Gigabyte GeForce GTX 470 Super Overclock Edition Video Card Review

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 470 Close-Up

The GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 470 Super Overclock Edition breaks away from the squirrel cage cooler that many of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 graphics cards use. In fact, there is nothing on the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 470 SOC that resembles the traditional cooling used on the standard GeForce GTX 470’s. The GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 470 Super Overclock Edition takes advantage of three fans instead of the typical single squirrel cage design.

Taking a look at the back of the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 470 Super Overclock Edition we can see the circuitry that provides the 12 phase power.

Like all of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470’s the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 470 Super Overclock Edition requires a pair of 6pin PCIe power plugs and requires a minimum 550Watt power supply with 38Amps on the 12 Volt rail.

The GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 470 Super Overclock Edition features a pair of dual link DVI ports as well as a mini-HDMI port.

Removing the cooling assembly requires the removal of only the four screws that surround the GF100 core. One aspect of the cooling that I find intriguing is the lack of cooling on the memory IC’s. There is no thermal tape or paste between the cooler and the memory chips.

Once the GF100 chip is cleaned up it looks pretty good; it’s almost a shame that it has to be covered up.

The Samsung K4G10325FE-HC05 memory IC’s are rated for 1000MHz (4000MHz effective).

I was curious about these chips on the back of the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 470 Super Overclock Edition; after a bit of Googling I was able to find a statement from GIGABYTE about them.

“One of the quality components of Ultra Durable VGA+ is GIGABYTEs exclusive use of proadlizers. Unlike other leading brands that only use one proadlizer on their graphic cards, GIGABYTE generously uses five units of NEC Proadlizer, also known as film capacitor, to provide amazing current capacity up to 5000uF and extremely low ESL/ESR for super overclocking ability. Five times the regular capacitance indicates the amount of electric energy stored is fivefold. By placing five proadlizers around GPU, electric currents are able to be charged and discharged rapidly to support super overclocking activity. The quintupled proadlizers transmit more stable power even during heavy loading.”