[section_title title=”Introduction”]
Introduction
Brand: KFA2
Model: GTX 970 OC Silent Infin8 Black Edition
Price: £299.99 @ Overclockers UK (At time of review)
It’s no secret that the NVIDIA GTX 970 has taken a lot of flak over the past couple of months with the whole “VRAM” issue but has it really been that much of a problem? Well in some regards yes but in others no; the card hasn’t degraded in performance since its release, in fact, it is slightly better with later driver revisions. Although the blunder can’t be repaired by NVIDIA regarding the separate pools of VRAM which basically has 3.5GB and 0.5GB in different areas of the card, unless you’re gaming at 1440p or 4K, you aren’t really going to get any issues. With that out of the way (I had to get that off my chest), it’s time to take a look at which product is up for review today…
Galaxy, KFA2, Galax? What does this company actually call itself these days; surely you have heard of one, maybe 2 or even all 3? Well the correct answer today is KFA2 and we have their shiny iteration of the GTX 970, the KFA2 GTX 970 OC Silent Infin8 Black Edition graphics card with 4GB of VRAM *see above* and has great out of the box clock speeds with 1178/1752MHz respectively.
With this being an Overclockers.co.uk exclusive and coming with a coil whine free guarantee, is this the perfect GTX 970 for you? A fast NVIDIA Maxwell based card out of the box is always a good thing, but speeds aren’t always the deciding factor in purchases these days; there is so much more!
The first thing that took my attention with the card was the Galax branding on the fans; talk about an identity crisis, one which I noted above. It’s hard to actually tell what they actually call themselves and it isn’t great in my opinion for a brand trying to get noticed in a market of other “big” companies such as ASUS, MSI or Gigabyte; their Hall of Fame or HOF series is, however, legendary and the most well-known of all their range.
Aside from the “identity crisis”, this particular card features a twin fan cooler design with a nickel-plated heat sink and heat pipe array; much nicer looking than bare copper in my opinion. Another thing you will also notice is that the cooler shroud and PCB of the Infin8 Black Edition card is well… black; pretty self-explanatory there!
Looking for a card with good connectivity? Well the GTX 970 Inifin8 Black Edition has 2 x Dual-link DVI ports, 1 x HDMI port and 1 x DisplayPort; this card obviously supports 4K resolution and is Direct X12 ready for those wanting a future proof graphics solution.
To power the KFA2 GTX 970 OC Silent Infin8 Black Edition, you will need 1 x 8pin and 1 x 6pin PCI-e power connectors on your power supply; the rated TDP is 150w so more than enough headroom there to increase it, it is an 8pack branded card after all!
A back plate? You betcha! The GTX 970 Infin8 Black Edition comes with a sleek looking back plate which not only gives this card oomph in the looks department, but it offers a negatable cooling advantage for the VRMs on the back of the PCB. Printed on the back is the Galax logo and a “Caution” notice informing us about the back plate being a hot surface; these can get pretty hot but why you would be touching the back plate in operation is beyond my mental prowess!
The heatsink design is a rip-off, at least in appeareance, of the Asus Direct CU II