The 8800 Ultra

The 8800 Ultra from Gainward is quite a fetching card but it’s simply the stock 8800 cooler with a replaced central fan sticker – obviously in this case, Gainward. However, like other Ultra cards it also has a black PCB which is very sexy indeed.

Also, if you didn’t already know, the 8800Ultra is a very large card. Measuring in at 10.6″ some may have to be careful when pondering whether or not too buy one of these; check your case can fit it first.

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The cooler is also the standard Ultra affair; beginning with the coaxial fan with the central manufacturer logo.

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The air is then forced to travel along a specific pathway and over the hidden heatsink by the large plastic shroud that covers the Ultra.

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It is also around this area that the single heatpipe is visible. This is a common cooling technique which aids the transfer of heat from the cooler’s core to the large surface area fins above. If you want a bit more detail about heatpipes, check out our glossary entry here.

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Just before you reach the back of the card there are several slits in the cooler’s shroud which gives you a direct view of the internal heatsink.

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At the rear of the card you can see the twin DVI ports, single Svideo socket and the large, second slot cooler exhaust – designed to expel hot air from the rear of the card while preventing most items from entering with a fine grill.

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The top of the card has twin SLI bridge connectors which allow for current 2x SLI configurations and could be used for 3x or 4x (quad) SLI in the future.

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At the back of the card you can see that the cooler is held on with a large ammount of low profile screws; at least the rear of the card won’t be causing any clearance issues.

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Finally, at the front of the card is the twin 6pin PCI-E connectors. Although some may still be using PSUs with only single 6pin PCI-E cables Gainward have you covered as they provide you with 2x molex to 6pin PCI-E converters (granted many card manufacturers do, but it’s still nice to see) so even if you don’t have the twin PCI-E cables, you can still run this card no problem.

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