PNY has quietly introduced its GeForce RTX 4070 Blower graphics card that, as the name suggests, uses a blower type cooling system. The board is currently available only in China, but it can be shipped to any part of the world and may eventually show up in the U.S. and/or Europe.
PNY's GeForce RTX 4070 Blower, which was discovered by MEGAsizeGPU at JD.com, sports typical specifications for a GeForce RTX 4070 board: the AD104 graphics processor with 5,888 CUDA cores that operates at 1,920 MHz – 2,475 MHz and is connected to 12GB of GDDR6X memory using a 192-bit interface. The card has four display outputs (three DisplayPorts 1.4, one HDMI 2.0b) and one eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connector.
The key selling point of the graphics card is not its enhanced performance, but its dimensions — it measures 278.4 mm x 119.4 mm x 40 mm — that are compact enough to install more than one card into a motherboard thanks to the blower cooler.
Blower type coolers are not always the quietest or the most efficient cooling systems. However, when it comes to cooling down a graphics card that emits 200 ~ 300W of heat in a compact PC, these coolers are often as good as it gets. Blowers exhaust warm air from the case, efficiently operating even when internal air circulation is not ideal. Moreover, in cases where multiple graphics cards are combined in one system, these coolers are the only air solution that can ensure sufficient cooling in such confined spaces with limited air circulation. The only better option would be liquid cooling.
Nvidia doesn't often allow add-in-board partners to use blowers on consumer-oriented products. It's possible that this is because it allows multiple cards to be installed and more easily, and that that kind of horsepower that would rival that of professional graphics cards. Nvidia's RTX-branded professional cards are all equipped with blowers.
But PNY's GeForce RTX 4070 blower is not cheap. The company officially calls the product 'artificial intelligence turbo graphics card' with a 'silent turbine fan suitable for multi-card environments' and positions it rather for AI developers than for gamers. To that end, the board is priced at ¥6,999 ($966 with taxes, $855 without taxes), which exceeds recommended price of a GeForce RTX 4070 in the U.S. ($599).
