From all of the GTX 770 and 780 cards that we’ve seen lately, the Gainward GTX 770 Phantom is certainly the most interesting looking as from a first glance it seems as though the card doesn’t have any active cooling solution, but due to the Phantom design, the fans are actually hidden behind the front of the cooler. The front of the cooler incorporates a large heatsink solution with a black plastic shrouding around it with Gainward and Phantom branding. The card includes three fans which are fully removable and can be seen along the top of the card with three small dials to remove them.
Taking a look from this view, we can see how the fans are removed from behind the heatsink. You can also see that the complete cooling solution spans across the whole card and is actually larger than the PCB due to the bracket which fixes the cooler to the card. The fans are easily removed for cleaning and all feature Gainward branding on the top of the fan brackets adding to the overall design of the card.
We can also see two SLI connectors for those wanting to partake in multi-GPU technology by pairing this card up with other GTX 770 graphics cards.
Another part of the cooling solution on this card is the heatpipe technology which includes a total of 5 heatpipes which all transfer heat to various parts of the large heatsink above.
While the GPU core is very important, the memory is just as important and keeping it cool is a necessity. Therefore, we find a small, low-profile finned heatsink to cover over the memory ICs.
Power wise, we find an eight pin PCI-Express power connector, and a six-pin PCI-Express power connector. This is usual for a GTX 770, which shows us that the extra cooling performance doesn’t require any extra power to run it.
As you can see from this view, the cooler does protrude over the I/O meaning that it may cause some obstructions with any other expansion cards that you may have. Connectivity wise, we have two DVI connectors (DVI-I and DVI-D) as well as a single DisplayPort and HDMI connector. Also on the I/O, there are ventilation slots to help dissipate heat out of the rear of your chassis.
Comparing this card against a reference GTX 770 from Nvidia, we can see that they GPU clock has been increased by quite a margin from 1046MHz to 1150MHz, therefore increasing the boost clock from 1085MHz to 1202MHz. Gainward (though they included a heatsink for the memory) have decided to stick with a stock memory clock of 1753MHz. All other specifications remain the same with 2GB of memory, but it is worth noting that Gainward also manufacture a 4GB version of this very card for those needing more VRAM in intensive games such as Skyrim with its large maps and textures.
Beautiful looking!
I haven’t seen a Gainward product for donkey years now, I almost forgot they existed.
Gainward are actually one of the biggest brands in the entire market as they are a joint brand with Palit – http://www.eteknix.com/asus-knocked-off-top-graphics-card-vendor-pedestal-by-palit-and-pc-partner/
So I believe. Their graphics cards were a very common sight here years ago, now we only see them sporadically at some e-tailers unlike the big names such as Gigabyte, EVGA, MSI & Asus which you can practically pick up at you local barber shop.
You have never seen a Gainward card? They have been around for ages and are always very good. Find this hard to believe!
I haven’t either there not sold in certain countries that’s why. I can fin most other brands easily except theirs..
Oh, God! Thank you eTeknix! I finally decide, what video card I need and want.
What do you mean by “Stock Memory Speeds” as a con? Is it lower than others?
Good review, thanks! I’ve never seen that brand here in the US.
My Phantom in the games goes to 2000rpm+ its normal?
Hey.. you clocked it, yes .. but, what is the temps saing, when you play the game ??
I discussed about the phantom on the msi twinfrozr page. I bought it a couple of weeks ago, and it is an awesome card. The phantom is really silent up until the 40% fan use. From then, it is as audible as my cpu fan when put at 2500rpm. Starting from 60-70%, you start to really hear it, but it’s still nothing compared to other cards or when you insert a CD.
As for overclocking, i managed with air cooling to push it to 1,190Mhz of clock, and 1,773 Mhz of memory
, which is close to what @RyanTheGerman:disqus expected of it, so either i’m a second silicon lottery lucky, or the card is really good. With 100% fan speed, on 3Dmark Vantage demostration (performance) bench, i never get above 64C°. (The score? between 37998 and 39374 for GPU). One weird thing, checking with afterburner, i notice that i never reach 100% GPU usage…? So i still have room for improvement, but i suck at OC so i’ll keep it at that 😛
Thanks again Ryan for your advices, and hope my post will help!