A couple of weeks ago, Nvidia launched its GTX 960, and one of the gripes that folks had with it is the fact that it "only" has a 2 GB frame buffer. The vendors appear to be listening though, as EVGA just announced its GeForce GTX 960 SSC 4 GB. The larger frame buffer can be useful when playing at higher resolutions, or when playing with higher-resolution textures installed.
This card is essentially the same as the 2 GB variant of the GTX 960 SSC, which also comes with the ACX 2.0+ cooler. This cooler is actually quite elaborate, coming with a heap of features that make it shine. Among these is a straight heatpipe design with three 8 mm heatpipes, a MOSFET and memory cooling plate, 3-phase 6-slot fan motors, and a so-called dB Inverter.
Of course, this dB Inverter isn't anything complicated: it just turns off the fans when the GPU is running below 60 degrees C. This not only keeps the system more silent when running at lower loads and preserves your fan bearings, it also significantly reduces dust buildup, because the fans will spend a lot less time sucking in this dust.
Additionally, the GPU comes clocked at a speed of 1279 MHz and will boost up to 1342 MHz. The memory remains clocked at the reference 7010 MHz and runs over a 128-bit memory interface. For comparison's sake, reference GPUs run at 1127 MHz and will boost at around 1178 MHz, so this is quite a respectable factory overclock.
Despite that, we all know the GPU can definitely be overclocked further, so if you're willing to risk your warranty to have some extra fun, you certainly can. The card also comes with a dual-bios, which needs only the flick of a switch on-board to alternate between the two. One of them offers a silent mode, where the DB Inverter is enabled, and another enables a performance mode, where the card will boost more aggressively.
Despite coming with extra memory, which is likely mounted on the rear of the PCB, the card doesn't appear to come with a backplate. This is likely the reason why it also comes with memory clocked at the factory speed, because any higher and the memory on the backside would need to be cooled.
Unfortunately, EVGA did not announce pricing or availability, and we haven't spotted it in retail yet either. Regardless, you can count on a premium price for a premium card, especially one that comes with a larger frame buffer, as those often cost a pretty penny extra.
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