Friday, April 20th 2012
GIGABYTE WindForce 5X Cooling Solution on GTX 680 SOC Pictured - 5 Fan Mayhem
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.
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.
60 Comments on GIGABYTE WindForce 5X Cooling Solution on GTX 680 SOC Pictured - 5 Fan Mayhem
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
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.
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...
sad, its more like ghetto mods
And that girl is a beauty; anywhere in the world