Leadtek's A400 Series Goes Heavy Metal

Introduction

With its newest line of cards, NVIDIA-only card maker Leadtek continues on with the unique nomenclature of its products. Now, the naming scheme has reached 400, or A400, to be more precise. The name is easily explained - take the codename of a given NVIDIA chip, in this case the NV40 of the GeForce 6800 line, and tack on a zero.

Leadtek offers three versions of the A400 with an AGP 8x interface, namely the A400 TDH (GeForce 6800), the A400 GT TDH (GeForce 6800 GT) and the A400 Ultra TDH. As has become the custom for Leadtek's products over the last few years, these cards don't follow NVIDIA's reference layout and cooling solution but use Leadtek's own coolers. As a result, in addition to being designed for heavy duty, you can take the "heavy" part literally. The cards don't just look heavy, they are heavy! If you're a fan of hefty and extravagant cooling solutions, then Leadtek may have the right card for you. Luckily, the card isn't as loud as one might fear from looking at the cooler, and are actually comparatively quiet, although nowhere near silent.