14 DAY TRIAL // Usually, only low-end CPUs (central processing units) and GPUs (graphics processing units) can be passively cooled, but there are exceptions, like the Radeon R9 270 PowerColor has just revealed.
Well, that's not altogether accurate because PowerColor has not, in fact, revealed its new Radeon R9 270 video adapter.
The company has built it and started shipping it to retailers, but it hasn't announced it yet.
Fortunately for us, online stores, or some of them, were quick to list the item, like Alternate.de and Overclockers.uk.
The latter is the only one that managed to acquire a photograph of the device as well, so you can see the large cooler in all its glory.
The PowerColor AMD Radeon R9 270 has some heatpipes (probably made of nickel-plated copper) spreading heat through an aluminum heatsink (a pretty gigantic one too).
The GPU works at 900 MHz and connects to 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM (clock of 5600 MHz) through an interface of 256 bits.
Two 6-pin power connectors provide the board with sufficient energy to function, while a DVI port, DisplayPort and HDMI interfaces are ready to stream to any monitor or HDTV. Even more than one at once.
That's pretty much everything we know about the card, not counting the price of €180 / $180 - $243 / £149.99. No clue when sales will start in the United States.
Then again, we don't really know for sure when shipments will begin in Europe either, officially anyway. Alternate.de and Overclockers.uk already have the adapter in stock, but they're, technically, not supposed to have it up for order yet.
And yet they do. Maybe we'll see other shops adding the card to their own product supply lists in the near future. Check with your local retailer if you're in the market for something like this. The fanless R9 270 can be a great fit for, say, HTPCs that also have good game performance.