Gigabyte 9800GT 512MB Video Card Review :: The Gigabyte GV-N98TZL-512H 9800GT Card

The Gigabyte card is unusual in that it uses an aluminum Zalman VF830 cooler with Heatpipes sticking out of it. The cooler is different than most cards on the market today in that the memory chips are not covered by the cooler. Another interesting fact is the 9800GT from Gigabyte is short, being a shade under 9 inches long, which is less than most 8800GT cards.

Card

Length shot

Zalman cooler

Bottom of cooler

The Gigabyte GVN98TZL-512H has a conventional layout in most other respects with two exceptions. The first is a HDMI Audio port. This allows the end-user to get world-class audio from the video card using the HDMI port. The second point of interest is the use of Low RDS (on) MOSFETS on the rear of the card which acts like their motherboard counterparts in keeping the circuits cool.

Top of cooler

Ferrite Core Chokes

PCI Express

Capacitors

The third point of interest is the solid capacitors. If you’ve ever had a capacitor leak on a motherboard, you know it can be a bad thing. Solid Capacitors will be less likely to leak or break off the video card. The top of the card has a SLI bridge allowing for two 9800GT cards to be set in SLI to improve performance. The TDP of the 9800GT is 105W. As the power provided by a PCI Express Generation 2.0 video card slot is 75W this means that additional external power is required. There is a 6-pin power connection on the rear of the PCB front, allowing you to use this card on a computer that has a 400W PSU. The rear of the card has four pins for holding the cooling fan and heatsink into place above the graphics chip. The IO on the card is the now standard two DVI-I and TV-Out configuration that allows up to two digital LCD monitors to be used at one time.

SLI connector

HDMI Audio

Rear of PCB

IO