gigabyte brand, and because the same basic cooler design is found at the top of the product stack (included with the Titan Black, fitted to the 980 and 970) it adds to the marketing cachet. MSI have done the same with the Twin Frozr treatment, EVGA's has the ACX, Zotac has the AMP!, and no doubt there will be an Asus Strix in the mix somewhere. It's less about practicality is some instances than presenting a unified aesthetic and competition amongst the AIB's.

 

[THE_EGG]

Bingo.
What some people here seem to be missing is the continuity of design and marketing. The Windforce coolers are synonymous with the Gigabyte brand, and because the same basic cooler design is found at the top of the product stack (included with the Titan Black, fitted to the 980 and 970) it adds to the marketing cachet. MSI have done the same with the Twin Frozr treatment, EVGA's has the ACX, Zotac has the AMP!, and no doubt there will be an Asus Strix in the mix somewhere. It's less about practicality is some instances than presenting a unified aesthetic and competition amongst the AIB's.

I'm thinking STRIX will take over from DirectCU II. I mean DirectCU II wasn't exactly the most catchy name was it...haha.

 

[Deadlyraver]

Mean looking cooler as always.

 

[The N]

only impressive thing that yet to see is Overclocking potential in 960, so will Gigabyte G960 G1 provide greater overclocking potential that is the question. as we experience before, gigabyte gpu voltage always locked by hardware. which isn't atttarctive for users who genuinely buy for overclocking purpose like me.

for cooling, there is no doubt Giga at top. 3x fan now improved alot in maxwell. so let see to the launch and if any overclocking leak.

 

[eroldru]

I want to laugh! That cooler is way too much for that card. What will the temps be? 10C under full load? Even a cooler with a single fan would be enough, but hey, they have to sell stuff, don't they?

 

[Blue-Knight]

I do not know why people are complaining about the cooler. I think the more overkill the better as long as it does not cost any extra $ for me.

One of the advantages is that you will not need an aftermarket cooler, or at least the chances are decreased by a good amount.

And that are other reasons, some people may use this card at high room temperatures and an extra cooling is never too much.

It is just my opinion.

 

[RealNeil]

Maybe the logic behind three fans is that you can run three fans at a slower, quieter speed and still cool properly. Also, on some motherboards, the PCI-E slots are close together, so maybe they want to compensate for possible air restrictions when their GPUs are used in SLI..

 

[hat]

Bingo.
What some people here seem to be missing is the continuity of design and marketing. The Windforce coolers are synonymous with the Gigabyte brand, and because the same basic cooler design is found at the top of the product stack (included with the Titan Black, fitted to the 980 and 970) it adds to the marketing cachet. MSI have done the same with the Twin Frozr treatment, EVGA's has the ACX, Zotac has the AMP!, and no doubt there will be an Asus Strix in the mix somewhere. It's less about practicality is some instances than presenting a unified aesthetic and competition amongst the AIB's.

I didn't think of design/marketing. I thought maybe it would just be cheaper/easier for them to use one cooler that works on all the cards. That way they're not designing and manufacturing different coolers for different cards. I thought it would be more practical this way.

 

[HumanSmoke]

I didn't think of design/marketing. I thought maybe it would just be cheaper/easier for them to use one cooler that works on all the cards. That way they're not designing and manufacturing different coolers for different cards. I thought it would be more practical this way.

No doubt using the same design does save on tooling cost, but I think a unified aesthetic also play its part as with any manufacturer that deals with high-end down into the mainstream. A BMW 318 looks remarkably similar to a 650i viewed from front, but I'm pretty sure the front clips aren't interchangeable.

 

[The N]

I didn't think of design/marketing. I thought maybe it would just be cheaper/easier for them to use one cooler that works on all the cards. That way they're not designing and manufacturing different coolers for different cards. I thought it would be more practical this way.

You Have valid and quite probable point, that can't be ignore at all. yes in that way they won't need any fuirther desiging and manufacturing of more coolers and simultaneously market value and sales increases, its a plus for gigabte. 1 Concept for All GPUs/cooling solutions. Going At TOP