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The Sparkle Calibre X680 Captain ships in a very sophisticated oblong container, plain black with a logo in the center and the ‘Calibre' name highlighted top left and ‘Designed By Sparkle' in the center at the bottom of the box. We were almost expecting to see a 3D render of a toothless Pirate Captain on the box, but the company have opted for a unicorn mascot instead.
The bundle includes several power and video converters, a quick install guide and a VIP support card with the same unicorn mascot emblazoned at the top.
The Sparkle Calibre X680 Captain is certainly eye catching, as upon first glance there are no fans installed. On closer inspection we can see they are underneath the aluminum heatsink.
On the opposite side of the two slot cooler there are several bars bolted into place to ensure that the cooler maintains enough distance from the PCB, otherwise the fans would hit components on the card. The rear of the PCB shows a backplate which will help improve cooling efficiency under load.
The card really is very attractive, the six heatpipes are arranged in a radial layout, spreading across the full length of the heatsink from left to right.
The Sparkle Calibre X680 Captain is SLi capable in 2, 3 and 4 way configurations.
The card takes power from a single 8 pin and 6 pin connector.
There are two DVI ports on the back, along with an HDMI and DisplayPort connector. This is a perfect configuration of digital video connectors and covers all bases.
The cooler is very well constructed with 3 fans bolted into the heatsink from the underside. The base is connected to six thick heatpipes which span the full width of the PCB. The GDDR5 memory and VRM's are all treated to dedicated coolers which earns the Sparkle Calibre X680 Captain a bonus point.
A GPUz overview of the Sparkle Calibre X680 Captain, built on the 28nm process. This card is overclocked to 1,124mhz (1,189mhz boost) and the memory also receives a boost to 1,550mhz (6.2Gbps effective). This memory is connected via a 256 bit memory interface. There are 32 ROPs and 1,536 CUDA Cores on the GTX680.
Wasn’t expecting this. I dont see anyone in UK stocking these however?
unusual design for a high end card. never really heard of the company to be honest. far east brand?
I always wondered why this design wasn’t used more often (fans under cooler). it should in theory lower noise as the main fan noise is behind a rack of fins and air will be sucked in. good idea.
Are Sparkle linked to Gainward? the cooler looks very like the phantom cooler they had out a while ago. (was a good cooler, not a bad thing).
very impressive card, would you guys say its better than the KFA2 3 fan cards though?
Thats a good question. If you like the KFA2 white PCB and want the slightly higher clocks then they are good options. They are slightly louder and more expensive however.
One of my good friends once told me that Sparkle and Gainward are a sister company. I believe him now.
Thank you all for reading the review, can I clarify that Sparkle are an independent company and in no way related to Gainward.
The use of similar coolers in pure coincidence
Sparkle are an independent company and in no way related to Gainward.