EVGA GeForce GTX 470 Superclocked+ Review Comment Thread

[SKYMTL]

As NVIDIA's GTX 400 series gradually matures, board partners are beginning to release their own custom and overclocked versions of the GTX 470. In this review we take a look at EVGA's Superclocked+ that not only offers increased clock speeds but also introduces a simple yet innovative way of dropping the card's temperatures....

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[_dangtx_]

nice. that cooling solution tough...

[Zero82z]

The reasoning behind this is quite simple: a PCB is an inefficient heat conductor

PCBs actually conduct heat very well due to their copper layers. ASUS takes advantage of this fact with their Stack Cool technology (extra copper layers added to further increase heat dissipation throughout the PCB).

[MpG]

Originally Posted by Zero82z

PCBs actually conduct heat very well due to their copper layers. ASUS takes advantage of this fact with their Stack Cool technology (extra copper layers added to further increase heat dissipation throughout the PCB).

That's a bit of a technicality though, since the epoxy resin (or whatever is actually used) isn't that good of a conductor, only the copper attached to it is, and methods like Stack-cool, or GB's 2oz campaign specifically involve adding more metal. And the busier the pathways, the less copper is left to do useful conducting. This is pretty much the logical step for cooling purposes - just stick a big metal plate where the air will hit it directly.

On a related note - I assume there's some thermal tape underneath that plate? How far does it extend? Just over the central core itself?

[Dr_BenD_over]

I guess it doesn't take much of an overclock to get the superclocked+ name now-a-days

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by MpG

On a related note - I assume there's some thermal tape underneath that plate? How far does it extend? Just over the central core itself?

There is a tin thermal pad directly behind the core.

[Smoothie]

Not bad, I would get this. I think for an extra $10 its worth it.

[Alwaysrun]

Great review Sky, thorough as usual.

There's always a segment of enthusiasts that rail against users who go the factory overclocked route and overclock themselves and save money but I've read that (at least with EVGA) factory OC cards are higher binned or are the creme of the crop in any given production run, so real or imagined I'd like to go with that asertion as it makes sense to me and makes me sleep better at night after paying a premium for a factory OC'd card.

The apealing thing about this card is that even after the factory OC your tests showed that the card has even more headroom over and above the stated clocks and that's just fantastic in my mind. Better cooling solution and OCs that push into the territory of the GTX 480 at well over $100 more is win in my books being a Bang for the buck kinda guy.

I do have some questions for you Sky. How easy was the plastic cover to remove? I'm thinking of removing that, keeping the backplate on and putting extra fans on the front and back of the card if possible. Also is the backplate dependent on having the front cover on or are they both afixed to the cards pcb independently?



Thanks once again Sky great review.

[SKYMTL]

It removes very easily. There are just a few clips to remove.