Hardware Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 275 Review

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/07/15/inno3d-ichill-geforce-gtx-275-review/1

Inno3D have taken Nvidia's GTX 275 and combined it with a huge 12" long custom cooler to create its latest iChill graphics card. Does the beast of a cooler lead to an equally beasty performance boost? We ease this footlong monster into our testing rig and find out.

 

Holy mother of god!

 

On the Crysis page you put "MSI GTX 285 HydroGen OC" scores instead of the Inno3D card. Second down.

 

I want that graphics card cooler..

 

It would be much cheaper to just slap on the cooler yourself.

Interestingly the cheapest GTX275 is over in the US is 124 pounds.

 

lol not everyone buys cards with non reference coolers for overclocking, I don't care much for VGA card OCing because it's mostly never a decent boost in performance for high end cards, I just don't want my card running at 80C but yeah it's fairly overpriced, for that performance I'd just get a 4850X2 for £134 (latest scanshot) and get some aftermarket coolers for each GPU (thank you thermalright ).

 

There's no reason why it can't run at 80C as long as it has a good warranty, it's very quiet and it does not affect stability - that's how Nvidia designs its cards. Temp only affects overclocking and as long as you're not overclocking you'll probably be more concerned with keeping the noise down. The IChill is better under load, without doubt, but at idle the stock cooler is already very quiet.

 

I'm a believer in higher heat = less life span so that's why I choose heat over anything, I think it's unacceptable that nvidia and amd release products that reach 80C+ but I would just buy a cheap stock card and put the cooler on it anyway.

 

I'm confused. Is that a criticism of the Palit/Gainward GTX275 or the opposite? I'd always had the impression you liked how they customized the card.

 

It was cost down. The power circuitry was minimised for less overclocks but it was also lower power and cooler too (because it took more space).

 

So unless I would want to overclock the Palit it's still one of the GTX275 cards best to get? Shame you didn't test the Palit against the Inno3D with regards to heat and noise (performance-wise I don't think there's too much to gain).

 

something on the brain, rich?

 

I would much rather have cheaper and better overclocking reference 275s than this hulking monstrosity. What is it with these third party coolers and lack of memory cooling?? Its all very well with the GPU in the 30's at load, but it cannot be good for the VRAM to get low second hand airflow.

In fact there is no way that would fit inside my Antec 902.

 

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to notice

 

I got one of these accelero Xtremes for my old 8800GTX and it was awesome. It wasn't too hard to fit either so maybe given the cost of this you'd be better off finding a cheap stock 275 and buying the cooler separately. I imagine that would make the price/performance ratio a little more favourable

 

You could use the card as the basis for a voltage mod article.. or do you have to give the card to somebody else? too bad really, for something that elaborate.

 

That is fast!!!

 

lol....Article published on the 15th of July, click on the link to Ebuyer's website and they have already discontinued it and it's no longer available for sale!!

What gives??

 

Inno3D UK distribution Failure.

We held off on the review because they promised UK availability. Eventually Ebuyer listed it.. pending stock, which Inno said would be available at the time of the review going live. It seems Ebuyer decided not to restock after selling the small batch they got.

Fixed ta.

 

Bah!!

Been waiting for a GTX275 with a customer cooler to surface in the UK.
Zotac , TwinTech and Galaxy are all offering the GTX275 with the AC Cooler pre-fitted, but I can't source one in the UK!

Guess I'll just have to bite the bullet, get an Asus from Scan for £150 and slap the cooler on myself. Will save a few quid too....I'm just bone idle!!