Ignoring the almost uselessly low performance (even at 1080p it fails to hit 30fps in most titles tested) why is it such a tall card?
Even though it barely violates the PCI card specifications, it also has a top-mounted PCIe power connector, adding to the spec violation by another 30mm or so....
There are ATX, mATX, mITX cases, enclosures etc that do not have room for out-of-spec expansion cards. HTPC cases are a prime example of this, often needing not just an in-spec card, but a low-profile or single-slot one as well.
There are two standard GPU heights in the official spec:
- Standard (full-height) = bracket height 120mm, PCB height 107mm from edge connector (effectively flush with the top of the bracket)
- MD1 & MD2 low-profile = bracket height 79.2mm, PCB height 64.41mm (MD1 & MD2 vary only in length of the card)
Everything above this red line is a violation of the 107mm max height in the spec, and for such a low-power card, there's absolutely no need for such nonsense. This isn't a gaming card, because it barely runs games, so it's a media encode/decode card -
far more likely than most other dGPUs to be put into a space-constrained HTPC case or SFF!
