The Verdict
Just days ago we tested Galaxy's GeForce 9600 GT that was passively cooled, that one already was great. This Sparkle model however is slightly better. First off the design just seems to be a notch better looking. Secondly in roughly the same conditions the thermals on this Sparkle version where just seriously good. With a pretty standard amount of airflow in the PC the core temperature of this passively cooled product just did not exceed 60 degrees C. And that's pretty extraordinary as I've seen active cooled solutions at much higher thermals.
With such great temperatures I did what I normally do not do with a passively cooled product, I overclocked it. Standard clocks are 650/1600/800 for the core, shader processors and memory respectively. We boosted performance up big-time, by overclocking the card to 766/1955/1053 MHz. That is 10 to 15% extra performance straight out of the box there. For a passi
ve product that's just an astounding overclock.
Combine that with the fact that the cards does not make a noise .. I say you have a winner here. Surely in 2008 the GeForce 9600 GT is not the fastest card on the block anymore. Add another 50 EUR and you can pickup a GeForce 9800 GTX+ or Radeon HD 4850 nearly doubling overall performance. But if it is silence that you need, occasionally play a game in fairly average resolutions up-to 1600x1200, this card will do just fine.
The bottom line is this, this card will offer okay performance. It's extremely appealing for HTPC's and desktop PC's that require a silent environment. So pretty much it boils down to what you actually plan to do with the graphics card. If you hunt gaming performance, please ... go with a GeForce 9800 GTX+ or Radeon HD 4850. But if it is sheer silence you need while playing an occasional game then this card will definitely come very recommended.
And at 99 EUR ... it's a bargain.
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