A Closer Look:

Shipped in a near retail configuration, Sparkle has chosen to ship their product in the same style that Sapphire does - tall, slightly thicker, albeit narrow boxes - not necessarily the sort that dominate a shelf, but rather the sort that allow an entire product display to be fit to one rack, instead of one wall. This shrink wrapped entry, though lacking in visibility, makes up for itself easily in style. On the front of the package, a metallic tribal logo sits front and center surrounded by the product's badging, as well as information about it. In terms of packaging in general, this is fairly unremarkable, but in terms of graphics card packaging, it's fairly common. Across the other sides of the box are the system requirements, a few awards, and a blurb. What really matters is the brown carton hiding inside of the box.

All the bases covered	Many Fingers
Twice the power?	Perforated... Intake?

Turning the card over, the one distinguishing feature here - besides the sticker, is the backplate, which Sparkle's unit bolts on to. To be fully honest, considering that this is basically a reference 9800GTX+ PCB, I'm unsure why Sparkle simply didn't maintain the use of that cooler. Perhaps cost, or aesthetics, but if there's one unfortunate concern, it's that the parts installed to replace it are somewhat inferior, and in that regard, the card even precludes itself from advanced cooling, as shots of the installed T-Rad will show.

Backplate	The Sticker
She's naked!	Well it looks fine from here...