The end of single slot, high end graphics card?

[HannibalX]

The 8800 GT seems to be the last high end card (well I know most people don't consider it a "high end" card per say, but when you consider most PCs on the planet chug along with integrated graphics, it really is high end), single slot card.

Are any of the newer 9800 series nVidia or 4800 series AMD cards single slot? I have two 8800 GTs (both single slot) and they are humming right along. I think when the time comes to replace them the only thing available will be massive double stack monsters with shitty OEM coolers that don't seem to work well anyway.

 

[taltamir]

the 4850 is single slot...

Both it and the 8800GT have heat issues at single slot, the 8800GT is now offered mostly with 3rd party, non single slot, coolers. And ASUS already said they will completely transition their 4850 to the same type of cooler (the orb type). Others will likely follow. Single slots are not very wise on a high end card. Doable, barely, but not wise.

 

[IlllI]

well.. technically i think you can still have high performance card thats single slot. it just costs money. for example http://www.koolance.com/water-...nfo.php?product_id=700

 

[videogames101]

The 4850 is single slot.

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: taltamir
the 4850 is single slot...

Both it and the 8800GT have heat issues at single slot, the 8800GT is now offered mostly with 3rd party, non single slot, coolers. And ASUS already said they will completely transition their 4850 to the same type of cooler (the orb type). Others will likely follow. Single slots are not very wise on a high end card. Doable, barely, but not wise.

*looking at 4850 now*

Browsing Newegg I see a ton of 8800 GT (even overclocked models) with the stock coolers. Both my 8800 GTs don't have heat issues with the stock single slot coolers.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: clandren
well.. technically i think you can still have high performance card thats single slot. it just costs money. for example http://www.koolance.com/water-...nfo.php?product_id=700

well, not just money... watercooling is less of a single slot and more of a "half the case"

 

[evolucion8]

I guess that the fastest card released on a single slot with no heat issues would be the Radeon X800XT PE, afterwards, most cards came with dual slot cooling and the ones that came after with single slot had issues (8800GT or HD 4850 which runs in the hot side).

 

[idiotekniQues]

the sapphire toxic 3870 is a very well cooled single slot card actually.

i had one (for sale now) but it was on par with the 8800GT performance wise and the thing ran cool as a cucumber.

 

[FalseChristian]

My 2 Asus 8800s are duel-slot cards. I barely managed to fit my Audigy4 in the 2nd PCIe slot but they run quite cool and they both overclock well.

 

[evolucion8]

Didn't know that the Audigy 4 came in PCIe

 

[octopus41092]

Well, the 4850 only runs hot if you don't increase the fan speed, once you increase the fan speed its temps are reasonable.

 

[fliguy84]

Things just got worse: http://gpucafe.com/?p=31

Triple slot video cards when PCI Express 3.0 arrives.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

Originally posted by: taltamir
the 4850 is single slot...

Both it and the 8800GT have heat issues at single slot, the 8800GT is now offered mostly with 3rd party, non single slot, coolers. And ASUS already said they will completely transition their 4850 to the same type of cooler (the orb type). Others will likely follow. Single slots are not very wise on a high end card. Doable, barely, but not wise.

*looking at 4850 now*

Browsing Newegg I see a ton of 8800 GT (even overclocked models) with the stock coolers. Both my 8800 GTs don't have heat issues with the stock single slot coolers.

Mine would crash on a reasonably warm day while gaming...but that was because the fan is stuck on 30%.

 

[User5]

My 4850 will drop to the high 40's idling sometimes.. and this is only with the fan increased a little bit. I hear some people pushing it to 55-65, but this is not necessary. 40 is all you need, and you won't even hear it.

With a single slot card that performs like this, I decided AGAINST adding a second one.. for now anyway.

 

[Sheninat0r]

Originally posted by: fliguy84
Things just got worse: http://gpucafe.com/?p=31

Triple slot video cards when PCI Express 3.0 arrives.

That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. A single card would take up almost half your expansion slots, and SLi/CF would take up all but one slot; even with that one slot, putting anything in it with two 300W monsters next to it would be hardware suicide. No more Tri-SLi or triple/quad CF either :laugh:

 

[ViRGE]

It may well be necessary though. GPUs put out an extraordinary amount of heat for how little cooling they get. The hottest CPUs are the Q6600 and the Phenom 9950, both of which peak at a good 100W less than a beast like the 4870X2.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: Sheninat0r

Originally posted by: fliguy84
Things just got worse: http://gpucafe.com/?p=31

Triple slot video cards when PCI Express 3.0 arrives.

That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. A single card would take up almost half your expansion slots, and SLi/CF would take up all but one slot; even with that one slot, putting anything in it with two 300W monsters next to it would be hardware suicide. No more Tri-SLi or triple/quad CF either :laugh:

Don't laugh -- with the way we're heading as far as GPU power consumption and heat...

In my case, my video card is effectively a quad-slot card with the aftermarket cooler and the two additional 120mm fans on top. How many expansion cards does the average person use? If you're not running CrossFire or SLI, it's not a big deal.

Besides, the people who can afford Tri-SLI or CrossFireX can also afford watercooling.

 

[Chiropteran]

I predict in the future your motherboard will be the video card, and you will install your CPU in a slot.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Chiropteran
I predict in the future your motherboard will be the video card, and you will install your CPU in a slot.

LOL, plenty of motherboards carry onboard video, and slot CPUs have already had their day.

 

[Foxery]

OP, what's your intended angle here? The trend is towards 2-slot coolers because expelling air straight out of the case is more effective than keeping it inside and hoping the end user had a well-ventilated tower.

Newer GPUs produce so much heat that keeping it inside the case is just asking for trouble; with a blower, you guarantee that the card gets proper circulation, and doesn't melt everything else around it. Radeon 4850s don't produce any more heat than a 4870. The restricted fan simply has nowhere to send the hot air when it is enclosed in an average tower.

Someone at AMD really dropped the ball when he let that reference spec leave his desk. There would be zero threads about "4850 heat problems" if it had always come with a proper 2-slot fan.

 

[BassBomb]

Correct me if I am wrong but was not the last top end card that was single slot a 7800GTX?

By this I mean there isn't a card being sold by that company for better w/ dual slot.

6800GT was single but 6800U was double
similarly,
4850 is single but 4870 is double

 

[Foxery]

The 4850 is the same chip as a 4870, only clocked about 10% lower. It's still the "enthusiast" SKU. Same goes for any equivalent on the nVidia side where there are multiple flavors for the same model number; the design specs for the PCB and cooler should be identical. When they aren't, you get 10,000 threads on every Internet forum titled, "my 4850 runs too hot."

It was a poor design decision by someone looking to cut a few dollars from the 4850's production cost. BIOS/fan speed problems only accentuated the problem and made it apparent more quickly and to more people.

 

[taltamir]

nm, wrong thread.