Sparkle GeForce 8800GT Cool-Pipe3 512MB review -
Page 4 - Photos #1
The Photos
On the next few pages we'll show you some photos. The images were taken at 2560x1920 pixels and then scaled down. The camera used was a Sony DCS-F707 5.1 MegaPixel.
Sparkle's packaging. obviously this bundle comes with the passive cooler pre-installed. Let's have a look at it.
Right then, here we see the Sparkle GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB "Cool-pipe 3" edition. A pretty nice design, I like the small differences to be found in different color PCB (Blue) and obviously innovative cooling.
The two DVI ports support simultaneous HDCP and dual-link (meaning a possible resolutions up-to 2560 x 1600 with your bitching 30" monitor). This has been a possibility since NVIDIA's release of 65nm products and this is the second card in the series to boast this feature, others being incapable of the feat.
Given the fact HDMI is supported natively, manufacturers may choose to integrate a port, or otherwise, you may have to use an (expensive) DVI to HDMI adapter, which blows. ATI & their board partners deliver these HDMI dongle's for free with their products.
My advice to NVIDIA's board partners:
- remove the analog RCA HDTV cables/adapters that NOBODY uses
- remove one (analog) DVI-VGA dongle
- and insert a DVI-to-HDMI connector
With the 7-pin HDTV-out mini-din, a user can plug an S-video cable directly into the connector, or use a dongle for YPrPb (component) or composite outputs. The prior 9-pin HDTV-out mini-din connector required a dongle to use S-video, YPrPb and composite outputs.
Now when we flip the card around .. it's like a giant turtle on it's back. Here, we can see the really large cooling heatsink. Let's have a peek at some more photo's.
We review and benchmark the Sparkle GeForce GTX 650 Ti Dragon series and perform an in-depth test with the latest games available.
Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT Passive review
I had a peek around for an exotic model GeForce 9600 GT. I ended up with Sparkle .. get this .. 99 EUR for their passively cooled product with 512MB GDDR3 memory. I'm sorry but that's just a heck of a lot more value than the 9500 GT will offer gaming performance wise. And next to that, as this review will show .. the product has a few surprises ready under it's sleeves.
Sparkle GeForce 8800GT Cool-Pipe3 512MB review
Sparkle recently released a GeForce 8800 GT that actually is passively cooled. Because the reference cooled 8800 GT already runs insanely hot to 90 degrees C, doing the cooling part passive .. would definitely make things even worse. Combine that with the rumored GPU core temperatures of 110 Degrees C I pretty much stereotyped the product even before we had tested it.
Sparkle Calibre P880LV GeForce 8800 320MB
Much like other companies out there with a special edition card, the Calibre series is slightly more expensive yet you'll receive some pretty nifty extra candy. In the case of the GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB they are offering your an overclocked model armed with nothing less than a peltier cooler.