One of the smaller, less bombastic stories to come out of Computex is that Nvidia has created a new set of SFF guidelines for graphics cards that can fit within more compact builds. These small GPUs are a big deal for builders put off by the ballooning sizes of modern graphics cards.
Nvidia’s standard keeps the cards under 50mm thick (2.5 slots in case terms), 304mm long, and 151mm tall—and Asus and Zephyr are now showing off the first cards that fit the new standard.
These SFF (“Small Form Factor”) cards still aren’t as svelte as the old one- and two-slot powerhouses from back in the day, but they should open up considerably more options for builders who want to get a polygon-pushing gaming PC into an ITX case like the Fractal Design Terra or Cooler Master NR200P.
Nvidia
Nvidia
Nvidia
Asus showed off a series of SFF cards in the RTX 40 family at the start of this month, but Tom’s Hardware says that at least some models are going on sale via international retailers. That means they should show up in US retail stores soon, too.
RTX 4060 Ti, RTX 4070, and RTX 4070 Super cards (all with base model Prime and slightly boosted Prime OC branding) were shown off. Notably, the 4070 and 4070 Super manage to cram triple-fan coolers into those dimensions. A little measuring in Photoshop says they’re 80mm each.
Zephyr
Zephyr
Zephyr
There’s also a new card from Chinese brand Zephyr of the anime girl GPU designs. This RTX 4070 ITX edition is a teeny, tiny single-fan model in the Sakura series and gets the appealing blue-and-pink-on-white colorway.
According to a post on the Chinese social network Bilibili spotted by VideoCardz.com, the adorable card is just 172mm long and 42mm thick. Sadly, the card isn’t yet on the company’s western-facing storefront… and there’s no indication of whether it might ever come there.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.