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ASUS reveals the GeForce GTX 970 DirectCU Mini

by Mark Tyson on 1 December 2014, 10:20

Tags: ASUSTeK (TPE:2357), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacl7j

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ASUS has listed a new GeForce GTX 970 based graphics card over the weekend. This model will be particularly interesting to those who use or are going to be building a small form factor PC but want the best graphics card they can, to fit in the confined space available. The ASUS GeForce GTX 970 DirectCU Mini is the firm's first mini-ITX friendly graphics card employing an Nvidia GeForce GTX 900 series GPU and is just 17cm in length.

Graphics card watchers will probably recognise the cooler and overall look of this new graphics cards as being akin to the ASUS GTX 760 DirectCU Mini and GTX 670 DirectCU Mini graphics cards. Like those cards ASUS promises better, quieter cooling, the "DirectCU Mini with vapor chamber offers 20% cooler and Vastly quieter performance," we are told.

GTX970-DCMOC-4GD5 specs

  • Engine Clock: GPU Boost Clock : 1228 MHz, GPU Base Clock : 1088 MHz
  • CUDA Cores: 1664
  • Memory Clock: 7010 MHz ( GDDR5 )
  • Memory Interface: 256-bit
  • Interface: DVI Output : Yes x 1 (DVI-I), Yes x 1 (DVI-D), HDMI Output : Yes x 1 (HDMI 2.0), Display Port : Yes x 1 (Regular DP), HDCP Support : Yes
  • Software: ASUS GPU Tweak & Driver
  • Dimensions: 17 x 12.19 x 4.07cm (6.7" x 4.8" x 1.6")

So thanks to the qualities of the DirectCU cooler buyers will even enjoy a modest factory overclock from this compact graphics card. Meanwhile memory is clocked at the reference standard 7GHz. To provide power to the GPU ASUS has equipped the card with a single 8-pin power connector. ASUS also preferred this configuration, over dual 6-pin power connectors, in other models like its GeForce GTX 970 Strix.

It's good to see that despite its diminutive form factor you still get a full bevy of display connection outputs to make use of. ASUS would also like to point out that this card uses premium alloy components for efficiency and reliability. On the software side of things you get GPU Tweak and its partner real-time streaming utility.

We don't have any info about availability or pricing and ASUS hasn't put out a press release about this wee beastie as yet, it was spotted by the eagle eyed guys from PC Perspective.



HEXUS Forums :: 11 Comments

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Please someone produce a water cooling block for this. I could then build an extremely small watercooled PC using a 180x180 radiator
Cool and cute, but there really aren't many cases that take advantage of this. Coolermaster 110 is one but generally the itx cases tend to support full length
Can't believe you can squeeze an overclocked 970 in a mini-ITX footprint! :surprised:

krazy_olie
Cool and cute, but there really aren't many cases that take advantage of this. Coolermaster 110 is one but generally the itx cases tend to support full length

True, but even in some of the cases that do support full-length there's a benefit to having a shorter graphics card. For example, I've currently got a full-size GTX 660ti in my Sugo SG05 and it makes the routing for the hoses on my all-in-one water cooler a nightmare! Could hugely simplify things if I had a shorter graphics card like this, which would greatly improve overall airflow.

Now if only I could actually afford the darn thing…
Hmm, Gigabyte's 970 ITX card only has one 8 pin power socket. It also doesn't have a backplate and has a more traditional heatpipe cooler design. It'll be interesting to see which is better.
I'm in love! That thing would be so awesome with a watercooling setup…or a teeny-tiny SLI setup as well XD