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While graphic card manufacturers across the globe work to create ever bigger and more powerful products to smash the latest games, Asus engineers have taken a step back, drunk some green tea, contemplated their place in the universe and decided to showcase their design skills in a different way. KitGuru prepares for a Fantastic Voyage into the world of the ultra-little. Sort of.
Weighing in at almost 1.5Kg, the Asus GTX670 DC2 4GD5 is a monster of a card. Offering some of the fastest single GPU gaming action on the planet, it draws in current at a fair old rate and uses a monolithic cooler to dissipate anything that's not being used for pixel punishment. Nice.
But what if you turn that concept on its head?
KitGuru gas had a chance to chat with Asus' marketing guru, Miodrag Relic, and he told us about his company's latest launch – aimed more at the ‘small is beautiful' mindspace.
“The Asus GTX 670 DirectCU Mini graphics card measures just 17cm”, Miodrag told us. “And that makes it ideal for small form factor gaming and home theater PCs based on mini ITX boards”.
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Cool idea, but what about specs?
Miodrag explained, “From entertainment centres to LAN parties, this new card delivers high-end DX 11.1 gaming with its nVidia GTX 670 GPU which we have paired with 2GB of GDDR5 video memory”.
All well and good, but what about noise levels if the unit is smaller? No problem said Relic, “For cool and quiet operation, it uses a new version of the innovative DirectCU cooler, which has an advanced heat-spreading vapour chamber and a CoolTech Fan”.
He continued, “With 360-degree venting and faster heat dissipation, the card remains 20% cooler than reference even in very compact cases. Enhanced power delivery and reliable performance are achieved through Direct Power technology”.
We asked about comparative sizes and were told, “The nVidia reference card is just over 24cm, while the super powerful 4GB Asus version is closer to 27cm. This new dual-slot card measures just 17cm, but the core still clocks from a 928MHz base through to more than 1GHz when in Turbo Mode”.
KitGuru says: Devilishly good product if it hits performance, noise and heat levels necessary for a small form factor chassis. You gotta wonder where this could all end up in a few years. Just how much power can be squeezed into a Mini-ITX PC?
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