are going to be nuanced and the
differentiation in the things we
previously took for granted.
In this case, GIGABYTE, like
others has done the only thing
they could to improve on what
is essentially a great product
already. With that you get a
custom PCB, a customized
display output matrix, an HDMI
port at the front of the card, a
reworked VRM complex and
probably the most important,
a customized cooling solution.
All of this is wrapped up in
the AORUS orange, silver and
black color scheme, which is
similar in some ways to what
we used to see with the older
Overclocking boards from
GIGABYTE. The only difference
here is that it’s a subtle design
that’s been modernized to fit
this RGB phase that we are
going through. Whether that
works for you aesthetically or
not is entirely subjective. I can
say with confidence, however,
that this color scheme for the
graphics cards is the best one
AORUS has had since inception.
That aside, what you may
want to know is how does the
VRM or custom PCB help the
graphics card? Well once again,
it’s a 12+2 power phase design,
in a peculiar configuration using
phase multipliers. If you want
a more detailed breakdown,
you should definitely check out
BuildZoid’s channel on YouTube
as he dissects the VRM and
all sorts of other technical
materials.
All the things concerning the
power delivery, configuration
and its efficiencies isn’t really
important for the purposes of
this graphics card.
“How cool is the graphics
card?” however, is a better
question. This actually has a
tangible effect on noise levels
and of course performance.
This is the area in which
AORUS card performed most
admirably. Unlike the Founders
Edition, this model is unlikely to
reach that critical temp of 84’C
where the clocks and operating
voltage are adjusted to better
control the temperature. The
WindForce cooler is more than
capable of maintaining the GPU
temperature, such that the
highest performance levels are
almost always available to you.
That said, it would be something
worth celebrating if the boost
clocks during hours of heavy
gaming in a closed case were
always at 1987MHz (this was
the peak clock). Unfortunately,
it wasn’t, as it occasionally
dropped to 1967Mhz, which
remains an incredible clock
speed given that this was in a
closed environment.
Of course, closely relate to the
clock frequency is the GPU core
temperature, and the card hit a
maximum temperature of 73’C
within this toasty environment.
When using an open bench
table of some form of open air
system, the load temperatures
in such a configuration peaked
at 66’C. The difference is fairly
large, but you’d think that 73’C
isn’t really that far from the
Founder’s Edition 84’C limit.
While that is true, one would
be missing an important bit
of information, which is the
Issue 41 | 2017 The OverClocker 31