Pixel-Churners: A round-up of Radeon 9700 PRO cards

Gigabyte Maya II GV-R9700 PRO

The Taiwanese manufacturer Gigabyte produced graphics cards based on NVIDIA chips for a long time before switching entirely to ATi at the beginning of the year.

Chic gold-plated heatsinks keep the temperatures down.

Interestingly, Gigabyte did not install memory coolers on the back of the card.

While still based on the ATi reference design like the other cards, the Maya II board has a differently designed, gold-plated fan and cooling elements for its RAM. Interestingly, these elements are only integrated on the front of the card, indicating that they may only be decorative. Gigabyte is somewhat tight-fisted with the video accessories, including only a combined S-VHS/ composite cable and a composite adapter. A DVI-VGA adapter and a manual are the only other items in the package.

The fan design is identical to that of the ATi reference card.

Close-up of the memory coolers.

Gigabyte includes a comprehensive software bundle with the card, albeit without Hydravision. Instead of the MultiMedia Center, the board ships with the DVD player PowerDVD XP 4.0 from Cyberlink. The game bundle consists mostly of titles from days gone by - Serious Sam, Rune, Heavy Metal FAKK2, Motocross Mania and the light versions of Evo 4x4 and Oni.

• Plus points:
• 
  Cyberlink Power DVD XP
  Large gaming bundle, albeit with somewhat older titles
• Minus points:
• 
  No Hydravision dual-display software
  RAM heatsinks only on the front of the card
  No video-out cable (see text)