Fat graphics card whirrs constantly

WITH ITS LARGE large heat-sink covering the RV350 core and memory chips, Sapphire's latest graphics card, the X1600 XT Ultimate Edition, at first glance looks like a passively cooled model.

However, follow the two heat pipes round and you will find another heat-sink at the rear, this time cooled by a large but slow-spinning fan, writes Simon Crisp.

Sadly this fan isn't actively controlled, so it will always be whirring away at the same speed no matter what the temperature of the card. Also, due to its large size, motherboards with limited space might have trouble accommodating the card.

Under the custom-cooling sits a regular X1600XT with the core running at 587MHz, while the 256MB of GDDR3 memory is clocked at 693MHz (1,386MHz effective).

The card has dual-link DVI capability so you can run large panels (such as the Dell 3007WFP 30in TFT) off the single DVI connector at a maximum resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. Also available is an VGA and S-video connector.

As well as the Sapphire Select gaming bundle, Sapphire has also bundled the Da Vinci Code game with the card.

All in all, a quiet card with that performs well. ?