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GALAX and KFA2 Katana: Single-Slot GTX 1070 GPUs Coming Soon
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GALAX and KFA2 Katana: Single-Slot GTX 1070 GPUs Coming Soon

GALAX and KFA2 have added single-slot GeForce GTX 1070 Katana video cards to their lineups, which is usually an indicator that the graphics adapters are going to hit the market shortly. The add-in-boards (AIBs) will be the only thin GTX 1070 high-end graphics cards on the market and will join a few other single-slot adapters in GALAX’s lineup.

As discussed before, when GALAX first demonstrated a prototype of its single-slot GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics card, single-slot gaming AIBs are uncommon these days because GPU developers and hardware makers use dual-slot coolers for everything with a TDP of 75 W and higher. While most of gaming desktops can accommodate at least one double-wide graphics adapter, there are systems equipped with extra add-in-boards (audio, SSD, additional SATA or Thunderbolt 3 controllers, etc.) that may require slim single-slot components as there is simply not enough space inside. For this reason, single-slot graphics cards from ELSA and now GALAX and KFA2 will find their buyers.

The GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics cards from GALAX and KFA2 are produced by Palit Microsystems, the owner of the two brands. To make the boards thinner than their counterparts, the manufacturer had to develop a custom PCB design with a 4+1-phase VRM moved towards display outputs. Such design ensures that cool air takes heat away from the GPU first and only then the air is applied to inductors, MOSFETs and capacitors of the VRM (which are sturdier). The GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics adapters run their GPUs at 1518/1708 MHz (base/boost), which is very close to NVIDIA-recommended frequencies and thus the cards only require one 8-pin PCIe auxiliary power connector.

Another key element of the adapters is their single-slot cooling system that relies on a copper radiator with a vapor chamber and a high-pressure blower. The lid of the radiator has special openings above the VRM that exhausts part of the hot air and helps to better cool-down inductors and MOSFETs. In addition, there are exhaust holes on the bracket, therefore, at least part of the hot air is blown away outside of the PC. Palit does not disclose the maximum noise level produced by its cooling system, but it is logical to expect it to be noisier than their large brethren with multiple fans and doublewide radiators.

Since the GeForce GTX 1070 Katana cards are thin, the manufacturer had to sacrifice two out of five display connectors offered by most of the GP104-based designs. The graphics adapters feature a DisplayPort 1.4, a DVI-D output and an HDMI 2.0b connector. On the other hand, as most gamers use only one monitor, three different headers will be enough for vast majority of the target audience.

GALAX and KFA2 have not announced MSRPs of their GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics cards for their respective regions. Since the boards are unique, it is likely that they will be sold at a premium. Typically these cards are difficult to source outside of China or Japan, so it is worth letting these companies know if you want them in other regions.

Related Reading:

Sources: GALAX, KFA2

GALAX and KFA2 Katana: Single-Slot GTX 1070 GPUs Coming Soon
  • Comments are Closed

GALAX and KFA2 Katana: Single-Slot GTX 1070 GPUs Coming Soon

GALAX and KFA2 have added single-slot GeForce GTX 1070 Katana video cards to their lineups, which is usually an indicator that the graphics adapters are going to hit the market shortly. The add-in-boards (AIBs) will be the only thin GTX 1070 high-end graphics cards on the market and will join a few other single-slot adapters in GALAX’s lineup.

As discussed before, when GALAX first demonstrated a prototype of its single-slot GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics card, single-slot gaming AIBs are uncommon these days because GPU developers and hardware makers use dual-slot coolers for everything with a TDP of 75 W and higher. While most of gaming desktops can accommodate at least one double-wide graphics adapter, there are systems equipped with extra add-in-boards (audio, SSD, additional SATA or Thunderbolt 3 controllers, etc.) that may require slim single-slot components as there is simply not enough space inside. For this reason, single-slot graphics cards from ELSA and now GALAX and KFA2 will find their buyers.

The GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics cards from GALAX and KFA2 are produced by Palit Microsystems, the owner of the two brands. To make the boards thinner than their counterparts, the manufacturer had to develop a custom PCB design with a 4+1-phase VRM moved towards display outputs. Such design ensures that cool air takes heat away from the GPU first and only then the air is applied to inductors, MOSFETs and capacitors of the VRM (which are sturdier). The GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics adapters run their GPUs at 1518/1708 MHz (base/boost), which is very close to NVIDIA-recommended frequencies and thus the cards only require one 8-pin PCIe auxiliary power connector.

Another key element of the adapters is their single-slot cooling system that relies on a copper radiator with a vapor chamber and a high-pressure blower. The lid of the radiator has special openings above the VRM that exhausts part of the hot air and helps to better cool-down inductors and MOSFETs. In addition, there are exhaust holes on the bracket, therefore, at least part of the hot air is blown away outside of the PC. Palit does not disclose the maximum noise level produced by its cooling system, but it is logical to expect it to be noisier than their large brethren with multiple fans and doublewide radiators.

