- Joined
- Jan 13, 2010
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- 2,830
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- Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
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- i7-3770K @4.2-4.4GHz
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- GTX 660 Ti
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We know that many of you are looking to build low noise systems and Zotac has announced a pair of new passively cooled cards that might just be what you’ve been waiting for. Although the support for Nvidia’s GeForce 600-series isn’t quite there yet, we’re expecting improved support in the next release of OS X from Apple.
The two new cards are the GeForce GT 630 Zone Edition and the GT 640 Zone Edition. The GT 640 Zone Edition has its GPU clocked at the same speed as Nvidia’s reference cards, but the memory appears to be running slightly slower at 1,782MHz vs. 1,800MHz. The GT 630 Zone Edition on the other hand is clocked at a mere 750MHz for the GPU compared to 810MHz for the reference cards which results in a slower 1,500MHz shader clock. The memory is also clocked slower at 1,333MHz vs. 1,800MHz for the reference cards (note that the GeForce GT 630 is using the older Fermi architecture).
Both cards sport a pair of DVI ports, as well as a mini HDMI port. However, the interesting part is the passive cooling which means that you’re looking at zero fan noise from either card. The GeForce GT 630 Zone Edition uses a fairly large aluminum heatsink that stretches over the top and covers a part of the rear of the card. The GeForce GT 640 Zone Edition is using a more sophisticated cooling with three heatpipes that connects to a rather large heatsink that covers the entire card as well as protruding from the back of the card, making it slightly longer than an actively cooled GeForce GT 640 card. Note that both cards are taller than your average equivalent card with active cooling thanks to the larger heatinks and as such they might be unsuitable for smaller chassis.
No word on pricing or availability as yet, but both cards are expected to be available shortly.
Source: Zotac
Source: Zotac
