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Computer manufacturer Asus announced the launch of the GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini, a compact high-performance graphics card designed for small-form-factor PCs with mini ITX motherboards.
Mini ITX boards can often be passively cooled due to their low-power-consumption architecture, which makes them useful for home theater PC systems, where fan noise can detract from the cinema experience. The GTX 670 uses an exclusive DirectCU thermal design that combines a heat-spreading vapor chamber and the CoolTech Fan, which provides wide-angle airflow and venting to cool critical graphics card components.
Super Alloy Power capacitors, chokes and metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) are hardened against heat and stress, averaging 2.5 times the lifespan of generic parts, according to a company release, while the card uses Direct Power technology to bridge power delivery components and the GPU for a cleaner and more efficient power supply.
The dual-slot card, which measures just 17cm, features the Nvidia GTX 670 graphics processing unit (GPU) for DirectX 11.1-compatible gaming.
Asus has redesigned the DirectCU cooler to fit small-form-factor cases and introduced a copper vapor chamber placed directly on top of the GPU for faster heat spreading and dispersal with 20 percent lower temperatures.
In addition, graphics card tuning utility GPU Tweak is bundled with the GTX 670 DirectCU Mini, which provides users with an intuitive interface designed to make changing core and clock frequencies, fan speeds, voltages and power consumption targets easier. Game-specific profiles can also be created—which, combined with overclocking, help LAN players maximize performance while locked in competition.
Rounding out the hardware elements is a DirectCU thermal design that combines a heat-spreading vapor chamber and the CoolTech Fan, which provides wide-angle airflow and venting to cool critical graphics card components.
Earlier this week Nvidia announced a family of chips that feature the company’s GPU Boost 2.0 technology, which intelligently adjusts GPU clock speed to maximize graphics performance. The chips also feature the company’s Optimus technology, which enables extra-long battery life by switching the GPU on and off so it runs only when needed, and GeForce Experience software, which adjusts in-game settings for the best performance and visual quality specific to a user’s notebook and keeps GeForce drivers up-to-date.
The lineup of Nvidia GeForce 700M GPUs includes the GeForce GT 750M, GeForce GT 745M and GeForce GT 740M GPUs for the performance segment, as a well as GeForce GT 735M and GeForce GT 720M GPUs for the mainstream segment. A company release said notebook manufacturers, including Asus, plan to introduce notebooks with GPU Boost 2.0 technology.