Since the GeForce GTX 1070 Katana cards are thin, the manufacturer had to sacrifice two out of five display connectors offered by most of the GP104-based designs. The graphics adapters feature a DisplayPort 1.4, a DVI-D output and an HDMI 2.0b connector. On the other hand, as most gamers use only one monitor, three different headers will be enough for vast majority of the target audience.

GALAX and KFA2 have not announced MSRPs of their GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics cards for their respective regions. Since the boards are unique, it is likely that they will be sold at a premium. Typically these cards are difficult to source outside of China or Japan, so it is worth letting these companies know if you want them in other regions.

Related Reading:

Sources: GALAX, KFA2

GALAX and KFA2 Katana: Single-Slot GTX 1070 GPUs Coming Soon
  • Comments are Closed

GALAX and KFA2 Katana: Single-Slot GTX 1070 GPUs Coming Soon

GALAX and KFA2 have added single-slot GeForce GTX 1070 Katana video cards to their lineups, which is usually an indicator that the graphics adapters are going to hit the market shortly. The add-in-boards (AIBs) will be the only thin GTX 1070 high-end graphics cards on the market and will join a few other single-slot adapters in GALAX’s lineup.

As discussed before, when GALAX first demonstrated a prototype of its single-slot GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics card, single-slot gaming AIBs are uncommon these days because GPU developers and hardware makers use dual-slot coolers for everything with a TDP of 75 W and higher. While most of gaming desktops can accommodate at least one double-wide graphics adapter, there are systems equipped with extra add-in-boards (audio, SSD, additional SATA or Thunderbolt 3 controllers, etc.) that may require slim single-slot components as there is simply not enough space inside. For this reason, single-slot graphics cards from ELSA and now GALAX and KFA2 will find their buyers.

The GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics cards from GALAX and KFA2 are produced by Palit Microsystems, the owner of the two brands. To make the boards thinner than their counterparts, the manufacturer had to develop a custom PCB design with a 4+1-phase VRM moved towards display outputs. Such design ensures that cool air takes heat away from the GPU first and only then the air is applied to inductors, MOSFETs and capacitors of the VRM (which are sturdier). The GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics adapters run their GPUs at 1518/1708 MHz (base/boost), which is very close to NVIDIA-recommended frequencies and thus the cards only require one 8-pin PCIe auxiliary power connector.

Another key element of the adapters is their single-slot cooling system that relies on a copper radiator with a vapor chamber and a high-pressure blower. The lid of the radiator has special openings above the VRM that exhausts part of the hot air and helps to better cool-down inductors and MOSFETs. In addition, there are exhaust holes on the bracket, therefore, at least part of the hot air is blown away outside of the PC. Palit does not disclose the maximum noise level produced by its cooling system, but it is logical to expect it to be noisier than their large brethren with multiple fans and doublewide radiators.

Since the GeForce GTX 1070 Katana cards are thin, the manufacturer had to sacrifice two out of five display connectors offered by most of the GP104-based designs. The graphics adapters feature a DisplayPort 1.4, a DVI-D output and an HDMI 2.0b connector. On the other hand, as most gamers use only one monitor, three different headers will be enough for vast majority of the target audience.

GALAX and KFA2 have not announced MSRPs of their GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics cards for their respective regions. Since the boards are unique, it is likely that they will be sold at a premium. Typically these cards are difficult to source outside of China or Japan, so it is worth letting these companies know if you want them in other regions.

Related Reading:

Sources: GALAX, KFA2

GALAX and KFA2 Katana: Single-Slot GTX 1070 GPUs Coming Soon
  • Comments are Closed

GALAX and KFA2 Katana: Single-Slot GTX 1070 GPUs Coming Soon

GALAX and KFA2 have added single-slot GeForce GTX 1070 Katana video cards to their lineups, which is usually an indicator that the graphics adapters are going to hit the market shortly. The add-in-boards (AIBs) will be the only thin GTX 1070 high-end graphics cards on the market and will join a few other single-slot adapters in GALAX’s lineup.

As discussed before, when GALAX first demonstrated a prototype of its single-slot GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics card, single-slot gaming AIBs are uncommon these days because GPU developers and hardware makers use dual-slot coolers for everything with a TDP of 75 W and higher. While most of gaming desktops can accommodate at least one double-wide graphics adapter, there are systems equipped with extra add-in-boards (audio, SSD, additional SATA or Thunderbolt 3 controllers, etc.) that may require slim single-slot components as there is simply not enough space inside. For this reason, single-slot graphics cards from ELSA and now GALAX and KFA2 will find their buyers.

The GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics cards from GALAX and KFA2 are produced by Palit Microsystems, the owner of the two brands. To make the boards thinner than their counterparts, the manufacturer had to develop a custom PCB design with a 4+1-phase VRM moved towards display outputs. Such design ensures that cool air takes heat away from the GPU first and only then the air is applied to inductors, MOSFETs and capacitors of the VRM (which are sturdier). The GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics adapters run their GPUs at 1518/1708 MHz (base/boost), which is very close to NVIDIA-recommended frequencies and thus the cards only require one 8-pin PCIe auxiliary power connector.

