A Closer Look – Tear Down
Tearing the card down is pretty easy with 2 screws holding the backplate onto the heatsink, while the 4 surrounding the GPU core pass through the PCB, allowing the heatsink to essentially sandwich on top of the core.
Once this has been removed, it really gives you a much better idea as to how tiny the PCB is, coming in at just a 144mm which is something we’ve grown to expect on the latest generation of NVIDIA based graphics cards, but considering this one has such a large cooler in comparison, it does look a bit overkill, especially as we see the PCB has a lot of blank space on it between the core components and the MCU that’s capable of handling the RGB lighting for the card.
There are some more screws holding the fan shroud to the heatsink, which makes it easier for cleaning if that’s what you’re hoping to do, but I’m sure that isn’t the intention.
The heatsink spans the full length of the card and includes 4 copper heatpipes that pass through the GPU’s coldplate, which makes direct contact, albeit slightly off-centre to the GPU core.
The plate surrounding this makes contact with the memory ICs and some of the circuitry, but there’s also some smaller area on the heatsink that are separate from this that also helps to assist in cooling the power delivery system.
Another look at the backplate shows that it’s not all for show, even with that extra lighting, but instead, features two heatpads for transferring heat away from the memory on the rear of the PCB.
For power, the card uses a 5+2 setup with Vishay SIC653A DrMOS 50A phases for the GPU core in collaboration with the Alpha and Omega AOZ73004CQI controller and uses Sinopower SM7341EKH dual N-channel MOSFETS for the memory, which are typically rated for up to 44A each and operate under the uPI Semiconductor uP7222 DC-DC buck controller.
There’s also a GStek GS9221 synchronous buck converter, rated for output current of 6A, though this is likely used for other auxiliary power on the card or for the I/O voltage rail for the GDDR7 memory chips.
Speaking of the memory, there are four 2GB GDDR7 ICs on the front of the card, and another four on the rear in a stacked formation and are made by Samsung with K4VAF325ZC-SC28 markings, like we’ve seen on other 50 series GPUs from a variety of AIB partners. Due to the size of the PCB in relation to the cooling solution, I’m expecting good things from this card in that department, but first, let’s talk about the overclock.
