EVGA is one of the top sellers of video cards in the US for retail cards at stores like BestBuy and Fry's. Along with XFX, EVGA builds video cards based upon NVIDIA video chips and has excellent service and support. NVIDIA introduced the GeForce 8800 GT video card late last year. Released with a total of 112 stream processors, the GeForce 8800 GT was a new version of the GeForce 8800 GTX with some minor modifications to the core that resulted in performance that was nearly the same. In fact EVGA released many versions of the GeForce 8800 GT including a SuperClocked version and now the Akimbo version with an embedded improved cooling solution, to be even more competitive. - Gamepyre

EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 1GB Akimbo Version Review

The key new feature of the GeForce 8800 GT 1GB Akimbo video card is the cooling solution that EVGA uses. This card has a dual slot cooler and fan that efficiently dissipates heat with the larger heatsink. EVGA says that the card can come in 25°C cooler than a standard cooling system. One key feature is the 3-phase power design which allows for more extreme overclocking compared to two phase power found on most video cards. The Akimbo is available in several options, like a 512MB version of the GeForce 8800 GT which is overclocked out of the box to 720MHz and is also available as a kit for EVGA owners.

This allows the user to have higher overclocks on their already purchased video card without voiding the warranty and allows EVGA to make a buck off the sale as well. The GeForce 8800 GT supports all of the features of DirectX 10 which was released along with the Vista operating system from Microsoft almost two years ago. Virtually every game released today and being worked on today is going to use DirectX 10 as Vista has been put forward as the operating system of choice among system builders. The first thing you will notice about the card is the double slot cooler that the Akimbo edition brings to the table.

The cooler is designed to fit in any computer case that has two open slots. The GeForce 8800 GT is a PCI Express 2.0 video card meaning that the bandwidth for data transfer has increased. The rear of the card has a heatsink and heatpipe to further keep the temperatures down on the card. The Akimbo brings the total onboard memory on the card to 1GB as such. The extra memory can improve performance when high resolutions and anti-aliasing are enabled as the video card doesn't need to use system memory to run. The card has a 6-pin power connector that provides extra power, next to what the PCI Express can provide.

The EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT 1GB Akimbo is an interesting card in many respects. The performance is not up to the GeForce 9800 GTX but it is close being that the two cards share the same video chip just with 16 stream processors disabled. The main selling point of this card is the Akimbo cooling solution as it kept the card noticeably cooler during operation, about 15-20°C cooler according to our temperature monitoring software. The EVGA technical support and warranty are second to none in the industry with a limited lifetime warranty and the step-up program that allows you to upgrade the video card.

All this is giving the owner the peace of mind that they can just pay up the difference between the new graphics card and the old one if they want. One thing about this card is the selling price is the same as a standard GeForce 9800 GTX making the choice rather interesting. And by all means, the GeForce 9800 GTX does have the edge in performance which makes us wonder if EVGA should be changing their pricing on the Akimbo edition.