Nvidia continue to come under fire for poor GTX590 design

KitGuru has discussed problems with Nvidia's GTX590 flagship before, but the reports continue to filter across various forums that some are still failing. We all love a good story, but sometimes it is important to really find out what exactly is wrong.

KitGuru reported before that respected website Hardware.fr analysed the GTX590 with a thermograph.

Their GTX590 testing showed a reading of around 112c under load. Since we reported on this, our readers have been filling our inbox with comments and views on the matter. Some partners have been updating card bioses to supposedly help with power delivery however the main issue is apparently down to a poor VRM design. The very high temperatures are due to the VRM's being underspecified. Each of the GPU/IMC phases has 35A each, and only four phases per GPU, with one phase for the IMC.

With the DrMOS chips being operated at close to peak forward current rating with a high duty cycle, this is part of the reason of the stress related failures. At very high load levels the DrMOS chips can become very inefficient as they are optimised for efficiency at low loads. Some claim they shouldn't be used for VRMs for high power electronics in the first place. This inefficiency is adding more wasted heat into the scenario. Nvidia have placed them right under the fan's dead spot too which doesn't help with cooling.

Why wasn't this a problem with the GTX580? Well this card was complimented with 6+2 power phases and the design is dramatically different. It looks as if the bios changes might not be the cure, and many people will be best waiting on third party custom designs from companies such as ASUS which will rectify the poor design aspects of the latest Nvidia flagship card.

KitGuru says: The complaints stretch across the net, and although it looks as if Nvidia could really have sorted this problem before it was released, it may very well be up to the skills of their partners to rectify the VRM issues.

Become a Patron!