Abit offers cooler, cheaper graphics...

 

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Posted on 13 Sep 2002 at 17:19

...Given a fair wind.

And wind is exactly what you can expect from Abit's OTES (Outside Thermal Exhaust System) VGA graphics card.

The card uses cooling technology found in notebooks which offers a 15 per cent temperature reduction. The patent-pending system vacuum seals the nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200 graphic chip over a copper base, while a 7,200rpm fan draws hot air away and out of the computer.

Why should you care about this? Because it's an overclocker's dream. With the overclocking software tools supplied with the card you can easily push the performance to that of a Ti4600 chip, claims Abit. But although no definite price has been set, we were told by Scott Thirwell, Abit's Marketing Development Consultant, that it is likely to sell for less than £150 when it is launched here on 23 Sept. Typically a GeForce4 Ti4600 costs around the £300 mark.

While overclocking is an esoteric discipline, we are told that the card will come with one of two versions of the accompanying software overclocking tools: a simple set of tools that make it easier for consumers to adjust overclocking settings, and a more sophisticated set for experts that offer more tweaking options.

And so while the card will be available through Abit's usual channels, such as Scan, it is talking about selling it through Dixons and it may also turn up in Mesh computers.

nVidia is, according to Thirwell, perfectly content with the idea that Abit will be offering Ti4600 performance at half the price and even showed the 3Dmark results of the OTES, demonstrating its superior performance, during one of its own presentations.

Abit also plans to bring out OTES versions of the higher classed chips in the future and expects to be one of the strongest VGA card manufacturers by the end of this year. For more information visit Abit.com.

Author: Matt Whipp