Another key element of the adapters is their single-slot cooling system that relies on a copper radiator with a vapor chamber and a high-pressure blower. The lid of the radiator has special openings above the VRM that exhausts part of the hot air and helps to better cool-down inductors and MOSFETs. In addition, there are exhaust holes on the bracket, therefore, at least part of the hot air is blown away outside of the PC. Palit does not disclose the maximum noise level produced by its cooling system, but it is logical to expect it to be noisier than their large brethren with multiple fans and doublewide radiators.

Since the GeForce GTX 1070 Katana cards are thin, the manufacturer had to sacrifice two out of five display connectors offered by most of the GP104-based designs. The graphics adapters feature a DisplayPort 1.4, a DVI-D output and an HDMI 2.0b connector. On the other hand, as most gamers use only one monitor, three different headers will be enough for vast majority of the target audience.

GALAX and KFA2 have not announced MSRPs of their GeForce GTX 1070 Katana graphics cards for their respective regions. Since the boards are unique, it is likely that they will be sold at a premium. Typically these cards are difficult to source outside of China or Japan, so it is worth letting these companies know if you want them in other regions.

Related Reading:

Sources: GALAX, KFA2

Western Digital Expands Purple Lineup with a 10 TB Helium-Filled HDD
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Western Digital Expands Purple Lineup with a 10 TB Helium-Filled HDD

Western Digital has expanded its Purple lineup of hard drives, aimed at video surveillance applications, with a 10 TB helium-filled HDD. The drive is optimized for write-intensive workloads and supports various technologies that minimize the number of potential errors due to the high-number of incoming data streams. The new WD Purple is also the company’s first 10 TB HDD with a 5400 RPM spindle speed and a large cache.

The WD Purple 10 TB drive (WD100PURZ) is based on the HelioSeal platform featuring seven PMR (perpendicular magnetic recording) platters with ~1.4 TB capacity apiece, which it inherited from last year’s top-of-the-range HDDs. The increased areal density of the platters allowed the hard drive to increase its sustained transfer speed from host to drive to 210 MB/s, or by ~18% compared to the previous-generation helium-sealed WD Purple 8 TB HDD (WD80PUZX, 178 MB/s). This is at the same 5400 RPM spindle speed and at a slightly lower power consumption (up to 6.2 W vs up to 6.4 W). Just like other hard drives with a 10 TB capacity, the new WD Purple is equipped with a 256 MB DRAM buffer, which may further increase the real-world performance of the HDD against its predecessors.

Comparison of Western Digital’s WD Purple HDDs
  WD100PURZ WD80PUZX WD60PURX WD50PURX
Capacity 10 TB 8 TB 6 TB 5 TB
RPM 5400 RPM
Interface SATA 6 Gbps
DRAM Cache 256 MB 128 MB 64 MB
Helium-Filling Yes No
Data Transfer Rate (host to/from drive) 210 MB/s 178 MB/s 170 MB/s 150 MB/s
MTBF unknown 1 million hours
Rated Workload (read and write) 180 TB/year
Acoustics (Seek) 29 dBA 26 dBA
Power Consumption Sequential read/write 6.2 W 6.4 W 5.3 W
Idle 5 W 5.7 W 4.9 W
Sleep 0.5 W 0.7 W 0.4 W
Warranty 3 Years
Price (as of April 2017) $399.99 $281.99 $214 $200
$0.04 per GB $0.035 per GB $0.035 per GB $0.04 per GB
25 GB per $ 28.39 GB per $ 28.03 GB per $ 25 GB per $

Since the WD Purple hard drives are purpose-built for video surveillance applications, they support the ATA streaming extension of the SATA standard as well as a number of WD proprietary technologies, including AllFrame 4K cache policy management and firmware enhancements to optimize data flows during playback and writing. All WD Purple drives can work with up to 64 cameras and are rated for a 180 TB/year workload. In addition, high-capacity WD Purple HDDs are optimized for operation in NVRs and DVRs with more than eight drives and support time-limited error recovery technology (TLER), which prevents drive fallout caused by extended HDD error recovery processes.

Western Digital claims that the new WD Purple 10 TB is compatible with new and existing video surveillance systems (including chassis, chipsets, etc.) and thus can be used for new and current deployments (except those that require drives with 512B/512e sectors – the new WD Purple only support 4Kn sectors). The manufacturer has already started to ship the new hard drives to its partners and they will be available shortly for $399.99.

While the addition of a 10 TB HDD into the WD Purple series is a significant event, the fact that Western Digital began to roll out 10 TB helium-filled hard drives with a 5400 RPM spindle speed is even more important (until recently, WD used to offer only 8 TB helium-filled 5K HDDs). With the introduction of a 10 TB product with a reduced spindle speed, Western Digital can launch WD Red and WD My Book hard drives of the same capacity in the coming weeks or months. Meanwhile, it is interesting to note that recently Western Digital cut down the price of its WD Purple 8 TB HDD by 30% and it can now be acquired for $281.99 from Amazon.

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