As NVIDIA celebrates the launch of its two new flagship products: the GeForce GTX 295 and GeForce GTX 285, Sparkle made an addition to its mainstream graphics lineup with a 1 GB variant its GeForce 9600 GSO accelerator (model: SX96SO1024D3-HM). Traditionally, the G92 graphics processor in the 8800 GS, 9600 GSO should have a 192-bit memory bus, but with this particular card, Sparkle chose a 128-bit memory bus and added 1 GB of GDDR3 memory.

The card features a dual-slot cooler for the GPU. Its core is clocked550 MHz. Its 96 stream processors are clocked at 1375 MHz. The memory runs at 800 MHz (1600 MHz DDR). It supports NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX technologies and is SLI capable. It will be priced around US $100.
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1GB Extreme Fast Large-capacity GDDR3 memory
Today‘s game, such as Crysis, Alone in the Dark 5, Stalker: clear sky, they normally use a large number of bump texture, transparent texture to describe faces of characters and render realistic gaming scenes, so these games put higher demands on the capacities of video memory. The current situation demands at least 512 MB video memory to run these games. Compared with ordinary GeForce 9600 GSO graphics cards on market, SPARKLE GeForce 9600 GSO 1GB Graphics Cards come with incredible large 1GB GDDR3 video memory can let mainstream users to pass the 3DMark Vantage High Test which strictly demand at least 512MB video memory, providing much more detail information to mainstream users for better understanding its graphics capability.

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2nd Generation PureVideo HD
High-definition video decoder and post-processor delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video and accurate color for movies and video.

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Cooling System
Exquisitely made cooling fans or passive cooling system with heat-pipe, which have high performance thermal compound ensures optimal thermal dissipation even after years of use.

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Full Microsoft DirectX 10 support
World’s first DirectX 10 GPU with full Shader Model 4.0 support delivers unparalleled levels of graphics realism and film-quality effects.

* NVIDIA™ PhysX
GeForce GPU support for NVIDIA PhysX technology, enabling a totally new class of physical gaming interaction for a more dynamic and realistic experience with GeForce.

* NVIDIA™CUDA Technology
CUDA technology unlocks the power of the GPU's processor cores to accelerate the most demanding system tasks such as video transcoding delivering up to 7x performance over traditional CPUs.

Sparkle announced GeForce 9600GT and GeForce 9800GT Low Profile graphics cards on Christmas Eve. They both feature low profile PCB and native HDMI output support, designed for the users who want build HTPC home theatre. They have adopted 512MB GDDR3 and 256bit memory interface. Accordingto the specification Sparkle releases, GeForce 9600GT features 96 stream processors, which sounds a bit impossible.Featuring aluminium heat sinks, cooling fan, a DVI and HDMI output, the cards support Pure Video HD, PhysX, CUDA. No words yet on price or availability.

Ever since that review our Sparkle representative asked us to do a review on the product. I repeatedly warned Sparkle up front that they probably would not like what I was going to write, because the reference cooled 8800 GT already runs insanely hot to 90 degrees C. Doing the cooling part passive would definitely make things even worse. Combine that with the rumored GPU core temperatures of 110 Degrees Celsius, and I pretty much stereotyped the product even before we had tested it. I should not have formed my opinion based on what was known on the web about this card.

With that said Sparkle still is not bothered by us reviewing the product, and well .. you have to respect a manufacturer that is balsy enough to send out a product that potentially will get flamed (another euphemism).

Interestingly enough the product isn't even half bad, as I found out during my tests ... sure there are a lot of factors that you'll need to weigh in before you even should opt to purchase this product. But hey, you are on Guru3D.com, we'll tell you all pro's and cons and what you can expect. So let's get started with a little 101 on GeForce 8800 GT, check out the Sparkle bundle and then review it.

Before going to the next page .. you guys go check her out, and let me grab my fire-extinguisher: