14 DAY TRIAL // Over the past couple of weeks, NVIDIA's partners managed to come out and show off their respective custom versions of the GeForce GTX 470, all of which focus on resolving one of its two main disadvantages, namely high operational temperature. In all cases, manufacturers used a different cooler to achieve this goal, with various degrees of success. Now, Inno3D is getting ready to bring out its own solution, which will reportedly provide a significant overclocking potential compared to competing devices.
The video controller is known as the Inno3D GeForce GTX 470 Hawk and has the same clock speeds as the original, though a factory overclocked version may also come in the future. This means that the actual reduction in temperature and the noise output will be the only two factors that will positively influence the adapter's marketing performance, while size will likely prove to be a disadvantage.
The GTX 470 Hawk uses a triple-slot, massive cooler that has five heatpipes and three fans. This makes the entire product take up three PCI slots, which may prove somewhat aggravating for those that want to use two-way or three-way SLI setups. The Hawk will also lose face in front of its challengers because it doesn't come factory-overclocked. Still, the large heatsink and three PWM 9mm fans (running at 900 to 2000RPM) do bring a real improvement to heat dissipation, allowing the card to function 22 degrees cooler.
Inno3D's cooling solution, if anything, definitely confers a better overclocking potential upon the GTX 470, an advantage that becomes all the sweeter knowing the sound output is also decent (18 to 29dBa). Unfortunately, the reports did not include any hint as to when the official announcement will be made, or how much the product will cost, though the final price will likely be about $30 to $50 higher than that of NVIDIA's offer.