Closer Look Around, Circulating Our Spotlight...

Up to now we have been given you a quick view on the actual package and a first view on the GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card. This means it is about time to dig a bit deeper and find out what the Gainward BLISS 9800 GX2 edition is all about, by checking a bit more closer and in detail. We will start with the front and move slowly to the back, and turning the video card upside down. We might not have mentioned it yet, though the GX2 edition from Gainward is build upon the default reference design from NVIDIA, which is actually the case for all manufacturers. Though recently we also saw some announcement of a water cooling solution for the GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics accelerator. We will actually take a closer look and highlight some of the vital features, and some of the benefits...

As already mentioned the Gainward BLISS 9800 GX2 edition does feature the standard cooling designed by NVIDIA, which is somehow natural due to the complexity of the dual-GPU card design. The cooling design isn't bad at all as NVIDIA did take a good look back at their previous experience with the GeForce 7950 GX2, which also was a dual PCB design where each PCB actually came with its own single slot cooler. In the end this lead to some annoying heat being built up between the two PCB's as the cooler in between both could not fetch enough cold air to push through the heatsink. From that aspect, the cooling solution used on the new GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card is far more superior as it combines cooling both PCB's by a single heatsink and cooling which can suck air from both sides of the video card. The main focus was also to try and keep the noise level low and still allowing some nice clock speed settings.

This cooling solution though out by NVIDIA is one of the best solutions seen so far, which really does make a difference. Although the design is new and somehow an innovation from NVIDIA it hasn't showed yet what it is capable of but does rely on the more traditional heatsink with cooling fan technology. We don't see why this cooler shouldn't be able to keep the Gainward BLISS 9800 GX2 edition running cool and stable. The Gainward cooling design is equipped with a low noise fan and adjustable fan speed, which is controlled by just one of the PCB's which you will discover later with us. The fan will circulate the air through the aluminum fins of the heatsink towards the back of the graphics card. All this together is the driving force behind the cooling solution and just taking up two expansion slots which is an excellent choice if you are thinking of running two of these high-end graphics cards.

The Gainward solution looks awesome as a whole and does without a doubt stand out in the crowd. The design looks good, feels good and has the edge over some other competitor versions. Next to the black heatsink you can see the Gainward logo in full detail as well as the Gainward name. The cooler is bigger than what we are somehow used to but it does have its advantages as it is quite effective and to that extend keeps the two G92 chips at lower temperature. Next to that this also means that the Gainward BLISS 9800 GX2 card doesn't take up much extra space. It is build out of two PCB's and only takes up two expansion slots. And as we saw already, the new mainboards envisage this by having left more room available between the PCI Express expansion slots. But still you might actually need to take this into account when you are thinking about going down the quad SLI path.

The full height of the cooler and in this case also graphics card becomes only clear when we look at the card from the side. It shows that the cooler is actually a dual slot solution, which is something you should be aware of when going for the Gainward BLISS 9800 GX2 edition video card. The cooling system isn't like the blower style that NVIDIA is using quite frequently. Though the fan system does work well since it draws the air from the front side venting striped holes through the actual heatsink and finally out at the back. As already stated, the GX2 is in fact an accelerator that comes with two PCB with each their own G92 processing core, though it takes up only two slots. This possible due to NVIDIA's innovative thinking of putting the heatsink and fan between the two PCB's and as such cooling both graphics chipsets and memory chips via one single solution.

The cooling solution is designed quite simply once you take a closer look at it, though a bit different due to heatsink and fan positioned between the two PCB's that are part of the GeForce 9800 GX2 version. We can see that NVIDIA added some venting hole at the top of the card as well, which is beneficial to reduce the heat and able to circulate the hot air away from the inner part. At the back NVIDIA has put the dual DVI connectors and one HDMI interface. Due to these connections on the back plate these is less space for extra venting holes to output the hot air which does come a bit as a drawback of the cooling design. This is of course compensated by the outlet at the top. Though if you are strictly looking on the air circulation, it might not be the best way to some block the air from taking the shortest way out. However we don't know yet what NVIDIA did with the hidden heatsink which might guide the air towards the defined venting holes? At least that would be a good idea.