ECS 8800GT 512MB

The card of the moment; now with an added silencer.

This is one of the first non-reference 8800GT cards to hit the labs, and it’s passively cooled to boot! This offering from ECS steps it up even further by supplying a stock overclocked card. Phew, now let’s hope she lives!

With a stock core frequency of 680MHz, memory at 990MHz (1980MHz effective) and with the shader clock sitting at a cosy 1728MHz, the card is, oddly enough, one of the fastest on the market. Why do we say it’s odd? It’s freakin’ passively cooled!

With the cooling method and stock overclocked frequencies in mind, we couldn’t help but to be worried about the heat generated and the possible adverse effect this could have on the card. During our testing, particularly during the 3DMark06 runs, we were super-careful and used the ol’ touch-o-meter that is the index finger to get a feel for how much heat this card was being forced to deal with. The main heatsink itself wasn’t an issue. It was warm but not toasty, and certainly nowhere near melting point. If only the same could be said for the memory sinks – ouch; quite literally.

The cooling solution for the core is sufficient but the memory cooling, with no nearby airflow, leaves behind a sweltering area of warm air, hot metal heatsinks and, ultimately, a baking IC. With a fan placed nearby to blow directly onto the card we instantly saw, and felt, a drop in temperatures. While the silent running card was a welcomed change for our aural experience, we couldn’t help but think that the quality of the card’s visual output would not last the test of time given the heat the memory ICs were enduring.

Sporting some of the highest stock frequencies we’ve had through the labs – fourth fastest to be exact – we obviously wanted to know what kind of pixel pushing power this hot little card was capable of. Scoring 12,596 in 3DMark06 and pulling off scores of 24.56, 14.48 and 20.15 for the maximum, minimum and average FPS in our Crysis benchmark, the card has truly proven its worth.

A silent card, a fast card and very much a hot card; this submission from ECS is a solid piece of kit if you’ve got the case airflow to support it.