Gainward’s Phantom GTX 680 pictured

The Phantom is Gainward’s signature top of the range non reference cooler design. Gainward first introduced this cooler back when Nvidia launched the last generation GTX 500 series cards and the Phantom cooler debuted successfully on the GTX 580. The Phantom uses a really quite unique looking design for a high performance card. Unlike most brands who would go with the the “GPU + Heat Pipes + Heat Sink + Fans” structure Gainward’s Phantom design reverses the latter 2 so you end up with the fans underneath the Heat sink arrangement blowing hot air from the GPU into the heatsinks where it is dissipated. To shift the initial heat you get give 8mm nickel plated heat pipes.

We will have to wait and see for the reviews at what kind of temperatures and acoustics this card gives but what seems like an interesting prospect is that you could add an extra two set of fans on the outer heatsink and in essence have a “Push-Pull” graphics card cooler which would in theory give substantially better performance than most other air cooled GTX 680s on the market. But if Gainward’s GTX 680 Phantom just isn’t for you there are surely to be plenty of other custom cooled GTX 680s, most people are probably looking forward to the ASUS Direct CU II GTX 680.

Source: TweakTown