A Closer Look at the ASUS 8800GT TOP cont’.


The back of the card has the usual reference design but we can see that the Glaciator should be easy to remove since it is held in place by a mere four screws as opposed to the stock heatsink’s twelve.


The Glaciator heatsink is a custom ASUS design which looks like a beefed up version of some of the lower-end Zalman coolers we have seen installed on graphics cards for some time now. It utilizes a center-mounted, 9 bladed fan which directs airflow downwards through the gold-painted aluminum fins and down towards the ram modules. The fan spins at a constant rate and unlike some heatsink fans, it does not have any flashy LED lights embedded in it (though some blue LEDs here would have looked amazing).


All of the aluminum fins are spaced equidistantly apart which should provide optimal cooling for the core. Overall, the Glaciator looks like a very efficient CPU cooler but its true performance will be tested in our temperature testing section.