The availability of increasingly powerful computer graphics cards is placing ever-greater demands on keeping things cool “under the hood”. Certain to have gaming enthusiasts sitting up and taking notice is BFG Technologies' announcement of the release of two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 200 series graphics cards featuring their built-in liquid cooling solutions. Designed to be installed “out of the box and maintenance-free”, the GTX 285 H20+ and GTX 295 H20C offer high performance water-cooled video cards without the fuss.
While the liquid cooling of graphics cards is recognized as being more efficient than air cooling, up until now it has posed more of a potential hazard to a user’s computer. The necessity for fiddly assembly and regular maintenance has meant that the margin for error, and subsequently a fried system, has been a serious possibility. The GTX 285 H20+ and GTX 295 H20C, featuring a cooling system designed by CoolIT Systems, are designed to be self-contained, never requiring refilling or additional components.
Both new cards feature BFG’s Thermointelligence Advanced Cooling Solution which, using a fan, radiator and pump assembly, pushes coolant across the GPU and exhausts heat outside of the computer's chassis. By doing this it aims to reduce temperatures in the unit by up to 30°C (86°F) during high performance. Three speed settings – Auto, Quiet and Maximum – offer the user control over acoustics and performance.
Specs wise, the GTX 295 H20C will offer a 675MHz core clockspeed, with a 2214MHz memory data rate, and a 1458 shader clockspeed. Comparatively, the GTX 285 H20+ runs at 691MHz, with a 2592MHz memory data rate and a shader clockspeed of1566MHz.
Available this month, pricing for the units is yet to be released.
The BFG Technologies website has more details.
Via Ubergizmo.
