NVIDIA Dual-GTX 470 Demoed at Computex

Before NVIDIA had unveiled its GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 480, it was assumed that the dual-GPU adapter that the Santa Clara company would eventually create would be based on the same GF100 GPU as these high-end offerings. After the launch, however, the high TDPs of them both made it almost completely clear that this would not come to pass. This hypothesis was subsequently 'confirmed' by reports that suggested a new GPU would be used instead. Galaxy, on the other hand, doesn't mind experimenting with what might have been.

As the folks over at HotHardware were kind enough to relay, Galaxy's booth at Computex had on display, among other things, a prototype of a Dual-GTX 470 video adapter. As one would expect, the device was an oversized, power-hungry and hot creature that is unlikely to ever actually become a selling product. Nevertheless, the card does, at the very least, prove that creating a Dual-GF100 isn't an impossible task.

Not many specifics were given, unfortunately. The PCB (printed circuit board) measures a full 12 inches, a size necessary to accommodate the two, large GPUs. There also seems to be a higher amount of GDDR5 VRAM than is found on the regular GTX 470. Clock speeds, of course, have not been mentioned, but Galaxy did, at the very least, confirm the previous suspicions regarding power consumption. Unsurprisingly, the TDP of this dual-Fermi is twice that of the GTX 470, namely about 430W (2 x 215W).

This very high power consumption is obviously unlikely to ever allow any sort of marketing viability. A 1200W, 80+ Certified PSU might be able to fuel its two 8-pin connectors, but it wouldn't leave room for much sophistication as far as the rest of the system is concerned. Fortunately, the 'real' dual-Fermi card, composed of two GF104 graphics processors will 'only' need 375W, as was recently reported.