The card comes in a box that is shaped like a X for obvious reasons and has a picture of some sort of wild cat. The back of the box has some specifications as well as a window that lets you get a glimpse of the card. I opened up the box to find a smaller box which holds all of the contents.
This 5600 Ultra uses a brilliant blue PCB that I like a lot. The card uses a good sized active heatsink to cool the core and has RAMsinks on both the front and back side. From the side of the card you can see that it has a VGA, DVI, and S-Video connection. This card also needs external power from a 4 pin Molex which is why there is a plug on the top right hand corner of the PCB.
The card comes with two S-Video cables, a VIVO cable, and a DVI to VGA adapter so you can use two CRTs if you choose. There is also a users manual, quick install guide, warranty card, addendum, and driver CD. There is no game bundle at all which is a little disappointing however I like the fact that so many accessories are included.
The heatsink is held on by two clips on each end which are easily taken off with a pair of pliers. After taking the heatsink off the card I found a good amount of thermal compound. The last time I reviewed an XFX video card it was a little lacking when it came to thermal compound. I like the fact that they have since improved and added more.
I cleaned off the core of the GPU to get a picture, as you can see the card is using the GeForceFX 5600 Ultra GPU. I then reapplied thermal compound to the core, replaced the heatsink, and installed the card to my system. The card installed with no problem and did not interfere with anything on the motherboard. I also plugged a 4 pin Molex from my power supply into the card so that it would be properly powered.
