Check Out This GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Modded To A Dual-Slot Mini ITX Graphics Card
by
Thiago Trevisan
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Thursday, January 11, 2024, 11:55 AM EDT
If you've been following the CES 2024 action with NVIDIA's latest GPU announcements, such as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super, you'll know how powerful these high-end GPUs can be. Powerful also translates to needing large air coolers to tame the heat of the needed power output. While the current GeForce RTX 4070 Ti has been outshined by its new variant, modding enthusiast Tech Taxi on Reddit has shrunk this mighty GPU into a two-slot beast.
Coming in at 173mm long and 41.5mm thick, this dual-slot incarnation allows this 285 watt GPU to fit into small mini-ITX enclosures. The first concern here is of course thermals, as the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti originally comes with some substantial air coolers when stock. Tech Taxi remarks that undervolting and doing similar tweaks to keep thermals in check will be important to undertake.
A stock GeForce 4070 Ti with its bulky cooler
While this is clearly a prototype project, Tech Taxi had previously done a similar modification to a GeForce RTX 4080 that proved successful with acceptable thermals. While not as potent, the AD104 GPU in the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is still no slouch, with some capable performance at resolutions such as 1440p.
Technologies such as NVIDIA's DLSS 3 with frame generation, will drop power draw when used in supported games. This can can help keep the thermals in check for this diminutive package, while making sure frame rates stay at acceptable levels.
PC enthusiasts who water cool their GPUs have known about how smaller PCBs can be made to fit into much more restrictive spaces when their original air coolers are removed. Having the benefit of GPU water blocks and liquid cooled systems is an entirely different ballgame than what Tech Taxi has attempted here, however.
Air cooled GPUs will struggle for proper airflow when placed inside small-form factor PC cases, unless great care is taken to ensure adequate clearance. Couple this with a two-slot design with a drastic reduction in fans to a singular one, and the challenge becomes more demanding requiring further software tweaking.
Alternatively, if this prototype proves unsatisfactory in terms of thermals, the next step down with a stock air cooled GPU will likely fall to the GeForce RTX 4070 model such as the Founders Edition design.
