EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 55nm Superclocked Edition Video Card Review

Under the Heatsink

Once the heatsink is removed from the card, we are able to get a clear look at both the IHS of the 55nm G200 B2 core as well as the 14ICs that make up the 896MB of memory.


The memory modules EVGA used are Samsung K4J52324QH-HJ1A units rated at 1.0ns at 1000Mhz SDR. This should give a bit of overclocking room but not much considering the memory is already pre-overclocked a bit above 2100Mhz already.


When comparing one card to the other, the differences become abundantly apparent; not only does the 55nm card have a shim around the IHS but the PCB itself is slightly longer by a few millimeters and there is a distinct “bulge” in it closer to the rear. There are also noticeable differences in the power distribution and voltage regulation sections due to the different electrical needs of the new core.

For those of you wondering; the mounting holes around the core are the same on the new card are as the outgoing product. Therefore, any compatible heatsinks or non-full coverage water blocks should fit without a problem. However, full cover water blocks will not be compatible due to the different layout of the VRMs.

A Look at a Changed Heatsink

It seems that even though the EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition has a 55nm core, the heatsink is still designed to take a hell of a lot of heat. This really drives the point that the huge amounts of heat generated by the 65nm G200 core were not due to its manufacturing process but rather the fact that Nvidia has packed a massive number of transistors into one small space.

Basically, this design uses copper heatpipes to move the heat away from the core towards a bank of aluminum fins which are used to disperse the heat. This process is aided with the airflow from an 80mm fan sucking in cool air and pushing it over these fins.


Now comes the interesting part; while the heatsink from the 65nm GTX 260 and the 55nm card may look the same from the outside, they are quite a bit different from one another with the 55nm’s heatsink getting the short end of the stick. The most noticeable difference is the copper contact place which is quite a bit smaller for the 55nm core even though the IHS of the new card is the same size as the outgoing card. In the upper left corner near the contact plate, you can also see that the new heatsink leaves a piece of copper heatpipe exposed.

Most of the differences can be seen in the top-down shot. As you can see, the heatpipe which touches the side of the heatsink and continues through the bottom of the cooling fins and then makes its way up and under the fan is MIA on the 55nm card. The aluminum cooling fin assembly is also smaller on the new card since it does not extend as far past the heatpipes as the one cooling the 65nm card. All in all it seems that the new heatsink is simply a castrated version of the older one which should prove to be interesting when we run our temperature testing.