The GT300/Fermi Thread - Part 2!

[***Deimos***]

Surprisingly clear PCB photos of the
GTX470
GTX480
HD5870 for comparison

comments on razno's Fermi PCB photos:

470:

• 9+2 blue, 3 red capacitors, by constrast 5870 PCB only has 5 med caps.
• 4 phases for GPU (big ass inductor + 3 FETs each)
• Huge DRAM chip looking inductor + 2 caps and 3 FETs for GDDR5 Vddq
• no visible IC for Vreg on right side of board, 1 med and 3 small DIP IC on left.
• silk screen for 3 extra caps on right, and 2 small IC on left

480:

• 6 phase power? 5870 only had 4!? (same 3 FET for each phase setup)
• 4870's 2 big caps and huge inductor for GDDR5, replaced by tiny caps and inductors??
• 6 blue, and 8 big red caps
• 6 extra (tiny) chips for each phase (with silly putty still on)
• to the right of vent holes PCB looks barren
• 1 med and 2 small IC on left. Guessing big Vreg chip under white square.
• silk screen for 4 small and 1 large IC on left.
• silk screen for extra 3rd 6ping power connector !!
• smaller vent holes than 470! and 470 had 3 mounting holes around them!(fans screws to pcb)??

Interesting observations compared to AMD:
5870 uses 4 phases, 5850 uses 3 phases. Both nVidia and AMD abandoned 1 PCB for all GPU long ago.
Despite 2x SP, 5850 has ~power as 4850/4890 - 100-120W. Very unlikely for GTX470.
GTX470 has so many capacitors on right, no room for full heat sink.
Obvious absence of nVidia display chip.. and DVI+DVI+HDMI -> no eyeFinity equivalent?