Leadtek applies lead tech to heatsink. John Gillooly applies review.
Amidst the flurry of new graphics card variants appearing on the market, NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 GT has shone as the best balance of performance, price and features. Based around the same GeForce 6800 core that powers the beastly GeForce 6800 Ultra, but without the need for dual Molex power and the accompanying heat output it is a tempting offering for both current and future games.
While the reference design for the 6800 GT is a slick single slot solution, Leadtek has chosen to use a large custom heatsink on a reference design PCB. By large custom heatsink we of course mean obscenely sized chunk of copper. So obscene in fact that it's purpose has us befuddled to say the least. But the highest level of confusion comes with the decision to use a single backplate, rather than a dual one which would add structural reinforcement.
We dragged out the scales to see how much this lump weighed and were somewhat stunned at the result. A GeForce 6800 GT reference design card that uses NVIDIA's standard single height heatsink weighed a mere 304 grams, while the dual height heatsink on the GF 6800 Ultra reference design meant the card weighed 424 grams. However the Leadtek A400 GT TDH card weighed in at 744 grams, plus the heatsink is higher in profile than that of the 6800 Ultra.
Suffice to say, this means that no matter how good its performance is we would not recommend this card for a LAN box, as it will place mechanical strain on the motherboard when being bounced around in transit. If your PC doesn't move much, then it should be ok, but be aware that there are lighter cards on the market.
Weight aside, this is a damn great performer of a card and perfect for the new generation of games. Speaking of games it comes bundled with Splinter Cell: Pandora Tommorrow and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which are both good looking and great playing titles. Add that in our testing this month the GT was only 5 frames behind the Ultra in all benchmarks and we think you'll agree that this is NVIDIA's sweet spot and Leadtek's hefty offering is testament to this.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012