The Basics:
It has been a while since I have used a card where the PCB wasn't obscured by a long, box-like cooler, and that was definitely the first thing that caught my eye with the ASUS TOP 512MB GeForce 9600GT.
What we have here is a rather naked looking blue PCB with the somewhat more traditional Glaciator heatsink and fan combination placed over the graphics processor. The memory chips are not included with the cooling solution, and you can see four bare chips on the front and back of the card.
The card is viewed from two different angles that show off a few different features, as well as providing a closer look at the rather funky design of the cooler. While this type of cooler may be more traditional, the specific design is rather interesting when considering its shape, color scheme, and combination of materials.
The images above also provide a look at the SLI tab and the 6-pin PCI Express power connection. While most modern power supplies will provide at least one of this type of PCI Express connection, ASUS did include an adapter, just in case. But as is the case with most NVIDIA cards there is no SLI bridge included, so if you're planning to use two of these cards together, be sure your motherboard came with one.
The final image in this section of the review takes a look at the end of the card where we find two DVI connections with a TV out connection in the middle.
