Calibre 8600 GT 512Mb» Provided by: DollarshopsCalibre is a sub-brand from Sparkle, aimed at the enthusiast these products come in fancy packaging and the product themselves feature distinct features and design. You do pay a premium for all of this, but the factory overclock goodness might make up for it. This Calibre model not only gets higher clock speeds but also features 512Mb GDDR3 memory instead of the default 256Mb.
As said, the box is a bit over the top:
The package contains a small installation manual, driver CD, HDTV connection cables, classic TV-out, and one DVI->VGA converter… no games included.
The Calibre 8600 GT stands out, not only by the use of black PCB, cooler and PCI plate, the real *bling* on this video card is the small PCB plate you see sticking out of it at the left top:
The increased GPU/MEM speeds don’t require more power than the PCI express slot can deliver, so no external power connector on this card either.
Here it is in full glory, a custom build add-on for the 8600 GT card, a LED display for showing GPU or PCB board temperature, you switch between the two by pushing the small black button.
While the cooler is a single slot affair, with the LED display it becomes a dual slot solution, still SLI friendly though.
The memory chips are rated at 700Mhz @ 1.8v just like the ones on the Sparkle 8600 GT, most likely they now are running at a higher voltage.
The LED, light up, when you power on the system, they are bright and easily readable in a dark room, although you will need a side-window in your case to appreciate it.
How to pick out an 80nm 7600 GT next ->