Gainward and Palit have released their respective Small Form Factor Ready RTX 40 series, adhering to Nvidia's definition of an SFF-friendly form factor for GPUs and PC cases. Palit classifies its SFF variation within the 'Infinity 3' series and Gainward introduces it under 'Python-III' branding.
The cards on offer are analogous, which shouldn't be surprising as the respective brands belong to the same parent company- Palit Group. While having multiple brands for the same AIC partner isn't exclusive only to this group, it's rare to see both brands use the same design and specifications, including clock speed.
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With a uniform design consisting of three cooling fans and no RGB. Ideal for those who prefer a more subdued aesthetic. There is a total of twelve SKUs involving GeForce RTX 4080, RTX 4070 Ti Super and RTX 4070 Super as a non-overclocked or overclocked variation. The overclocked RTX 4080 Super 16GB is clocked up to 2580 MHz, with RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4070 Super up to 2640 MHz. The only difference is the packaging. Neither of the companies mentioned the warranty period of these variations either on the site or in its online manual.
Palit claims on its website that the Super Infinity 3 series is 40% smaller than its standard-size RTX 40 series cards- which also applies to its Gainward SSF-friendly counterpart. The variations from both brands measure 294 x 116 x 49.5 mm- which is within Nvidia's 304 X 151 X 50mm spec. That said, this only means it qualified to be compatible with those small form factor cases that are designed to accommodate Nvidia's standard which must have a minimum clearance of 312 x 154.5 x 50mm.
While having a smaller profile than a conventional variant is appreciated, users question the obfuscation of what 'SFF friendly' should be and if Nvidia explored this category before setting the dimension standard and passing it on to respective AIC partners and PC case makers. While having a set standard makes sense for a certain form factor, having a smaller profile doesn't necessarily mean it's compatible with a mini-ITX case. Some would also agree that contrary to what Nvidia has set, it doesn't truly help SFF builders and enthusiasts. That said, the SFF category itself is broad as it involves users with different needs- HTPC, general purpose, gaming- or all of the above.
Whether Nvidia would revisit this decision for the upcoming RTX 5000 series remains to be seen. Some AIC partners might venture to have a proper mini-ITX-friendly graphics card, such as how Zephyr did with its RTX 4070 ITX Sakura Blizzard GPU. But would need respective makers to experiment and implement. Naturally, it depends on whether respective manufacturers could- and for which model.
A few months ago, Asus introduced its variants of Nvidia's SSF-friendly graphics card, the Asus Prime which cover the 4000 range from the 4060 Ti to the 4080 Super. We may see more companies bringing its Nvidia SFF-ready graphics cards, or simply confirm if its existing SKUs are within Nvidia's preferred SFF-friendly dimensions like how MSI did.
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Roshan Ashraf Shaikh
Contributing Writer
Roshan Ashraf Shaikh has been in the Indian PC hardware community since the early 2000s and has been building PCs, contributing to many Indian tech forums, & blogs. He operated Hardware BBQ for 11 years and wrote news for eTeknix & TweakTown before joining Tom's Hardware team. Besides tech, he is interested in fighting games, movies, anime, and mechanical watches.
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jlake3 While having a smaller profile than a conventional variant is appreciated, users question the obfuscation of what 'SFF friendly' should be and if Nvidia explored this category before setting the dimension standard and passing it on to respective AIC partners and PC case makers.
I've got an 8 year old full-ATX sized case (a Supermicro S5), and it barely fits cards at the upper bound of Nvidia's "SFF-ready" definition with the 2.5" drive cage installed. My Haswell-Era ITX case that managed to take a GTX 690 back in the day is a no-go on length and width (151mm would technically fit, but there would be no room for power connections out that side), and the height leaves very little room to breathe.
I'd love to see some properly small GPUs, but this new definition/certification/whatever feels like it's just an Nvidia marketing exercise so AIB partners can give themselves another nice sounding label to slap on the box.
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Notton IMO, It's not SFF, if it doesn't fit in a 20in (preferably 18in or 16in) suitcase.
That means the enclosure is <20L in volume.
