Gigabyte Launches First GeForce GTX 970 mITX Graphics Card

Gigabyte is no stranger in being first at things and this time they are the first to release a mini ITX version of the new Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 card. Everyone was impressed with the performance of the new GeForce 9 series, especially considering the low TDP. Maybe this is what inspired Gigabyte to create this compact powerhouse.

The new graphics card aimed at mITX builders still features the full height of a normal card but has reduced the length to about 17cm, the size that a micro-ITX board has.

The VRM circuitry must have received a reduction as the card only requires a single 8-pin PCI-Express power connector to run. Even with the reduced power, it still comes with a slight factory overclock. It is running at a 1076 MHZ base frequency and has a boost up to 1216 MHz. The reference Nvidia GTX 970 runs at 1051 and 1178 MHz as comparison.

Gigabyte’s card is only 12 cm wide in its dual-slot design and has the usual connections of three DisplayPort, two DVI ports and one HDMI. The cooler used by Gigabyte looks like a mini version of the WindForce 3X cooler, except that it only has one 100mm fan instead of three. The heat is transferred to the aluminium fin array by two 8mm and one 5mm heat pipes.

The first numbers provided impress just as much as the size. The card is said to be running at about 62 degrees during the Metro Last Light benchmark where the reference card runs up to 76 degrees.

The best of all, Gigabyte also gave this small card a small price-tag. The MSRP of the Gigabyte GTX 970 Mini (GV-N970IXOC-4GD) is set to $329.99, which is the same as the reference card from Nvidia. That’s a pretty good deal if you ask me, a better and smaller card at the same price. Users should keep in mind that the overclock potential on these cards might be smaller due to the reduced VRM and power supply.

Thanks to Tom’s Hardware for providing us with this information

Images courtesy of Tom’s Hardware