Gigabyte GTX 970 Mini-ITX (and discussion for other small 970 cards)..

tuan2195 said:
Damn I just bought a PNY GTX 970 a few days ago. Now I really want that Gigabyte ITX card!
Also FYI, my PNY 970 reuses the PCB from the 670 so it's only 241mm long with the fan and 173mm long without the fan! Which means if you're brave enough to void PNY's crappy warranty you can stuff it inside a ITX case (which I plan to do at some point :D)
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What gpu cooler would you use?
 
rawrr said:
What gpu cooler would you use?
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I have a Antec 620 and a bracket lying around from my 660 so I can definitely fit that on. Otherwise I am not sure, maybe just ziptie a 120mm fan to the heatsink will do the trick? :D But it definitely depends on the case though.
Still it's doing 1.52GHz on the stock cooler and despite being a bit hot (80 C) I am happy for now.
 
rawrr said:
The card doesn't really make any attempt to direct the exhaust air, so I'm not really sure an exhaust port will matter.

I guess they could do a dual fan cooler, but two 100 mm fans would mean the cooler hangs over the end of the pcb by about 30 mm, which would suck :/
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Does not suck at all, you can't even notice it or see it but the twin fan works great.
Rear fan pushing some air out the back, front fan into the case.

Two is still better then one if you want to keep it cool and quiet.
 
ep0x73 said:
Nice size but does it really need so many connectors instead of just having some type of exhaust port?
DVI is being eliminated on current monitors, certainly do not need two of them plus 3 display ports.

I can't see why they could not take their 750TI twin fan which is <7 inches long and basically just replace the die since Maxwell are the same size, 28nm.

twin 100mm fans would do the trick better then 1.
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750 ti has half the TDP of the 970. Its going to be interesting to see how they got it to be cool and quiet while using only 1 fan and no exhaust.
 
Gigabyte GTX 970 ITX (GV-N970IXOC-4GD) Full Review @EXPReview.com (CN) (Nov. 15, 2014)..

http://www.expreview.com/37211-all.html

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Performance, temps and noise during benchmarks appear to be good, and according to the author are an improvement over past ITX cards (the ASUS Mini 670 and 760, and MSI 760 ITX).
 
Wow.. Amazon US still hasn't gotten any stock in, but the 3rd-party sellers on their site are charging $400 to $450 for this card.

Newegg still has them in-stock for $339, and just added free shipping..

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125706

(Got my Pick-your-path promo via customer service, but missed out on a targeted 10%-off code by one day! Ah well.. should have my card tomorrow).


The first Newegg customer review is up, and sounds promising.. said it was silent during benchmarks, and ran 20C cooler than the small ZOTAC 970 he returned due to coil whine.
 
awww yeees. :) Mine landed Today.

eCoZQRgl.jpg



This plus Logic Supply MC600. What a wonderful build this will be.
 
Runamok81 said:
awww yeees. :) Mine landed Today.

eCoZQRgl.jpg



This plus Logic Supply MC600. What a wonderful build this will be.
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Can you please measure the height of the card (If possible)? I'm height restricted in my case.... 4.92" max :( If I could fit it I would buy this over my current Zotac 970 (waiting for a replacement) to arrive.

EDIT: never mind... 129mm... and I can only fit under 124mm.... oh well ...
 
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canceled my amazon order which hasn't even been processed yet and order from newegg. Cheaper with the free shipping anyways.
 
What size power supplies are you all running these cards on?

I've got a system in an SG05 right now, using Silverstone's 450W PSU (the non-modular one, bundled with the case), using a 4670k and a 560Ti. So I figure a 970 ought to be fine, given they're rated for about 30W less than the 560ti.

But I was planning on doing some part swapping and I'm going to wind up with the Galax 970 and either an i5-4690k or i7-4790k in the Sugo, and the i5-4670k is going to be in another box. That box has a Corsair CX430 power supply, with just one PCIe power connector, but it's a 6+2, so I could use the Gigabyte card with it.

And yet, it occurs to me to check before I start spending more money. :)
 
I doubt the system will draw more than 300w at load, 350w tops. But the quality of the corsair CX is not great so while I do have some doubts, I think it will be fine.
 
deruberhanyok said:
What size power supplies are you all running these cards on?
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I'll be using the Silverstone SFX 600W.

Pretty sure even their 450W would be more than enough.. think Gigabyte recommends 400W for a system with this particular card.
 
Just got an update from Amazon. Looks like my card is shipping. My updated delivery date is Nov 25th.
 
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Alright, I just ordered the Galax card.

