A closer look at the G1 Gaming

Gigabyte decided to add a bit of value to the GTX 960 with a custom design and generous factory overclock.

It is important to note that Gigabyte sells two additional custom designed GTX 960 cards, with different coolers, as described earlier. The Windforce triple-fan cooler on the GTX 960 G1 Gaming uses metal shroud which looks quite good. The card is protected by a nylon, which must be removed.

The backplate adds to the overkill look of the card. The G1 Gaming card is 30cm long and 11.5cm tall. The GeForce GTX 960 reference board measures 9.5in or 22cm in length.

A 6+6 pin power connector setup is used on the GTX 980 and GTX 970, but the reference GTX 960 requires only one 6-pin power connector. Gigabyte provides more juice to the GTX 960 G1 Gaming by using two 6-pin power connectors and a 6+2 power phase design. The GTX 780, GTX 780 Ti and Titan have a TDP of 250W, compared to the GTX 980 with a 165W TDP, GTX 970 with a 145W TDP and GTX 960 with 120W.

The GTX 960 is built for standard dual-SLI, as it features just one SLI connector. The fact that this is a dual-slot design also helps.

The GTX 960 G1 Gaming features one standard HDMI connector (2.0 compatible, which includes HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies support), two DVI ports, and three standard DisplayPort outs, a unique video-output configuration under marketing name “FlexDisplay”. The TMDS switch on the G1 Gaming card allows you to run 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DP or 3x DP, 1x DVI and 1x HDMI at the same time (the reference card supports up to four simultaneous displays).

Due to the aforementioned unique output configuration, the I/O bracket cannot serve as an exhaust vent, there’s simply no place left for an exhaust grille.

Like the GeForce GTX 980, the GeForce GTX 960 has a new display engine capable of supporting resolutions up to 5K (including support for up to four 4K MST displays). Additionally, the GM206 features support for H.265 (HEVC) encoding and decoding.

Two LED indicators are placed on the top to signalize whether the fans are spinning or not. The Windforce logo is also lit up, but it stays turned on all the time.

The GTX 960 G1 Gaming has 2GB of memory, and two of four memory modules are placed on the back side of the PCB.

The Samsung chips, (model K4G41325FC-HC28 which is also used on the GTX 970 G1 Gaming) are specified to run at 1750 MHz (7000 MHz GDDR5 effective). Memory chips and voltage regulation circuits are in direct contact with the cooler.

Gigabyte used long heatpipes for maximum heat transfer, and the relatively small GM206 GPU is in direct contact with the heatpipes.