AMD officially announces its most powerful mini-ITX graphics card, the Radeon R9 Nano!
Announced today, the AMD Radeon R9 Nano is touted as the fastest and smallest graphics card, due to its diminutive mini-ITX form factor. Read on to uncover its hardware specifications and other details!
The AMD Radeon R9 Nano graphics card. (Image source: AMD)
The AMD Radeon R9 Nano is a mini-ITX graphics card that is capable of delivering Ultra HD or 4K gaming experience. This is due to its unbridled Fiji GPU, coupled with its 4GB of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). In terms of certain hardware specifications, it is exactly the same as the Radeon R9 Fury X, the liquid-cooled, full-sized graphics card. Its video connectivity options consist of three DisplayPort outputs, and one HDMI port. The marketing spiel compares R9 Nano's performance against the previous generation Radeon R9 290X; the Nano is about 30% faster than the older card, and has a power draw that is 30% lower.
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However, in terms of clock speed, the Nano’s Fiji GPU is rated to operate up to 1000MHz, which is 50MHz below that of the R9 Fury X. Also, the Nano is air-cooled, with a cooling system that is made up of a dual-chamber heatsink with flat thermal heatpipes.
(Image source: AMD)
According to AMD, the flat thermal heatpipes reduces the need to create more space within the heatsink to accommodate the heatpipes. In return, the total surface area of the heatsink will be increased for optimal heat dissipation. In an unprecedented move, the company included a dedicated heatsink, complete with a heatpipe, for the voltage regulators for the R9 Nano, which is a first for its reference cards. There’s also a metal plate that covers the components on the matte black PCB, which allows for passive cooling. The cooling intake fan of the card is housed in a metal fan shroud. The card is touted to operate at a whisper-quiet noise level of 42dB. AMD has also assured us the Nano will not be throttled due to high operating temperatures. In fact, its thermal threshold is a high of 85 degrees Celsius. Due to its relatively-low 175W TDP, the Nano draws power from a single 8-pin power connector.
(Image source: AMD)
The Radeon R9 Nano has the potential to breathe new life into 4K small form factor (SFF) gaming rigs. Such SFF rigs wouldn’t have to be confined to their current roles as a den PC for audio visual needs or as a spare desktop PC. The R9 Nano is able to fit into attractively designed SFF chassis from the likes of Lian Li and Cooler Master. Add-in partners are expected to launch their Nano offerings from 10 September onwards. The AMD Radeon R9 Nano has a SRP of US$649; the exact launch price of the Radeon R9 Fury X.
(Source: AMD)
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