Unlike its slithery namesake, this Viper's back has no stripes, but instead features four additional memory chips and the mysterious RIALTO signal converter.

A 256-bit internal ring-bus connects to a 128-bit external memory interface, with 25- ns GDDR2 perfectly matched to the card's specified 800 MHz memory data rate. The real data rate of 810 MHz is close to specification, but we don't see much hope for radical memory overclocking.

This is a close up of the AGP to PCI-Express bridge. The lack of any heat sink calls into question the use of a thermal pad, but the pad might simply be used to protect top-side resistors on the BGA package from damage. As an aside, the chip does get very hot, but was designed to withstand the heat.

Outputs include a 15-pin VGA, DVI-I and multi-function TV-out. An S-Video cable fits the standard four-pin locations, while three additional pins break out component and composite video signals. Dual 390 MHz RAMDACs allow for a combination of VGA/VGA, VGA/TV, VGA/DVI or DVI/TV displays, with 3D resolution up to 2560x1600.