My Silverstone SG13 is 12L in volume and only fits 267mm length cards, but it was also designed before the sandwich style layout was invented.Reply
Omm3nator Is this what NVIDIA and partners consider Small Form Factor (SFF)? We don't agree with this new definition/specification for SFF. We propose a new standard for Mini-ITX enclosures - Mini Form Factor (MFF) GPUs. Examples include: PNY RTX A1000 8GB (single-slot half-height), RTX A2000 6GB/12GB and RTX 4000 Ada SFF 20GB (dual-slot half-height). These GPUs are very efficent <75 W (PCIe slot powered).
The RTX A2000 12GB performs very well in our testing. Gaming, 3D CAD with FEA/CFD simulations (SOLIDWORKS), and local AI LLMs (Llama 3.1 8B) are all possible.
Our engineering team is designing a MFF enclosure/case based around GaN PSUs. Stay tuned!
Reply
TCA_ChinChin jlake3 said:
I've got an 8 year old full-ATX sized case (a Supermicro S5), and it barely fits cards at the upper bound of Nvidia's "SFF-ready" definition with the 2.5" drive cage installed. My Haswell-Era ITX case that managed to take a GTX 690 back in the day is a no-go on length and width (151mm would technically fit, but there would be no room for power connections out that side), and the height leaves very little room to breathe.I'd love to see some properly small GPUs, but this new definition/certification/whatever feels like it's just an Nvidia marketing exercise so AIB partners can give themselves another nice sounding label to slap on the box.
Lol, these "SFF-ready" sizes would be considered ludicrously large like 4-5 years ago. I completely agree this is just an excuse for AIBs to design coolers similar to those they did maybe 4-5 years ago, use less materials, but charge even more for the "SFF-read" label. A true "SFF-ready" card would be something around the size of their professional Quadro RTX cards that have coolers that fit COMPLETELY within 2 PCIe slots without being laughably tall or long.
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Guardians Bane jlake3 said:
I've got an 8 year old full-ATX sized case (a Supermicro S5), and it barely fits cards at the upper bound of Nvidia's "SFF-ready" definition with the 2.5" drive cage installed. My Haswell-Era ITX case that managed to take a GTX 690 back in the day is a no-go on length and width (151mm would technically fit, but there would be no room for power connections out that side), and the height leaves very little room to breathe.I'd love to see some properly small GPUs, but this new definition/certification/whatever feels like it's just an Nvidia marketing exercise so AIB partners can give themselves another nice sounding label to slap on the box.
Right! I'm sourcing components for a mITX build and most "SFF Ready" GPUs still do not fit the smaller ones. I'm specifically looking for a 4070ti class that will fit in ThermalTake The Tower (prob 200, the 100 is almost APU only territory?
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Penzi Omm3nator said:
Is this what NVIDIA and partners consider Small Form Factor (SFF)? We don't agree with this new definition/specification for SFF. We propose a new standard for Mini-ITX enclosures - Mini Form Factor (MFF) GPUs. Examples include: PNY RTX A1000 8GB (single-slot half-height), RTX A2000 6GB/12GB and RTX 4000 Ada SFF 20GB (dual-slot half-height). These GPUs are very efficent <75 W (PCIe slot powered).The RTX A2000 12GB performs very well in our testing. Gaming, 3D CAD with FEA/CFD simulations (SOLIDWORKS), and local AI LLMs (Llama 3.1 8B) are all possible.
Our engineering team is designing a MFF enclosure/case based around GaN PSUs. Stay tuned!
Looking forward to seeing your vision of a mini PC
Reply
Notton Guardians Bane said:
Right! I'm sourcing components for a mITX build and most "SFF Ready" GPUs still do not fit the smaller ones. I'm specifically looking for a 4070ti class that will fit in ThermalTake The Tower (prob 200, the 100 is almost APU only territory?If you check the specs page, it says 330mm and is "SFF Ready"
https://www.thermaltake.com/the-tower-100-turquoise-mini-chassis.html200 mini is 280mm or 380mm
https://www.thermaltake.com/the-tower-200-bubble-pink-mini-chassis.html
For 4070Ti, MSI VentusReply
Guardians Bane Notton said:
If you check the specs page, it says 330mm and is "SFF Ready"
https://www.thermaltake.com/the-tower-100-turquoise-mini-chassis.html200 mini is 280mm or 380mm
https://www.thermaltake.com/the-tower-200-bubble-pink-mini-chassis.html
For 4070Ti, MSI VentusYeah, I guess I could have done the research myself. Not to hard to do. But I do like interacting with people and asking questions. It gets people talking.
Thanks for the links and suggestion!
Much appreciated
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