The Fermi cards have now been out (and only just available) for the just over a month. Like the AMD 5xxx series, the first cards used reference PCBs and reference coolers - the only way you could distinguish between the different companies was by the branded sticker on the large chunky cooler. Given time, and knowledge of the system, custom coolers were just around the corner. This is what we see in the new Inno3D GTX 470 Hawk.
What we have is essentially an Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme cooler on top of a GTX 470 chip - three PWM controlled fans that run from 900 to 2,000 RPM on top of aluminium fins in a five-heatpipe design. Inno3D claim the Hawk gives a maximum noise level of 30dB, and is 22ºC cooler than the reference design. Two DVI-D connectors and a HDMI with integrated audio port are provided as standard.
This is, in our opinion, a bit of an ugly card (at least compared to the Galaxy 470 reported on earlier), that won't be taking home many beauty awards. By taking up three PCI slots with a massive cooler, the Hawk may annoy those wishing to run other peripherals that require slots, or even running 2 or 3 in SLI, as the layout of most motherboards gives two slot spaces between PCI-E 2.0 x16 connectors. The last caveat is that this card comes out the box at stock speeds, however, with any luck, Inno3D will also market a pre-overclocked version.
No word of exact release date or pricing at this time, but expect to pay the cost of a normal GTX 470 + $30~50 on top.
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RaistlinZ - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
It's the Amy Winehouse of video cards.AstroGuardian - Monday, May 10, 2010 - link
Damn right dude.......... hahahhahaheddyg17 - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
This card is a monstrosity. 3 slots? too big.jordanclock - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
I care about performance. I don't have a windowed case or any glowing lights except my power and HDD activity lights (and even those annoy me sometimes! haha) so I'm only interested in how this massive card handles heat any better (or worse?) than a reference card, or even compared to the Galaxy card.Also, I don't see much issue in the card taking up an extra slot. The GTX470 uses so much power, who would bother putting any other peripherals in their computer? (I kid, I kid. I know it's not THAT bad...)
bunnyfubbles - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
Sure, it doesn't look appealing, but at least this card doesn't look like a cheap plastic toy spaceship you'd give to a 3-5 year old.Any smart buyer should value function before form, this card looks like it will function much better than the Galaxy one will in terms of cooling/noise.
As far as the slot issue? Its about time we started seeing some official 3 slot cooling designs. I'm actually a little bit surprised nVidia didn't make the reference design 3 slots, although its lack luster performance (relative to its hype) wouldn't have mixed well with a 3 slot design on top of that.
More and more periphery parts are being integrated into the motherboard, very few users actually need or bother to use the extra slots anymore. And to top it off, the GPU is becoming more an more important (particularly nVidia's with their pushing CUDA and PhysX. GPGPU, the GPU is evolving into more of a co-processor to the CPU. The more important becomes, the more space it should be able to consume.
Sure, it might hurt SLI options, but I (and many others) would rather have a much faster single GPU than multiple slower ones (assuming they are slower to fit in the same amount of space). This would definitely merit larger cooling solutions, and if Fermi was as fast as it was originally hyped/rumored to be, it would definitely merit a 3 slot design by default.
nubie - Saturday, May 8, 2010 - link
Well, then we will be one step from socketed GPUs.Personally I don't understand why motherboards couldn't be MATX or ITX and have the card on an edge connector so it can be bolted down and use standard CPU tower coolers. Then we get the bonus of using the extra ATX standoffs to hold down the videocard.
Is there a good physical reason the market doesn't go this way? Besides the longer PCI-E lines that is (I don't think it is much of an issue for a few reasons: ITX wouldn't / couldn't have longer traces, many forms of Crossfire and SLi already have long PCI-e lines).
I would love to have dual 6-pipe coolers on a GPU and CPU packed into a MATX case, dream come true.
GullLars - Monday, May 10, 2010 - link
Why not just go watercooling and it won't be a problem. You could make 1-slot GPUs with 250-500W thermal envelopes provided you have enough flow and a good radiator (wich can be placed outside the case, along with the resevoar and pump if space is an issue).You could make a really compact µATX build with Ci7 980x OCd past 4Ghz and a NV 480 or ATI 5970, or two cards in SLI/CF if the board has 2x PCIe x16 slots (only need 1 slot wide each).
Throw in 3x x25-M/SF-1200/C300 in RAID-0 from ICH and you have a compact rigg able to easily reach 20K+ PCmark Vantage points.
GeorgeH - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
A cooler inspired by a Transformers toy in a McDonalds Happy Meal featuring plastic colors that scream "Walmart special" is good looking.A simple black frame housing three fans with a functional design that yields incredibly good acoustics and temperatures is ugly.
Be honest - right now you're wearing white tube socks, brown shoes, black belt, Superman briefs and a faded Power Rangers t-shirt, aren't you?
;)
rqle - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
looks better then the Galaxy GTX to me personallyOperandi - Saturday, May 8, 2010 - link
Agreed. I think it has a "technical" look to it, the same way some DOHC engines can look cool without engine covers.The Galaxy card on the other hand is the dumbest looking graphics card I've seen in a long time.