The Basics (continued):
The next two images take a look at the other end of the card from different angles. Here we see that there are two PCI Express power connections; one 8-pin and one 6-pin. While many cards have the power connections parallel to the card, and facing the rear, here we see that they are along the side and perpendicular to the PCB. The below right image shows just how high the MOSFET cooler on the back side is, and I have to wonder if it might interfere with other features in some computer systems. Considering the thickness of the GPU / memory cooler and this extra cooler on the back side, this is definitely more than a two slot solution.
 
The shroud of the cooler is held on by eight tiny screws, and removing it for a look under the hood seemed necessary. What we see is that each GPU has its own aluminum and copper cooler, each of which looks like a low profile CPU cooler. In between the two GPU coolers, the thing that looks like a low profile northbridge cooler is actually the PCI Express bridge chip cooler. Two "L" shaped strips of metal are used to cool the memory chips, and at the far end we find an aluminum cooler on another set of MOSFETs.
 
The below left image shows a close up of a GPU and a memory cooler, while also showing the components of the 6-phase power circuitry. The below right image shows the other GPU cooler and the PCI Express bridge chip cooler.
 
All in all, there is some serious hardware under the hood, and just the assembly time looks like it took some work, not to mention the design of this card. One comment worth making, which is something I have seen on a few cards lately, is that the PCB is curved. It seems like the card is under tension and being pulled slightly towards the cooler. While nothing seems to be affected by this "defect", it is quite noticeable.
|
|
