OCTOBER 2019 PCWorld 83processing units (GPUs) at the heart of the
hardware. They exist to ensure a baseline
level of quality, and to help get more graphics
cards quickly out the door when new GPUs
launch. Customized cooling solutions take
longer to engineer. That brings up the first
consideration: If you want to get a hot new
GPU the second it releases, a reference
design may be your only option, as was the
case for the first month (go.pcworld.com/
fmo) of the Radeon RX 5700’s recent launch.
Traditionally, reference designs deployed
single-fan, blower-style coolers that blast the
hot air generated by the GPU out of the rear
of your PC case, via ventilation holes around
the bracket’s display connections. AMD’s
Radeon reference designs stick to this legacy,
though the company (mostly) lets its partners
handle consumer sales. You’ll usually buy
Radeon reference cards from companies like
XFX, Sapphire, or Asus rather than AMD itself.
The self-contained nature of blower-style
designs—they expel heat out of your case,
rather than dumping it into your case—make
them shine in scenarios where space or
airflow is limited. If you’re building in a small
form factor case or running a powerful rig with
multiple graphics cards installed next to eachAMD’s Radeon RX 5700 reference card uses a blower-style design.