Say no to double decker graphics cards!

[FreshPrince]

What's up with nVidia making cards that take up 2 slots? Surely they must realize everyone is going small nowadays, especially with the recent and growing popularity of Shuttle SFF XPCs. Soon, larger manufacturers will come out with their own flavours so I'm sure the small form factor is here to stay. So, why nVidia are you going the opposite way? I'm confused.

- FP

 

[smp]

I'm saying YES to big cards.
Go nVidia!
Big cards for big benchmarks.
RAWR!!
GO TEAM!

 

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by: smp
I'm saying YES to big cards.
Go nVidia!
Big cards for big benchmarks.
RAWR!!
GO TEAM!

*LOL*

 

[VBboy]

Did you ever say No to large cooling fans for the CPU, or 3.5" hard drives (as opposed to laptop 2.5" drives), or to full-tower cases, or to large monitors?

I am glad they are coming out with large cards that employ such cooling solutions. Sorry, kiddo

 

[Bovinicus]

I like the cooling solution too. However, it is apparently louder than the cooling solution on the Radeon 9700 Pro. If they are going to make a double decker cooling solution it damned well better be efficient and quiet.

 

[cleverhandle]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
So, why nVidia are you going the opposite way?

Perhaps, just possibly, the laws of physics have something to do with it. Like you can only jam so much power into so much space. Or maybe, as you imply, nVidia is intentionally annoying their customers.

 

[magomago]

Well...then we should get watercooled steups for videocard, but instead have liquid nitrogen in there


Assuming it wouldn't blow


I still remember a german site taking a 2.0 Ghz P4 and pushing it to 3675 stable (it was 3.6XX) with liquid nitrogen as the cooling agent

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
What's up with nVidia making cards that take up 2 slots? Surely they must realize everyone is going small nowadays, especially with the recent and growing popularity of Shuttle SFF XPCs. Soon, larger manufacturers will come out with their own flavours so I'm sure the small form factor is here to stay. So, why nVidia are you going the opposite way? I'm confused.

- FP

My guess is that Nvidia hired that moron who designed the Voodoo 5 6000 from 3dfx when they went under, and promptly put him in charge of the GeForce FX design team.

Seriously, though. Not only is the FX card late to market, it's also too damn big and doesn't perform all that much better than the Radeon 9700. I just hope that Nvidia gets their act together for their next product cycle, before they get in serious trouble.

 

[VBboy]

The truth is, I am the one who convinced them to do this fat cooling solution.

nVidia: Dude, we need to cool off our GeForceFX
Me: So slap a fat-ass cooling fan on it!
nVidia: F*ck that, no one will buy it.
Me: C'mon, guys, I promise people will still jump on it.
nVidia: Eh, ok, I guess.

There you have it, folks.

 

[Orbius]

Strange how 3dfx cards always had heat problems, and now Nvidia cards do too.
Lets face facts the cooler is ridiculous, and is an obvious desperation maneouver. The thing is 60db according to HardOCP!!!
For comparison a Ford Mustang Cobra is 55db in idle!

 

[PliotronX]

Originally posted by: Orbius
Strange how 3dfx cards always had heat problems, and now Nvidia cards do too.
Lets face facts the cooler is ridiculous, and is an obvious desperation maneouver. The thing is 60db according to HardOCP!!!
For comparison a Ford Mustang Cobra is 55db in idle!

And more of a direct comparison, the loudest 80mm fan is also 55dBA. I can't imagine having a fan louder than that in my system. Considering that the fan for the FX is also smaller, its noise is higher in frequency and is much more annoying than the Tornado by comparison.

 

[compudog]

I doubt any one with an XPC or any SFF computer would put an FX in it anyway. I agree that throwing a monster cooler isn't necessarily the right approach to thermal management, but it works at this point. A die shrink, lower voltage yet still the same or better performance is the best answer, but the technology isn't there yet. My .02.

