| | | Author: SKYMTL
Date: March 21, 2012
Product Name: GeForce GTX 680 2GB
| | | Under the Heatsink
Once the GTX 680’s lid is popped off, we can see cooling setup that’s reminiscent of the GTX 580’s since it sports a large fin array over a copper vapor chamber and a beveled exhaust area which should help decrease air turbulence. There is also a long back aluminum support brace that morphs into a VRM heatsink for added heat dissipation.
The rearmost portion of NVIDIA’s GTX 680 holds the fan while the components for the 4-phase digital PWM are pushed off to one side. This is a unique design that works in tandem with the stacked power connectors to decrease the card’s overall length and offers more direct airflow over the hot running power distribution network.
Once the heatsink is removed, it becomes increasingly clear how NVIDIA is eschewing past designs here. Not only is the core devoid of the large IHS of yesteryear but there’s also an option for a third 6-pin PCI-E power connector, should higher clocked versions ever become a reality. We should also mention that the GDDR5 receives its own dedicated dual phase power setup.
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