EVGA GeForce GTX 280 1GB Superclocked Review

The GTX 280 Heatsink

The underside of the GTX 280 heatsink is reminiscent of the older G80 style units with a large copper base plate and an aluminum heat spreader which makes direct contact with the ram modules, VRMs and NVIO chip. In true Nvidia fashion, there is a copious amount of thermal compound between the IHS and the copper base which is actually quite sticky as well.

Unlike other Nvidia coolers we have seen in the past, the copper contact plate on this one is polished to a shine and even though it shows some minor tooling marks it is of very good quality.


Once the shroud is removed it is apparent that the G200 core needs some serious cooling. The copper base is attached to three large 8mm heatpipes which run up to the aluminum fins in order to quickly disperse the heat generated by the core. The end of one of the heatpipes is also attached to the black metal runner that runs the length of the card to disperse yet more heat. It is actually quite amazing to see the amount of engineering that has gone into this heatsink.


The fan used on this card is an 80mm unit Protechnic Magic unit which we could not find the official ratings for. As has already been mentioned, it is directed downwards towards the base of the cooler in order to clear the capacitors and move more air across the bottom of the aluminum fins.

Aftermarket Heatsink Installation

Usually we show you some aftermarket installation and performance in our reviews but unfortunately you will have to do without anything that interesting this time around. This is due to the fact that every GPU heatsink we have refused to fit around the massive space the core takes up.


In our collection of coolers we have a Thermalright HR03 GT (for G92 and RV670 cards) and an HR03 PLUS (for G80 cards). These pretty much cover the widest heatsink mounting hole offsets and unfortunately neither would fit in any set of holes around the core. Above and to the left you can see the HR03 GT which is a far too small to clear pretty much of anything around the IHS and the mounting plate for the PLUS (above right) was only slightly off but no amount of coaxing could get it to fit.

So, what does this tell us? I’ll go out on a limb here and say that there isn’t a single air cooler on the market today which will fit this card and offer adequate cooling. Water blocks are another matter but judging from the extremely wide offset of the holes (wider than that on a G80), I would venture that none of these will fit either without new retention brackets being made available. Hopefully the likes of Swiftech with their universal MCW60 and D-TEK’s Fuzion GFX will soon get affordable mounting plates for this card.