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: magomago
Well...then we should get watercooled steups for videocard, but instead have liquid nitrogen in there


Assuming it wouldn't blow


I still remember a german site taking a 2.0 Ghz P4 and pushing it to 3675 stable (it was 3.6XX) with liquid nitrogen as the cooling agent

hardocp got one up to 4.2ghz not stable since the heatspreader popped off because of the cold

 

[Ipno]

Anandtech's review said it was 72 dBa.

 

[DaFinn]

Say no to double decker graphics cards!

NO!

 

[Jeff7]

I still say that the AGP spec needs to be revised so that the GPU core is on top of the card - that should allow for a bigger heatsink.
Or else, just stop making motherboards with a PCI slot next to the AGP slot. There seems to be so much stuff integrated in these days that 5 PCI's should be enough.

 

[Goi]

Its not only loud, its huge, and takes up 1 PCI slot. Its just not an elegant solution. One might argue that you probably can't fill up all your available PCI slots, but what if someone can? nvidia shouldn't take away that that option from any user.

Then there's gonna a debate that nobody's forcing anyone to buy a GeForce FX, and that's true. I sure as hell am not gonna get one either, but IMHO its just not a cool(pun intended) solution. It might work for an ultra high end model, but nvidia's apparently stick with Flow FX on both the GF FX 5800 Ultra AND the regular GF FX 5800. What's up next? Water cooling? Flow FX2 that takes up 2 PCI slots?

Anyway, I think it'd be better to use a 1U cooler on the GeForce FX than that Flow FX. It looks better, sounds less noisy, is lighter and probably performs as well if not better too.

 

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by: magomago
I still remember a german site taking a 2.0 Ghz P4 and pushing it to 3675 stable (it was 3.6XX) with liquid nitrogen as the cooling agent

You obviously don't remember it that well, since it was a finnish site that did it

 

[oldfart]

Pros
I like the idea that it takes the heat generated by the graphics card out of the case via the rear exhaust. This will help to keep case and CPU temps down. Back when I had a Voodoo 3 3000, I used a slot cooler for the same reason. I usually leave the first PCI slot empty anyway.
Cons
It's WAY TOO LOUD. I would NEVER buy anything that made that much noise. Even though I wouldn't mind the loss of PCI slot 1, many people will. This is a bad move for Nvidia.

Would I buy this card? No way.

 

[Jhhnn]

Jeff7 understands the problem. This round of monster double decker howlers is a pretty desperate attempt at backward compatibility for the outdated agp spec. We need (or will shortly need) a revised spec that allows the components to be mounted on the other side of the card.

Now that slot1 is dead (RIP) there's lots of room on socketed cpu boards, even most dual cpu boards. a minor revision of the atx spec would also be good, making sure there's room on future boards.

There's been a lot of discussion about this here and elsewhere. I suspect that one of the major makers will simply be forced to break the spec in the other direction, just as Nvidia is breaking the spec with the double decker cards...

 

[Ipno]

Sneak Preview:

Here's what the next generation of Geforce Cards will bring to your PC:

pic

 

[Adul]

Originally posted by: Ipno
Sneak Preview:

Here's what the next generation of Geforce Cards will bring to your PC:

pic

w00t !! that will pwn u all

 

[FreshPrince]

Originally posted by: Ipno
Sneak Preview:

Here's what the next generation of Geforce Cards will bring to your PC:

pic

hehe, I like it!

seriously though..

I'm using all my PCI slots right now, so, if GFFX comes out, I won't be able to get it.

NIC
Hollywood+
SB live platinum
Adaptec 29160
TV Card
Firewire

Let's see....what can I sacrifice to get the new vid card?

hmm...I need the nic to surf the net...or maybe not. I need sound cuz I like to jam when I'm working. I gots to have my TV going in the background. Gotta be able to connect to the camcorder. And gotta have SCSI or no HDD....so that leaves my DVD card. I guess I can use windvd or something :disgust:

 

[LH]

I guess I can use windvd or something

Better yet, go buy a motherboard with a built in nic. I have no idea why anyone would by a motherboard w/o a nic these days. The price of the motherboard isnt much more, and you save a slot. Heck buyone with firewire as well, saves two slots.

 

[Slogun]

nm