Galaxy 8800GT - the Mystery Cooler Surprise for $209

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Spare-Flair

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Remember those toys you got when you were kids that you didn't know which figure you got until you opened the package?

Looks like the new Galaxy 8800GTs are the same way, one of them has the coolermaster heat-pipe coil with fins design most have seen and the other is a dual-slot solution that looks like the reference design, just streamlined and twice as high with a huge fan.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27328&promoid=1087
(hover over the pictures to zoom)

And they are only $209.99 after rebate! But I find it hilarious that they can't guarantee which version you get, I guess the Galaxy boxes are still plain white as usual. Both look like great solutions compared to the reference design.

27328_V1.jpg

27328_V3.jpg


27328_l.jpg
 
That's very uncool how they don't tell you which one you're getting...

For some, space and noise are concerns... not just cooling. The 'new' redesign appears to have the cooler enclosure extending beyond the length of the card, and those side-blower fans are always noisier, esp. when enclosed like that. The one upside to a blower design like that would have been that the hot air is exhausting out of the case... but the cooler enclosure doesn't extend all the way to the back, nor does it look like a full 2nd slot in height... so it's letting more heat back in that a more traditional 'closed' design, AND if that height looks right, the exhaust would be hitting one of those metal beams that delineate your rear ports.

Good price though, and better than stock.
 
I read somewhere that the reason it requires 2 power connectors is that it provides power to the memory and the GPU separately due to their funky power design. Which i guess is suppose to provide cleaner power for higher overclocks but that remains to be proven.
 
I think Zerotherm are the OEM for that second cooler rather than Coolermaster :)
 
Has someone actually bought these and done some o'clocking with these cards? What happens if your card dies on you do you have to call aminland China and ship it there in order to get a replacement part? There's a 8800GTS 512mb on sale right now and I was looking to pick that up. But I was looking to what you guys think.
 
theres a 7 page thread in the "nVidia flavor" subforum here, related specificaly to this card with pictures and overclocks galore... Linky

Mines was pictured with the super-sized Zalman fan and thats what I got, and to my surprise its substantially, SUBSTANTIALLY bigger than Zalman VF900 with large copper pipes and aluminum fins...

the 2 power plugs are for stability, so are the 3 phase voltage regulators, and it is safe to say that this card is beyond refference already, it has pin jumpers for dual bios incase you have a bad flash or want to change speeds via bios flashing... and it has pin jumpers for vcore voltage bumping of 0.1v for much higher overclocks (but this is only available via the SMART option on asian versions, however, I suspect its just a bios thing and all we have to do is flash to an asian bios and voiala)... NVIDIA forced them not to make this option available to the north american market if they wanted to sell these cards at all.

My card is running at 750 gpu, 1885 shader, 2150 ram stable @ 69c tops... but as allways, YMMV, and I do have small zalman ram-sinks on mine that I added because I had extra, but most agree it seldom needs it..
 
The Red said:
theres a 7 page thread in the "nVidia flavor" subforum here, related specificaly to this card with pictures and overclocks galore... Linky

Mines was pictured with the super-sized Zalman fan and thats what I got, and to my surprise its substantially, SUBSTANTIALLY bigger than Zalman VF900 with large copper pipes and aluminum fins...

the 2 power plugs are for stability, so are the 3 phase voltage regulators, and it is safe to say that this card is beyond refference already, it has pin jumpers for dual bios incase you have a bad flash or want to change speeds via bios flashing... and it has pin jumpers for vcore voltage bumping of 0.1v for much higher overclocks (but this is only available via the SMART option on asian versions, however, I suspect its just a bios thing and all we have to do is flash to an asian bios and voiala)... NVIDIA forced them not to make this option available to the north american market if they wanted to sell these cards at all.

My card is running at 750 gpu, 1885 shader, 2150 ram stable @ 69c tops... but as allways, YMMV, and I do have small zalman ram-sinks on mine that I added because I had extra, but most agree it seldom needs it..
Click to expand...


Yup I was reading that (was on page 4) but what happens if sometihng goes wrong and this card stops working? Where to claim the warranty from?
 
umgill45 said:
Yup I was reading that (was on page 4) but what happens if sometihng goes wrong and this card stops working? Where to claim the warranty from?
Click to expand...

