Sparkle 8800 GT Passive: The Fastest Silent GPU in the World
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 29, 2007 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
We're impressed. Usually HTPCers have to make a tremendous tradeoff when picking a graphics card, more often than not they're stuck with a pretty fast, but still mid-range GPU. With the 8800 GT, we have a GPU that's basically as fast as an 8800 GTX and with Sparkle's card we have such a beast without a fan.
The card gets hot, but as we've seen, it can easily be used inside a case alongside a very warm CPU. A well ventilated chassis will obviously help and we're not sure what the high temperatures will do to the longevity of the GPU (overclocking the graphics card is obviously not recommended), but that's what warranties are for (it looks like Sparkle provides a one-year warranty on its cards, ouch).
The only thing Sparkle's 8800 GT is missing is HDMI output, but we figure most HTPC users are accustomed to dealing with using DVI only at this point. We do commend Sparkle for making sure that its first 8800 GT would be passively cooled, if more companies would take this approach we might actually see some better product differentiation in the market. Sparkle's website also indicates a 256MB version in the works.
Pricing isn't bad either, although we're skeptical until we actually see these things ship. Given how quickly the other 8800 GTs have sold out, if you see this thing at $319 and are interested, we suggest moving quickly.
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toyota - Thursday, November 29, 2007 - link
We don't know how the 256MB variants will perform, but NVIDIA claims that they will arrive at $179 - $199.http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151...">http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151...
jonnyGURU - Friday, November 30, 2007 - link
Yeah. Comparing an XFX card at TigerDirect vs. a BFG card sold at it's MSRP on the manufacturer's webstore is very subjective journalism there Anandy. ;)Tegeril - Monday, December 10, 2007 - link
It would seem that you missed the part where those prices were shown to highlight shipping costs.toyota - Thursday, November 29, 2007 - link
no edit?also the same article says this about 8800gt 512mb: Prices went from the expected $199 - $249 to a completely unexpected $250 - $300 range.
Crusader - Thursday, November 29, 2007 - link
Looks just like my 8600GTS from MSI with passive cooling.Gonna have to upgrade to this card though!
docmilo - Thursday, November 29, 2007 - link
I just gutted my tower and stuck my computer into a Q-Pack case and my x1900xt is running over degrees cooler. The power supply in the small case blows a ton of air straight down on the video card and when I run the ATI overdrive my card never gets over 80 degrees when testing for a stable overclock where it would push 100 degrees in my full tower case.This thing would be perfect for a case like mine.
docmilo - Thursday, November 29, 2007 - link
Over 10 degrees cooler that is. Where's the edit button when you need one?kilkennycat - Thursday, November 29, 2007 - link
Ah, yes. After at least 2 years, Anandtech and Dailytech still have not been able to attain the edit-sophistication of the article-comment section of "The Tech Report" . Maybe Scott and his crew could give the Anandtech/Dailytech web-designers a hint or two ?gerf - Saturday, December 1, 2007 - link
Editing is lame. Post it for better or for worse. I even frequent forums with no editing, much like this, and prefer it over the crappy phpBB forums.Basilisk - Thursday, November 29, 2007 - link
Perhaps I misunderstand your post, but... putting this card in my X-Qpack case would require removing a large portion of the power-supply (over the video card slot) where the heat pipes need to pass over the card. Same problem with several other cases I've used.Which is the @#$%^ problem with most passively cooled powerful GPU's: their pipes increase the vertical requirements too much. I wish they'd either notch the top of the cards for the pipes, or pass the pipes through notches on either end of the card. The current "over the top" approach minimizes their effort in re-utilizing non-passive card layouts, but the reverse could be done -- just build all cards on the notched-board design even if they use fans and no pipes.