The Vvikoo 8800GT-Max

The Vvikoo Max is a very, very striking card. Not only is the PCB itself a dark purple, but it features a huge, copper Zalman cooler.

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As you can see the PCB really is a deep, luscious purple. This is in stark contrast to the usual PCB colourings of Red, Green and occasionally black.

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At the back end of the card is a single SLI bridge. This allows for two 8800GTs to be linked up for "up to twice the graphics performance" though between 40% and 60% is more likely.

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At the very rear of the 8800GT, there are two red DVI ports and a single SVideo socket. However, something you'll notice about the back of this card is that it's dual slot. This is completely different from other 8800GTs as one of the main features of the GT was that it was a single slot card. That made it possible for SFF builders to use them much more easily. Although fitting this extra large Zalman cooler may help temperatures, Vvikoo risk alienating one of the main markets for the 8800GT, the compact case enthusiasts.

One idea could have been to make the heatsink thinner and taller. Most cases - apart from the tiny ones - would be able to take another inch in their vertical department... achem.

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The fan of the cooler is powered by a 4pin that sits conveniently on the board itself. This makes for what appears to be a "cableless" cooler as the wires are almost completely stealthed behind the huge heatsink.

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Speaking of which...