Will take pictures when it comes in. I run Linux, so I'm not sure how relevant my framerates will be for everyone, but I'll try to run a few benchmarks comparing it to my old card (which is a 560ti... so it's gonna be a pretty sizeable upgrade).
 
needmorecarnitine said:
$320 after a $10 MIR at newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125706
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Dang! Would've saved $28 had I only waited 5 days.. plus I had to pull teeth to get my damn free game from them :rolleyes: Gonna see if they honor their Iron Egg guarantee.


Anyway, just came in to post that I got my 970 ITX installed..



The card seems well built and is very quiet (pleasant sounding fan, no coil whine, and near-silent at idle). Temps seem good.. under 40C at idle, and under 75C during benchmarks. Scored 1283 in Heaven (1080/ultra/extr.tess/8xAA) and 9008 in Firestrike w/344.75 driver.. seems normal for a 970, I think?

Haven't tried any actual games yet. Bought this mostly to upscale video with MadVR (which the Intel iGPU couldn't do very well).. handles Jinc/Jinc/quad/quad very nicely.


Totally not worth $340 plus shipping.. definitely worth $320 with free game :D
 
AFD, what case is that? I don't recognize the layout.

Seems to me that with no external exhaust from the card, and being at the bottom of the case and upside down, those temperatures are actually really good. Is there a lot of ventilation along the bottom for it to pull in fresh air?

[edit]wait, I just saw it listed in your sig - looks like an interesting case design, I didn't realize people were crowdsourcing this stuff. Exciting!
 
deruberhanyok said:
AFD, what case is that? I don't recognize the layout.

Seems to me that with no external exhaust from the card, and being at the bottom of the case and upside down, those temperatures are actually really good. Is there a lot of ventilation along the bottom for it to pull in fresh air?

[edit]wait, I just saw it listed in your sig - looks like an interesting case design, I didn't realize people were crowdsourcing this stuff. Exciting!
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Yes, the NCASE M1.. it's an awesome little case.

Almost the entire bottom is ventilated (with DEMCiflex filters) and 2x Noctua F12 fans using the low-noise adapters. Airflow-wise, I'm thinking the 970 is sucking in air from the rear F12 and pushing most of it out in front of the card, then the other F12 is moving it up between the HDD and PSU and out the ventilated top. Some of the heat might also be pushed out the rear (hitting the angled input housing at the back of the card) and then out through the lower vented PCI cover.
 
I'm not seeing a downside to these mini cards. I have the Zotac mini 970 and it runs great. The stock fan profile sucked admittedly and the card would throttle to stock speeds when it got warm. I slapped an EK 970 water block on it yesterday and could not be happier now that the fan noise is gone completely. I run it +250 on the GPU and +200 on the memory and have not added any volts at all. Hits 37c under full load.
 
Evil Scooter said:
I'm not seeing a downside to these mini cards. I have the Zotac mini 970 and it runs great. The stock fan profile sucked admittedly and the card would throttle to stock speeds when it got warm. I slapped an EK 970 water block on it yesterday and could not be happier now that the fan noise is gone completely. I run it +250 on the GPU and +200 on the memory and have not added any volts at all. Hits 37c under full load.
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With a water block they are great. With this card, however, there is no exhausting of hot air so the case needs to have good air flow in it. I know of some ITX cases where this card would choke because it would simply be recirculating most of its own hot air.
 
flopticalcube said:
With a water block they are great. With this card, however, there is no exhausting of hot air so the case needs to have good air flow in it. I know of some ITX cases where this card would choke because it would simply be recirculating most of its own hot air.
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Even the cards the cards that exhaust to the rear need good case circulation to be efficient. Same rules apply to the full sized cards.
 
Evil Scooter said:
Even the cards the cards that exhaust to the rear need good case circulation to be efficient. Same rules apply to the full sized cards.
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Not necessarily circulation, just supply. A case with a simple side mesh but minimal air flow on its own would provide a blower card with plenty of cool air as intake but with cards like this the hot air would mix and recirculate.
 
can one of the lucky owners please measure the distance between the bracket and top of the card as per picture. My HTPC is limited by height and I don't know if I can fit it.

