When NVIDIA and AMD only announce their graphics cards, they show the so-called standard or Founders Edition models.
These solutions have strict clock speeds that exactly match those specified by the manufacturer and standard cooling. Attempts to overclock these graphics cards are most often a waste of time and gamers pay money for the ability to access a particular graphics chip at a recommended price. NVIDIA and AMD don’t make anything themselves, they order from one of their partners, which allows that partner to produce the cheapest graphics cards with a similar design.
For the rest, there are several different approaches to graphics card production, each aimed at a specific target group. Much of the gaming merchandise is for those who will never overclock anything. In fact, many PC gaming fans don’t even use profiles to increase clock speeds, so they may not use the graphics card to its full potential for many years.
There are also more powerful models on sale whose cooling is referred to as custom and the graphics core clock speeds may differ significantly from the standard. Unfortunately, there is a price to pay for everything, which is why these graphics cards cost more, but they attract attention because they provide a false sense that the gamer can get a little more performance out of the new thing. Unfortunately, the real chance to increase the clock speed only exists for graphics cards with powerful cooling, but overpaying for such models is definitely not worth the investment. For example, you can find a GeForce RTX 3060 with very solid cooling on sale for 15,000 kč, while the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is available for 12 thousand. The difference between the two graphics chips is close to 15%.
Occasionally, a manufacturer will select the best graphics chips and install liquid cooling or monstrous heatsinks on the graphics card that are capable of dissipating much more heat than standard models.
In this case, the extra charge will be even more staggering, and the point of such a purchase is hard to find. In any case, if there is a merchant, there will be merchandise. But sometimes we encounter completely nonsensical solutions, as the well-known overclocker Der8auer decided to tell the world. According to his words, other cooling systems have appeared on Aliexpress, which are attached to the back of the graphics card and serve to remove heat from the surface of the board. In other words, the standard heatsinks stay in place, but some Chinese engineering genius decided that a second cooling plate would allow the temperature regime to be lowered and the graphics card to be stabilized overall.
The graphics cards look intimidating once the kit is installed, and gamers may think they are looking at a premium product. Der8auer got several models at his disposal and tested them carefully. As a guinea pig, he chose the flagship AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT from Gigabyte. The manufacturer has obviously spared no expense, because the cooling is made of copper and includes two fans. The 5 copper plates should dissipate heat and there is a clip in the kit to allow the device to be attached to the back panel. All would have been fine if it hadn’t been completely pointless, as it didn’t bring any apparent reduction in temperature. Der8auer noted that all the major blocks are located on the front side, so the engineering design only serves a visual function. An even more complex cooling system, which is more like a Lego set, was also tested. The last has several components, in fixing which even Der8auer lost at first. After connecting all this, the overclocker got the same result.
