graphics cards and thermal characteristics
 

The GeForce GTX 480 is the highest consumption mono-GPU graphics card that we’ve ever had a look at, which means high temperatures and noise levels. The card is in a similar format to the GeForce GTX 285 but with a larger cooler adapted to the additional load. It’s bigger and to make the most of available space, NVIDIA has made two changes.


The first concerns the heatpipes, part of which stick out beyond the end of the card. Secondly, there’s an opening in the chassis which leaves the upper part of the cooler open, which means a gain of a few millimetres in the cooler size and direct acces to the air. Cynics might add that it will also mean you won’t be troubled by burning smells from the burnt casing! Whatever your outlook, the GeForce GTX 480 will in any case diffuse a certain amount of heat into the casing and you’ll need to avoid placing another card (graphics or other) in the slot just to the side.

http://www.behardware.com/articles/7...teristics.html