NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT - G92 Takes Flight

The GeForce 8800 GT itself is diminutive in size and due to the GPU's 65nm process technology, comes built on a single slot design 9" PCB that just begs for a multi-GPU SLI configuration.

Though the slim form-factor is certainly a big plus, no pun intended, the small turbine style the reference design employs can definitely get a bit whiney, especially on initial boot up, where the card is downright annoying.  However, once the card's drivers kick into gear in the OS, the card throttles way back and the fan isn't audible unless the card is under heavy load or thermally challenged due to tight chassis space constraints.  Under serious loads and when things get warm, expect the fan speed to spin up to tolerable though decidedly noticeable levels.
 

MSI's retail offering is shown here with virtually no difference in board design versus NVIDIA's reference design.  The card however does come factory overclocked to a 660 MHz core and 1900MHz memory speeds.  Don't expect the acoustics to be any better with this card but again, the GeForce 8800 GT's whiney little fan isn't what we would call a show-stopper.