Going mainstream ain’t what it used to be. There were stark choices to be made back in the late 90’s regarding computer components and even whole computer systems. It was either you had the goods, or you had a poor alternative to “the goods”.

                                             An 8500GT. Looks mid-level doesn't it?

What the heck am I talking about? Well, I suppose “mainstream” can mean any computer component, but what caught my eye this time around was the Inno3D 8500GT video card. The 8500GT, as most technically-inclined geeks know, is part of the “mainstream” series of video cards that Nvidia introduced into the market this year. Now, if we were somehow transported back to the late 90’s, this 8500 chipset would merely have been the “poor alternative”, and a product based on this chipset would only merit a brief glance from editors used to reviewing massive 8800GTX cards with massive 768MB  video memory.

                                              S3 Trio. Comes in PCI version. Only.

But this is 2007, and not only do “mainstream” components perform much better now than the 90’s equivalent (S3 Trio 2MB anyone?), they are packaged and marketed way better too. Hence: The Inno3D GF8500GT 256MB DDR2 “iChill” Video card. The most prominent feature of this card is the iChill moniker – a name that springs from one of the better known cooling-apparatus manufacturers – Arctic Cooling. Other details, which I will get to later, enhance the “wow” factor of this mainstream card.

Immediately, this product sets itself apart from the trappings of a mid-level card, with the associated stigma for cash-strapped but hardware-obsessed techies. In other words, the brand Arctic Cooling denotes high-end hardware meant for the enthusiast market, and since it looks so awesome, it considerably softens the blow of buying “just” an 8500GT based video card for that same cash-strapped techie. (As well as hinting at its high overclocking potential.)

                                               Note the size of the actual card below.

Looking at the card from the top, the cooling fan and heatsink combination dominates, with a big, turbine-like fan to the right of the component, raised up more than an inch from the lowest part of the card, presumably to reach cooler air away from the card. Shiny, shiny fins are attached to the memory chips on the card, setting off the smoked, dark plastic of the fan scaffold. It surprises when viewed from the side, as the green PCB of the card itself ends abruptly nearly two inches from the fan’s housing. Did I mention that the fan is Big?

                                              An 8500GT box. Looks high-end, doesn't it?

Other cool details abound: the back plate is treated a smoke-gray color, while the DVI and VGA connectors are anodized gold. A support bracket running along the top of the card proudly proclaims the iChill name: as well as making sure the card doesn’t warp due to the weight of the cooling apparatus, it sets off the look of the card as a substantial piece of kit: like visible armor plating. For more visual impact, get a casing that looks like an aircraft carrier – this turbine-equipped card will slot right in.                                        

                                            Guaranteed overclock with this fan

This video card is not 768MB – impressive, but 256MB is nothing to be sneered at. The 8500GT chipset is also capable in the way that no previous mainstream iteration can be: for one, it is DirectX 10 capable, and the throughput it can achieve rivals previous high-end products from Nvidia. Limitations for demanding games are of course present; even after all the positives stated above, this still ain’t “the goods”, it is after all three steps down from the ultimate version of the 8000 series, disregarding special editions and such.

                                             The shiny, shiny bits

It’s easier for geeks to shop these days, especially in the case of the more prominent PC components. Video cards, LCD’s, computer casings, even memory modules are blinged-out, enhanced, overclocked, packaged beautifully and generally made more desirable. These products can never replace the top-of-the-line, but you can always pretend and just point at the impressive-looking video card peeking out of your clear side-paneled, blinged-out computer system - no need to feel bummed with a “mainstream” part in this day and age.

Watch out for a possible in-depth review of this visually-impressive card (both physically and in-game) in the upcoming issues of HardwareMag.