How to make graphics cards bigger: a full analysis from technology upgrades to market trends
In recent years, graphics cards, as one of the core components of computer hardware, have been constantly changing in terms of performance, size and market popularity. This article will combine hot topics in the past 10 days, analyze the phenomenon of "how graphics cards become larger" from the three dimensions of technology, market, and user needs, and present key information through structured data.
The growth in graphics card size is mainly due to the following technical requirements:
| technical factors | Specific performance |
|---|---|
| Process technology upgrade | The transistor density increases under the 7nm and 5nm processes, but the heat dissipation requirements are higher, resulting in an increase in the size of the PCB board and heat sink. |
| Performance stacking | Graphic memory capacity (more than 24GB), power supply module (16+ phase power supply) and number of cooling fins have increased significantly |
| Thermal design | Three fans, vapor chambers, and water cooling solutions are popular, and the length of high-end graphics cards exceeds 35cm |
For example, the NVIDIA RTX 4090 measures up to304×137×61mm, compared to the previous generation RTX 3090, the volume is increased by 12%, and the weight of the AMD RX 7900 XTX radiator even exceeds 2kg.
According to the hot search data on the entire network, recent graphics card related topics are mainly concentrated in the following areas:
| time | event | heat index |
|---|---|---|
| 2023.11.05 | Intel Arc A580 released, cost-effectiveness leads to discussion | 82,000 |
| 2023.11.08 | RTX 4080 Super rumors exposed, may be equipped with 20GB video memory | 127,000 |
| 2023.11.12 | Players complain that the 40 series graphics cards “look more like bricks the more they are made” | 95,000 |
By comparing the size data of flagship graphics cards in the past three years, we can see an obvious growth trend:
| Graphics card model | Release year | Length(mm) | Weight(g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 2080Ti | 2018 | 267 | 1350 |
| RTX 3090 | 2020 | 313 | 1480 |
| RTX 4090 | 2022 | 304 | 2170 |
Behind this change are the manufacturers"Performance first" strategy——Maintain high-frequency operation by increasing the heat dissipation scale. For example, the TGP of RTX 4090 reaches 450W, which requires3.5 groove thicknessof radiator.
To address the compatibility issues caused by the increase in graphics card size, it is recommended to take the following measures:
| Question type | solution |
|---|---|
| Not enough chassis space | Choose a mid-tower/full-tower case that supports 360mm graphics cards (such as Lianli O11D) |
| Motherboard load-bearing pressure | Use a graphics card bracket (such as Cooler Master ARGB bracket) |
| Insufficient power supply | Upgraded to above 850W gold medal power supply, equipped with 12VHPWR interface |
It is worth noting that some ITX users have switched to usingGraphics card extension cable + vertical installationsolution to solve the space conflict problem when traditional horizontal installation.
From the perspective of industry dynamics, two key changes will occur in 2024:
1.3D stacking technology: AMD has demonstrated a multi-layer GPU chip design in the patent, which may reduce PCB area requirements
2.Popularity of liquid cooling: ASUS, MSI and other manufacturers are promoting integrated water-cooling graphics cards, which are expected to reduce the size by more than 20%
But in the short term, with theBlackwell architecture(NVIDIA) andrDNA4(AMD) releases, graphics card size may remain at the current level. Users need to continue to pay attention to chassis compatibility and cooling solution upgrades.
(Full text, about 850 words in total)
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