GIGABYTE GV-NX96T512HP

Josh Collins gets his game on… quietly.

The GV-NX96T512HP, or as we like to call it, the passively cooled 9600GT by GIGABYTE, is an interesting addition to the range of 9600GT based graphics cards in the market.

Not only does it belong to the 9600GT family, but this card also joins the ranks of passively cooled graphics cards. One that came to mind as we reviewed this card was the passively cooled 8800GT made by ECS that appeared in issue 85. It a passively cooled card and it also featured some pretty impressive overclocked operating frequencies.

It’s no surprise that it came to mind, not only because of the cooling method, but also the fact that the GIGABYTE model sports overclocked frequencies to boot. With the core rockin’ on at an impressive 720MHz, memory at 1008MHz (2016MHz effective) and shader cruising at 1800MHz, this card is set to not only run quietly but do so with some gusto.

Thankfully, these are the only similarities that the passive GIGABYTE 9600GT has with the passive ECS 8800GT. If you think back to the ECS review, you’ll remember that we encountered some heat-related issues during our testing. It puts a smile on our dial that the folks at GIGABYTE HQ have provided the market with a high performance card while also managing to keep the thermals in check. There’s no denying the card gets warm to the touch – it would be odd if it didn’t – but the fact that it doesn’t get ZOMGhot is impressive and allows you to enjoy the card’s silent aural pleasure… assuming you’re not disturbed by other components such as noisy CPU coolers or rackety HDDs.

At the time of print there was no price available to comment on (which has now been updated -ed), so on the sheer performance and functionality, we reckon GIGABYTE has produced a strong product for the marketplace.