Close Menu
Technology Mag

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    What's Hot

    Nothing Headphone 1 review: head-turning

    July 1, 2025

    The MLS Season Pass is 50 percent off ahead of the All-Star game and Leagues Cup 

    July 1, 2025

    Senator Blackburn Pulls Support for AI Moratorium in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Amid Backlash

    July 1, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Subscribe
    Technology Mag
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    • Home
    • News
    • Business
    • Games
    • Gear
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Security
    • Trending
    • Press Release
    Technology Mag
    Home » Nvidia’s small GPU initiative will keep graphics cards large — but I’m glad it exists
    News

    Nvidia’s small GPU initiative will keep graphics cards large — but I’m glad it exists

    News RoomBy News RoomJune 2, 20243 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Email

    Nvidia just gave the PC gaming industry a reason to shrink its biggest graphics cards and produce smallish cases. It’s not what I expected, but I think it might actually help. Read before you judge, friends — I was definitely ready to call out some Nvidia BS, but I’ve mostly come around.

    When leakers revealed last month that Nvidia would help steer its graphics card partners toward smaller gaming PCs, I began to daydream. Might we finally see a genuinely small Nvidia powerhouse like AMD’s old R9 Nano? Could Nvidia at least convince partners to produce two-slot GPUs like many of its own Founders Edition cards?

    Unfortunately, no. Nvidia’s just-announced “SFF-Ready Enthusiast GeForce Cards” aren’t actually that small — even a 2.5 slot thick, 304mm long, and 151mm wide RTX 4070 can qualify. That means supposedly “SFF” GPUs will not fit into my SFF case, and I have a hard time calling these “SFF” at all.

    Nvidia’s optional guidelines specify these maximum dimensions.
    Image: Nvidia

    This still looks like a pretty large case to me.

    But if you, like me, want to help smaller gaming PCs get a larger foothold, this could help — because it’s not just about the cards; it’s about knowing you can fit a certain amount of graphics horsepower in a given case because both the case and the card identify themselves as compatible with one another.

    “I’m giving them a guideline to say, hey, leave this much space, and then you’ll be able to fit an enthusiast graphics card in there like a 4080, a 4070. That’s the purpose of this program,” Nvidia senior desktop products director Justin Walker tells me.

    Indeed, the list of cards that Nvidia is sharing today only includes RTX 4070 or higher: it’s not promoting a fat 4060, for example.

    Here’s a list of validated cards and cases so far. It’s not exhaustive, but these partners are on board.
    Images: Nvidia

    Today, figuring out if a given card will fit is often a matter of painstakingly trolling manufacturer websites for length, width, and height twice: once for the card and once for the case. Now, you might just be able to look for “SFF-Ready” and move on with your day. You may still have to hit up those manufacturer websites, though, as Walker says there’s not necessarily going to be a Newegg sort filter for “SFF Ready” or a badge on the actual product yet.

    He tells me these guidelines should reduce uncertainty for case manufacturers, too: “I’m making a small case, and I want it to fit a high end graphics card… right now I have no idea, there’s so many sizes and shapes. Right now I don’t know how to make a case that fits everything.” Now, there’s a target.

    While I personally still wish Nvidia had tried harder to shrink the sizes of partner cards themselves — again, their own Founders Edition cards are generally just two slots thick! — there is some hope for more such GPUs. Walker says it’s no mistake that there’s only a single RTX 4080 on the SFF-Ready list, and he hopes more partners will rise to the challenge.

    “It takes a lot of work and a very intentional design to put a 4080 in this form factor,” he says. “I get that it’s not a tiny Mini-ITX thing, but I want to let someone be able to put a 4080 into that case.”

    Speaking of which: just a few days ago, hardware leaker kopite7kimi attested that Nvidia’s RTX 5090 Founders Edition card will have a dual-slot cooler.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleOur Favorite Linen Sheets to Upgrade Your Summer Sleep
    Next Article Hyundai’s first US-built EV will be the tax credit-ready Ioniq 5

    Related Posts

    The MLS Season Pass is 50 percent off ahead of the All-Star game and Leagues Cup 

    July 1, 2025

    Laptop Mag is shutting down

    July 1, 2025

    Apple accuses former Vision Pro engineer of stealing trade secrets

    July 1, 2025

    Trump says he’ll look into deporting Musk as fight over bill escalates

    July 1, 2025

    Sharp pencils for hard times

    July 1, 2025

    Newark’s air traffic outages were just the tip of the iceberg

    July 1, 2025
    Our Picks

    The MLS Season Pass is 50 percent off ahead of the All-Star game and Leagues Cup 

    July 1, 2025

    Senator Blackburn Pulls Support for AI Moratorium in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Amid Backlash

    July 1, 2025

    Laptop Mag is shutting down

    July 1, 2025

    How to Make AI Faster and Smarter—With a Little Help From Physics

    July 1, 2025
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Don't Miss
    Gear

    Xiaomi’s YU7 Is an SUV-Sized Middle Finger to Tesla’s Model Y

    By News RoomJuly 1, 2025

    Compare this to the Cybertruck, which pulled in a claimed 146,000 reservations in its first…

    Apple accuses former Vision Pro engineer of stealing trade secrets

    July 1, 2025

    Trump says he’ll look into deporting Musk as fight over bill escalates

    July 1, 2025

    No, You Probably Don’t Need a MacBook Pro

    July 1, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    © 2025 Technology Mag. All Rights Reserved.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.