MSI GeForce 9800GT 512MB

Examination:

The MSI N9800GT 512MB is quite different from NVIDIA's GeForce 9800GT reference design. MSI uses a red PCB for the graphics card, an advanced dual-slot cooler, and its core/memory frequencies are pushed beyond their reference specifications. The MSI 9800GT cooler uses four copper heatpipes that extend from the GPU cooling block to a series of aluminum fins. In the center of the heatsink is a large fan to circulate the air and has a 4-pin power interface. The GDDR3 memory on this graphics card is not cooled by any heatsink. The 512MB of GDDR3 memory is made up of Samsung K4J52324QE-BJ1A ICs, which are rated to run at 1GHz.

At the rear of the graphics card is the 6-pin PCI Express power connector required by this graphics processor. Near the SLI connector on this graphics card is the HDMI audio pass-through header, if you wish to provide audio over HDMI when using the included graphics cards. Unlike the recent ATI GPUs there is no integrated APU with newer NVIDIA graphics cards. Visible from the opposite side of the graphics card are all of the standard mounting holes for the GeForce 9800GT.

The external connectors on this graphics card include two dual-link DVI and TV output. HDMI and VGA can be used via the included adapters.