When ASUS first launched their mini-ITX sized graphics cards, limited to 17cm for mini-ITX builds, my initial reaction was ‘why has no-one thought of this before?’. The idea has since been interpreted in a variety of ways, and this past week has seen the launch of the follow up to the 4GB GTX 970 DirectCU Mini with a 2GB GTX 960 Mini version, featuring a short cooler ideal for SFF builds. This is paired up with the Strix GTX 750 Ti 4GB with double fans at just a couple of centimetres longer than the Mini.

The GTX 960 Direct CU Mini (GTX960-MOC-2GD5) will come out of the box at 1190 MHz with an active boost up to 1253 MHz, featuring 1024 Maxwell CUDA cores and a 128-bit 2GB GDDR5 memory interface running at 7010 MHz (or 1752 MHz x 4). The card comes with three regular DisplayPort outputs, a HDMI 2.0 port and a DVI-I. Exact dimensions are listed as 170 x 122 x 40.6 mm (6.7 x 4.8 x 1.6-inch), and the card will come with GPU Tweak for overclocking as well as a 1 year XSplit Gamecaster licence.

The Strix GTX 750 Ti 4GB (STRIX-GTX750TI-DC2OC-4GD5) uses the Strix characteristic line of a DirectCU II mixed with zero-decibel fan technology which keeps the fans off under a given temperature. ASUS rates the cooler at 10ºC lower at load than the reference cooler while also claiming a 6-8% frame rate boost on games such as Watch Dogs and Battlefield 4. Exact specifications put the 640 CUDA core Maxwell card at an 1124 MHz base with 1202 MHz boost frequency, a 4GB 128-bit memory interface running at 5400 MHz (1350 MHz x 4), a regular DisplayPort, HDMI and a DVI-I. Dimensions are listed as 195.6 x 122 x 38.1 mm (7.7 x 4.8 x 1.5-inch), putting it 25.6 mm (about an inch) longer than the Mini range. Similarly the card will come with G-Sync support, GPU Tweak and this time with ASUS’ own streaming software.

As this is an announcement from over at ASUS ROG, pricing and release dates for markets are yet to be announced. Typically when the regional announcements are pushed through, dates and pricing will be mentioned. If we get this information we will update this news!

Source: ASUS ROG

 

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  • Murloc - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link

    semipassive video cards seem like a no-brainer to me, after all most people spend only a fraction of their time gaming compared to all the time wasted on the internet.
    Being video cards the noisiest component in the PC (in my experience, my pc is 6yo though so maybe it's changed in the meanwhile), this can make quite a difference.
  • MadMan007 - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link

    I don't know. I'd rather have some small amount of airflow at low load just to avoid pockets or hot air around components and extend their lifetime and reliability. A fan at very low speed (sub-800 RPM for the size of fans we're talking about here, maybe a bit lower) will be 'silent' inside a case in all but the most quiet environments.

    I may have missed it, but aside from software to change fan profiles, I think it would be nice if there was a hardware switch for a Stop Fans and Very Low Speed Fans profiles.
  • darkfalz - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link

    Case airflow should be adequate for this, and you can set custom fan curves via software. Agree that a hard switch on/off might be nice.
  • FITCamaro - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link

    I don't even hear my 7950 when it's in 2D mode since the fan is going so slow. I have mine set to ramp of fan speed with temp. But it's never really audible and I have pretty quiet fans. My PC almost makes more noise from the sheer volume of air being pushed through it.
  • meacupla - Thursday, February 19, 2015 - link

    On the other hand, my Asus HD7870 DCu2 is the loudest thing inside my mITX computer (that has 2x 120mm fans blowing directly at it)

    I was surprised at how quieter my main computer became after I swapped out that asus 7870 dcu2 with an MSI 970 gold, both at idle and load.
  • eek2121 - Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - link

    I purchased my 750 ti a long time ago as part of a budget PC build for a LAN party (we didn't have enough PCs) and the thing that I was most impressed with was performance vs. lack of power. Still use that graphics card on a mini ITX build to this day. Love it.
  • YoloPascual - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link

    It is 2015 now, asus is still selling 4gb vram in a 128bit bus?
  • extide - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link

    The issue has nothing to do with it being a 128-bit bus, really.
  • Oxford Guy - Saturday, February 21, 2015 - link

    Other than it being a bottleneck.
  • DigitalFreak - Tuesday, February 17, 2015 - link

    The real problem is it's a 750ti with 4GB.

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