I know Galaxy is a Hong Kong company and they give you 1-year warranty, but I don't know if they have a North American depot or anything.
 
I ordered after the mystery cooler lottery began. I'll give a report after it arrives. I had been leaning towards the 3870 becase I prefer the duel slot coolers, but for this price, and with either non-reference cooler, I couldn't justify the slower card.
 
I ordered my Galaxy 8800GT 1 week ago. I received the Zalman-type heatsink with mine (last picture). I like it since its really quiet - even with the fan speed on full I don't hear it - and the card itself is shorter than the reference versions. (It works for my system since the eVga 8800gt w/larger cooler blocks one of my SATA ports on my Asus P5K-E motherboard)

Note: This version of the Galaxy is no longer a Single Slot card.

Idle temps: 50-51 degrees (fan speed @ 40% - w/ GPU + Memory underclocked )
Load: 68-72 degrees (fan speed @ 100% - w/ Standard clocks)
Lightsmark 2007 score: 165.9 avg fps @ 1280x1024 w/ nVidia CPL set to Quality
Lightsmark 2007 score: 345.0 avg fps @ 1280x1024 w/ nVidia CPL set to Performance
Room temp: ~21.5 degrees
Case: Antec Sonata II - rear exhaust fan (Antec Tricool) set to medium speed. No intake fan

Haven't tried to OC since my LCD is only 19".
 
Just in case someone misses this, the rebate on that page is for Canadian purchases only. There is an american version of the rebate here. The US product page for that same card does not mention the savings code (as well as having a different cooler from the CDN page) that the CDN side does, so it comes out to ~$230USD after rebate. Don't know if mixing and matching is possible with that code so you can still get it for near $209 in the US, but it's a fantastic price either way.
 
the canadian site doesnt, use the US site, just click the right flag at the top... they however do take PayPal on both sides..
 
The Red>>

do you have the chance to place side to side the CoolerMaster heatsink and the Zalman vf900?
 
acer4ever said:
The Red>>

do you have the chance to place side to side the CoolerMaster heatsink and the Zalman vf900?
Click to expand...
i can tell you from experience, the zalman is quite a bit smaller, but still a better heatsink. with stock i used to get 55c idle, with vf900 its down to 46c, and load went down from 69c to 61c. my cards don't overclock well though, most likely cause I run sli. that was another issue with the stock heatsink, my sli bridge is the rigid version, so it was resting on the fins of the cooler master, but the vf900 is much smaller so no such problem. I think ultimately, even though the heatpipes the zalman uses are smaller, it has more fins, and the fact that there are two heatpipes versus the cooler master's one helps.
 
"Galaxy 8800 GT w/Huge Copper Pipe Fan @ 750gpu, 1885shader, 2150 ram"

IMO that's a very nice OC ! :)

did you check if your ram is Qimonda or Samsung?
 
I just ordered this card.- Im using a 320 gts now and a 30 inch samsung 305t- Im hoping i get a vast improvement when i play my oblivion.
 
Just received the card. Got the dual slot (the fist pic) version. I'll report on performance after I get a chance to install it.

Looking forward to call of duty with everything turned up...
 
Updating above: Card performs fine, but is a complete leaf-blower.

Apparently Galaxy locked the fan speed at 100% in the bios. It starts loud and stays loud. I could tolerate it while gaming, but not in other applications. I've contacted NCIX and Galaxy. NCIX has requested a bios fix from Galaxy. If one isn't forthcoming, I would recommend avoiding this card.
 
i have the coolermaster version. the fan speed is locked at 29%. riva tuner shows 100% but i know its still 29% because the temp never changes no matter what i set RT too.

today i unplugged the fan from the board and used an adapter to run it directly off a molex. now, im not sure if its running on 12v or 6v? the temps are the same as before. 45c idle and 70c on load. i assume if its on 6v the fan would be running at 50%? and 12v would force 100%? i cant remember which coloured wires are 6v and which are 12v?

edit:

did some googling and found a black and red combo on a molex is 5v and black and yellow is 12v. that's what i had hooked to my card and that should have made the fan spin at 100% right.

however temps didnt change from running it the way it came, so i guess i was wrong and it wasnt running at 29% fan speed. oh well 45c/70c idle/load isnt bad for an OC of 700/2000?
 
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