While it's always exciting to receive samples from the big boys in the hardware world, it's also nice to take a look at something a little different and this almost always comes from the little guys. Now, Vvikoo are manufacturers of some top end NVIDIA and ATI based GPU solutions, so using the word little is probably a little harsh, but they are definitely the new kid on the block and have a lot to prove. What we have with us today is a GeForce 8800 GT, but not just any GT. Oh no, this one has 1GB of high-end GDDR3 memory, with a huge aftermarket Zalman cooler and it's purple. So a quite special version as such with an unusual style and improved cooling solution. - XSReviews

Vvikoo GeForce 8800 GT 1GB Max SLI Ready Review

The GeForce 8800 GT was code named G92 previously and is the first NVIDIA card to transition to a 65nm manufacturer process. The GTX and Ultra cards of the same series are 90nm and the GeForce 8600 series cards are 80nm. It still features the same unified shader architecture as previous GeForce 8 series cards, but due to the size reduction, the power needs of the card are reduced and by proxy its heat output. This means that for most, a single slot cooler will suffice and perhaps even a quiet one during loaded operation. This card was the first of NVIDIA's to make the jump to PCI Express 2.0.

As far as boxes go, Vvikoo did a good job with this one. Sure it's pretty big but it's informative, effectively and subtlety styled with a prominent product name on the left hand side. The back is similarly well layed out, but does suffer from poor translations for the spiel about the card. The Vvikoo Max is a very striking card. Not only is the PCB itself a dark purple, but it features a huge copper Zalman cooler. This is in stark contrast to the usual PCB colourings of red, green and occasionally black. At the back end of the video card is a single SLI bridge. This allows for two GeForce 8800 GT's to be linked up for increased performance.

Overclocking of GeForce 8800 GT cards in the past hasn't been particularly impressive, so we were a bit skeptical as to whether we would be able to get much out of the Vvikoo. However, we were astounded to discover that this card overclocks like crazy. We managed to take the core from 600MHz to 900MHz and the shader clock from 1515MHz to 2000MHz. Unfortunately this wasn't benchmark stable and to get it working for a prolonged period of time we had to reduce clocks to 765MHz on the core and 1950MHz on the shader clock. The memory was stubborn enough to refuse all attempts on overclocking.

It's clear from this that we're a bit fan of the GeForce 8800 GT. It came out a bit late in the day, with the GeForce 9 series just around the corner but it allowed those who've been wishing after a GTX or Ultra to have near that performance level at a fraction of the cost with a quieter and more efficient cooler. Now we have the GeForce 8800 GT 1GB Max from Vvikkoo. It's got a bigger and much improved cooler. It's silent during all operation, load and idle and it overclocks like crazy. What we have is the pinnacle of the GeForce 8800 GT range but it does have a couple of drawbacks. But which graphics card hasn't?

Its 1GB of high-end memory is largely useless as it doesn't seem to give any real performance advantage in our benchmarks. Also, the memory cooling could use some work, but apart from that, this card is pretty much perfect. All in all, the GeForce 8800 GT Max from Vvikoo is one hell of a card, and if you can't wait for the GeForce 9 series, it's the best bang for buck card around at the moment. It's silent, overclocks very well and looks awesome, what more do you want?