Hybrid liquid-cooling system for alleged AMD Radeon R9 390X pictured

A picture of an unknown hybrid cooling system for an unknown Radeon graphics card has been published. The cooler is allegedly designed by Asetek and is expected to be used on AMD’s forthcoming flagship single-chip graphics adapter, which might be called Radeon R9 390X.

The cooling system, which resembles that of AMD Radeon R9 295X2, features a place for a fan as well as openings to connect a liquid loop. The cooler has the “Radeon” trademark imprinted on it. The cooler seems to be made of aluminum, or a similar metal. The new liquid cooling system is designed to cool-down a single-chip graphics card, which is why the place for the fan is located on a side of the board.

VideoCardz web-site claims that the cooling system is designed for AMD’s forthcoming single-chip Radeon R9 390X graphics card, which is based on the code-named “Maui”, “Fiji” or “Iceland.” The new GPU is expected to be based on the third incarnation of the graphics core next (GCN) architecture (GCN 1.2).

Earlier this year it was reported that AMD had taped out a graphics processing unit with 500mm² die size. The chip is projected to be made using 28nm HPM [high-performance mobile, 28HPM] process technology at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Liquid cooling system should allow AMD to set maximum clock-rates on its new Radeon 390X graphics cards. However, not all of AMD’s customers will like the new solution for a variety of reasons.

It is completely unclear when AMD plans to unveil its new-gen single-chip flagship graphics solution. It is logical to assume AMD to release the Radeon R9 390X sometimes in October or November, but actual roadmap of AMD remains completely unclear. Theoretically, the recent slash of the AMD Radeon R9 295X2’s price could indicate that a new single-GPU flagship is near.

AMD and Asetek did not comment on the news-story.

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KitGuru Says: It is not completely clear why AMD decided to use a hybrid liquid-cooling solution for a graphics board powered by a GPU made using 28nm HPM process technology. Thermals of such chips should not be too high unless the developer plans to either give a headroom for overclockers or just increase the default frequency to ensure that its new flagship will be the fastest in the industry. 

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