What I use it for
Main use here is gaming at 1440p, which is what it's judged on in this review. I also do the odd bit of photo and video editing, exporting clips or batch processing photos now and then, and it's never once felt like the bottleneck for that either.
Performance
At 1440p it handles everything I throw at it on high settings without me having to think about it. DLSS 4.5 helps keep frame rates up in the heavier titles, so I've not had to drop resolution to get a game running smoothly. I've even run Cyberpunk 2077 with path tracing on at 1440p, and with DLSS and frame gen switched on it holds a stable 60fps. I haven't spotted any ghosting or artifacting, though I'll admit I'm not staring closely enough to rule it out completely. Either way, it looks and runs great.
Thermals
The dual-fan cooler keeps temps in check under sustained load. I run a custom fan curve rather than the stock one, and with that dialled in I've never had to worry about throttling during long sessions.
Build
It's noticeably smaller than the triple-fan versions of this card, which made fitting it into my case a non-issue. The backplate has cutouts near the fans for extra airflow, and the shroud feels solid rather than cheap plastic.
Pros & cons
Pros
- Handles 1440p gaming without breaking a sweat
- Compact, easy to fit in most cases
- Stays cool under sustained load.
- 12GB VRAM should hold up for a while
Cons
- Dual-fan cooler runs warmer than a triple-fan variant would
Final thoughts
Been running it for a few months now with zero issues. If you're on 1440p and don't need the size of a triple-fan cooler, I'd buy it again.