ASUS Shows Off GTX 670 DirectCU Mini Video Card

Updated: March 8, 2013

For a while, the word SFF actually had a meaning and a direction, but somewhere the Small Form Factor PC really never took off the way the industry thought it would. Now once again we see companies trying to make things smaller and although it is a grand idea so far it has had a lackluster effect on the market and users at large. Intel released their NUC and maybe some people feel like that was giant technology leap, but to me its just more of the same routine of un-powerful platforms meant for general PC usage.

Some companies have some very flexible Mini-ITX motherboards that actually support higher-end CPUs and have the flexibility to actually be made into a pretty decent gaming rig. The main problem has always been how to get that giant ass video card in that small case as nine times out of ten just too long to fit into most of those enclosures. ASUS wants to solve the dilemma of having to choose either a big heavy case or sacrificing their VGA prowess by way of a brand new ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU Mini that was first shown in the ROG forums. This will change the game field for those users wanting a small portable, and yet powerful gaming rig.

The GTX DirectCU GPU has a 17cm PCB and features a much smaller version of their cooling technology to accommodate the smaller design and in lieu of having dual 6-pin connections, there is only a single 8-pin. This does not seem to have an effect on the cards analog/digital outputs as it still has 5 connections minus a Mini Display Port to accommodate your monitor choices or multi-monitor connectivity.Right now it looks as though there is only 1 of these cards floating around the ASUS HQ being tested and the pictures being show may not be the real McCoy, but in any case this card is still a great idea that would make LAN boxes and those who love cases that can travel easily a hot commodity. So what do you think about this? To me this could be a really good step towards making SFF PCs something worth talking about. Thank for reading and let me see your comments below as your opinion count on Tech Of Tomorrow

Source: AnandTech