Leadtek Unveils Liquid Cooling And The HTPC GeForce 8600GT

Named for the mythological creature, the Leadtek Leviathan is a cooling solution for its 8800 series graphics cards. The cooling solution is self contained meaning that the user never needs to service the device upon installation or after use begins. While Leadtek graphics cards have a 3 year warranty, the coolant has a lifespan of 5 years.

The Leviathan is a solution for only a single graphics card. When we asked Leadtek about the SLI configuration seen below, the product manager stated that it is only for Computex. With a $1,000 price tag, a single Leviathan 8800 Ultra based graphics card is not cheap and a pair of them for SLI is out of the price range for most users.

Switching gears from the extreme high-end performance and cooling Leadtek had several HTPC graphics cards available. The first is a GeForce 8600GT with HDMI out. The card can take either digital audio using an internal connector or and RCA audio connection on the external panel on the back of the card.

The Winfast PX8500 GT is a GeForce 8500 based graphics card that utilizes a low profile so it can be used in either HTPC or other low-profile enclosures. It has HDMI and DVI connectors. The audio portion for HDMI must be supplied via an internal digital cable to the card. The card also can be configured to accept a standard height backing plate and a VGA output via a ribbon cable that attaches to a port on the card.