Abit has always been known for pushing the envelope. A favorite among overclocking enthusiasts, Abit has established a reputation for bringing new features and functionality to the table to allow the consumer to squeeze every last drop of performance out of their products. In the same tradition, Abit has developed the OTES, or Outside Thermal Exhaust System. Seemingly nothing more than a fan and an enormous block of copper, the OTES heatsink assembly is actually based upon the impressive behavior of heatpipes.

In theory, a heatpipe is a hollow section of tubing, which contains a liquid of some sort. As the tubing is heated, there is enough activation energy to cause the liquid inside to begin to boil. As it does this, it changes phase and begins to vaporize. As a result, the heat is transferred along the tubing until it reaches the end. Here, the vapor changes state again to a liquid form and returns to the base of the tubing for the process to repeat. In order to dissipate the heat at the end of the heatpipe, a copper radiator is used. This radiator is further cooled by a 7000rpm fan, which blows directly over the fins via a specialized air duct which rests on top of the heatsink assembly.

Looking at the retail packaging for this card, an individual can instantly tell that this is a high-quality product. Despite the rather unconventional graphics, the overall look of the packaging has a very professional and polished feel to it. Opening the box and examining the contents, we find a great deal of documentation as well as a number of accessories bundled with the card.

As far as documentation is concerned, Abit provides the user with some of the most complete and thorough instructions I have seen to date. Here, they cover nearly every graphics topic imaginable, from the card itself to the functions of specific driver settings. In terms of bundled accessories, the Abit is quite impressive. The user is given a wide variety of cables/connectors including a composite RCA connector, an S-Video connector, a hybrid S-Video/Composite adapter, as well as a DVI/D-Sub adapter. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the bundled accessories would be the overall quality of the products themselves. With an appearance similar to the cables found on Mac products, the cables look somewhat like a coated steel braid with a translucent plastic housing on each end. Overall, every bundled accessory indicates the high quality of Abit’s latest product.

The high quality of the bundled products is merely a precursor to the artful example of craftsmanship that is the GeForce4 Ti 4200 OTES graphics card. In every respect, this graphics card boasts incredible quality and attention to detail. From the polished copper heatsink assembly to the matte black PCB board, this board captures your attention. Perhaps the most surprising quality of this card is the board’s layout. Despite the additional features and hardware this card provides, the board remains especially clean and orderly. In my perspective, this speaks volumes about the amount of time engineers and developers spent on the product. In every manner, you can tell that there was a great deal of effort involved with the design of this card.