A Closer Look

AMD's fansink uses a large area vapor chamber cooler to keep the GPU cool. You can also see the thermal pads for twelve memory chips and the VRM circuitry.


The card requires one 8-pin and one 6-pin PCI-Express power cable for operation. This power configuration is good for up to 300 W of power draw.


For voltage control the card uses the CHiL CHL8228 chip, the same model found on other graphics card designs from AMD. This means that software support for overvolting will be easy to implement.


The GDDR5 memory chips are made by Hynix, and carry the model number H5GQ2H24MFR-R0C. They are specified to run at 1500 MHz (6000 MHz GDDR5 effective).


AMD's new Tahiti graphics processor introduces a new shader architecture, it is also the first GPU to be produced on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The transistor count is 4.31 billion.

Please note the shiny metal shim around the GPU core, which is part of the GPU and prevents the crushing or chipping of the die during assembly. The GPU's model number 215-0821060 is printed on the bottom right of the shim instead of on the die itself.