ECS Geforce 8800 GT 512MB Dual Turbo
Info: ECS
SKU: N8800GT512MX+
Price: $259.99 USD / 199 EUR

If you were to name one product that was an instant success in the last quarter, chances are that you'll say "GeForce 8800 GT". And I'd totally agree with you, if you look at the price versus features and performance, then this series of cards is absolutely worth every penny. For that reason alone we try to review as many of these cards as we can to get you guys a broad overview in the purchasing options you have.

It took NVIDIA a while to supply enough of these boards to its partners. Rumored was that a component (fan control IC) worth merely a couple of cents was out of supply for weeks, slowing down production of these cards. It's now February 2008 and we slowly see the production ramping up. The cards are available in much better volumes and at pretty much any board partner.

Once the supply meets demand, prices come down and we'll also see product diversion. And that's what's happening as we speak, prices are coming down and we see a good diversity in the 8800 GT line of products. Today we'll test a GeForce 8800 GT as supplied by ECS Elitegroup. You all know ECS or either heard about them. They are huge in the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) market. OEM refers to companies that make products for others to repackage and sell. Resellers buy OEM products in bulk, minus the costly retail packaging that comes with individually sold units. The product itself is essentially the same as its more expensive, retail-packaged sibling. OEM products are used in many industries, but are perhaps most prevalent in electronics. Slowly, but steadily ECS is surfacing in the retail market as well.

They recently released their GeForce 8800 GT in retail and quite honestly, they are doing that properly by releasing this product with a custom cooler. Equipped with slightly higher than reference clock-speeds and custom made cooling made by Arctic Cooling they unleash their ECS Geforce 8800 GT Dual Turbo. The dual in that name refers toward two fans, not dual GPUs by the way.

All in all I found the product to be impressive; let's dive into the review and take her for a test-drive.