GALAX Shows Off Single-Slot GeForce GTX 1070 Graphics Card
by Anton Shilov on December 20, 2016 6:00 PM EST
GALAX has developed a GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card with an ultra-slim one slot wide cooling system. The industry’s first single-slot GeForce GTX 1070 is understood to be released in China in early 2017, but it is unknown whether the video card will ever make it outside of the country.
Single-slot gaming graphics adapters for high-performance cards are not a common occurrence, especially as most AIB partners now run dual slot for anything 75W for over. After developers of GPUs for years have developed dual-slot designs for their coolers, the vast majority of motherboards have enough space to install at least one single slot graphics card. Nonetheless, there are systems equipped with extra add-in-boards (audio, SSD, additional SATA or Thunderbolt 3 controllers, etc.) that require slim single-slot components as there is simply not enough space inside. Meanwhile, it is not easy to find high-performance single-slot graphics cards: even some low-profile boards feature doublewide radiators. Companies like AMD and NVIDIA release professional graphics cards with slim coolers (e.g., Quadro M4000, Radeon Pro WX7100 and so on), but such products are not intended for general consumers because of high prices and some other peculiarities. By contrast, the forthcoming GeForce GTX 1070 from GALAX is a high-end consumer product with a single-slot cooling system.
The upcoming GALAX GeForce GTX 1070 uses a copper radiator with very thin fins and a metallic cover. Copper quickly absorbs heat, which is why it is used to make small form-factor coolers (including those for servers). Meanwhile, to maximize cooling potential of the whole system, GALAX uses a blower-type fan that generates very high air pressure by rotating at a very high speed. Such fans inevitably generate a lot of noise, but that is a tradeoff between dimensions and performance. Copper heatsinks are typically heavy too, as well as pricier than regular GPU heatsinks.
So far, GALAX has only demonstrated the graphics card at an event in China (and clearly labelled it GTX 1070 for anyone wondering) and has not revealed its frequencies or other peculiarities. Since NVIDIA’s partners are not allowed to downclock GPUs, it is highly likely that the card will run at reference 1506/1683 MHz (base/boost) clock rates. As for connectivity, the board has three connectors: a DVI, a DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0.
GALAX belongs to Palit Microsystems, one of the world’s largest makers of video cards. From time to time Palit’s brands release unique NVIDIA-based graphics adapters that have features not available on competing solutions. Usually, such AIBs are only sold in China, but at times they make it to the U.S. and Europe under various trademarks.
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Source: Xfastest
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MrSpadge - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link
If these cases don't offer enough space for a second GPU slot, where shall the heat produced by this card go? It's vented exactly to the position where the 2nd slot would be. Do those cases have a metal mesh grid at this position? And for the fan?nathanddrews - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link
Most have mesh, some don't. Without testing this card specifically, I can't say what sort of impact (if any) would occur.TheinsanegamerN - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link
ever wonder why many of those old cases have multiple vents cut out around the PCI slots?Thats why.
The fan pulls heat from inside the chassis. You act like youve never imagined the concept of a blower style card before.
MrSpadge - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link
No, I'm acting like this card is blowing ~150 W of heat inside the chassis. And people are looking to put it into the most cramped place available (ITX). And expect it to work just fine, because the card is single slot. I'm sure they'd experience a very unpleasant surprise (the card being lound and throttling massively), unless there was sufficient outside air exchange. And by that I don't mean just a few vents, but rather something serious. If an ITX design has that, maybe it's fine.nathanddrews - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link
They found a way to cram this GPU into laptops without being too loud, my guess is that they can do the same for a single-slot desktop card. We used to have single-slot GPUs that weren't loud (and plenty that were), so why don't we just wait and see? Could be a massive failure, could be a sign of good things to come.MrSpadge - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link
"Wait and see" is a proper approach here. However, I haven't experienced any of the "good enough" single slot coolers of old handling more than 50 - 60 W well. We're talking about almost triple that power here. Good point about the laptops, though.Ducky21 - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link
Watercooling. Full face blocks are single slot, but most cards are built for two slots. You use an extra PCI slot in your case for absolutely no reason.RaichuPls - Tuesday, December 20, 2016 - link
ITX build with SLI? Is that possible?megadirk - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link
Nope, ITX has only one PCI-E slot.edzieba - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link
Yes, but only if the motherboard supports PCIe Bifurcation (e.g. Asrock X99 ITX, or the Z170 Fatal1ty ITX), you use a riser with a clock duplicator, and the OS and drivers handle it. Currently, it works under Linux with Nvidia GPUs but the Windows Nvidia drivers don't work properly (either see only one card, or crash). IIRC AMD cards with on Windows, but I'm not sure if that's in crossfire or just multi-adaptor.