Big thanks in advance... ;)

11458_big.png
 
How hot is this Gigabyte card underload? I don't know but I feel like the GTX970 is not gonna fare so well with such a tiny cooler.
And Evil Scooter, do you really have a load temp of 37 C? How cold is it where you are living? :eek:
 
tuan2195 said:
How hot is this Gigabyte card underload? I don't know but I feel like the GTX970 is not gonna fare so well with such a tiny cooler.
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AFD said:
Temps seem good.. under 40C at idle, and under 75C during benchmarks.
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75C was the hottest I've been able to get it so far.. that was doing several back-to-back runs of Heaven Benchmark 4.0 (1080/ultra/extr.tess/8xAA).


amd7674 said:
can one of the lucky owners please measure the distance between the bracket and top of the card as per picture. My HTPC is limited by height and I don't know if I can fit it.

http://s23.postimg.org/glzap9nzv/11458_big.png
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Lol. You couldn't have asked before I got it installed? :p Hopefully, Runamok (or another kind soul) can measure his if he hasn't installed it yet. If not, I'll see what I can do (I risk bending my M1 side panels and breaking the retention clips every time I open the case, so I try to go months before doing so). And I think my card would have to blow up before I try to take it completely back out of the case again :D

Based on this picture (LINK) and current hands-on measurements of 12.1cm in height, less 10.6cm for standard height (LINK). The distance in your picture *should* be ~1.5cm..

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And if that's already cutting it close, then don't forget that the 8-pin power connector and wires will be adding at least another 1.5 to 2cm beyond that..

YVTDD43.jpg
 
@AFD

Thanks for your excellent work Sherlock :p
Yes I forgot about power connector....it is definitely no go for me...
 
AFD said:
Dang! Would've saved $28 had I only waited 5 days.. plus I had to pull teeth to get my damn free game from them :rolleyes: Gonna see if they honor their Iron Egg guarantee.
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Well, sent an email to their Iron Egg dept on Sunday, but never heard anything back. Waited half an hour in chat and the lady just resent my original invoice and then disconnected the session. Waited another half and hour, and the next guy said he'd send me a $20 gift card to cover the difference.

Haven't gotten any confirmation of such a thing, so not sure if I'll actually get it. EDIT: Got it!
 
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My Galax card is in customs. Exciting! I'll post pictures and whatnot once I get it.
 
I'm considering this card, and I plan on getting a Corsair 250D. It seems that the full size Gigabyte card will fit though? So, is this ITX not necessary in the 250D? What do I gain?
 
Urraca said:
I'm considering this card, and I plan on getting a Corsair 250D. It seems that the full size Gigabyte card will fit though? So, is this ITX not necessary in the 250D? What do I gain?
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What do you gain by using a smaller card in a case that can fit a full-size reference 980?

Not much, I suppose. A little extra room for stuffing excess cables, allowing airflow to other components, or possibly an additional fan or hard drive, depending on the case. And you could always use the ITX card in a smaller HTPC case down the road, if you ever plan to upgrade to a 980, 990 or whatever.

Or alternatively, you can just buy a more powerful 980 or slightly quieter designed 970 in a full size card.
 
Urraca said:
I'm considering this card, and I plan on getting a Corsair 250D. It seems that the full size Gigabyte card will fit though? So, is this ITX not necessary in the 250D? What do I gain?
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The Corsair 250D is an odd case. You could try the SG05, Raijintek Metis or Lian-li Q33 for something more suited to the SFF.
 
tuan2195 said:
How hot is this Gigabyte card underload? I don't know but I feel like the GTX970 is not gonna fare so well with such a tiny cooler.
And Evil Scooter, do you really have a load temp of 37 C? How cold is it where you are living? :eek:
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I cheated, I installed an EK water block. :p Since that statement and I've gottena much larger sample. I've seen the temp as "high" as 42c after playing for a few hours straight. The 970 shares a loop with my OC'd 3770 on a 240 rad. With the fans running right at 1k I'm very happy with the results. ;)
 
Evil Scooter said:
I cheated, I installed an EK water block. :p Since that statement and I've gottena much larger sample. I've seen the temp as "high" as 42c after playing for a few hours straight. The 970 shares a loop with my OC'd 3770 on a 240 rad. With the fans running right at 1k I'm very happy with the results. ;)
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Which block did you use?
 
That's some bravery you have there. I cheaped out and put a Antec 620 on my GTX970 and temp is about 52 on load. Granted, that was with a hefty OC (1550 MHz) but I am pretty happy with the result.
 
itschop said:
Anyone know if evga or asus will be releasing similar products?
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There were rumors of an ASUS 970 ITX a while back, but nothing has been announced and I've never been able to find any credible information. One of the reps at the EVGA forums has stated that they are not currently working on one, and the MSI rep here has stated the same.

I could see ASUS maybe doing another one in the future, but based on their previous 670/760 ITX timing, it probably wouldn't be out til spring/summer (and like their 760 ITX, might not even be available in the US at all).
 
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