Our colleagues at Expreview.com have researched and managed to find out that the new fan, rumored to be the new reference fan, has appeared on many more 8800 GT cards. The new fan can now be found on certain Inno 3D, Leadtek, XFX, Zotac and Evga cards.

After the first test, which Expreview.com has done on Leadtek's 8800 GT with the new bigger fan, Nvidia has denied the rumor about the new reference fan. Since this new fan has raised a lot of questions we decided to ask our sources once more. And yet again, nothing is changed, Nvidia did not change the reference design and doesn't plan to do so at the moment. According to our source close to Nvidia, it's usual for AIB partners to differentiate their products from other partners.

The bottom line is that the old reference fan is doing an average job. It is a bit loud and the card tends to get a bit hot during load. According to Expreview.com testing the new fan isn't much better, temperatures are almost the same, but the noise is much lower. So if you are lucky enough to get the new fan on your 8800 GT, that is better for you. If not, then you will have a noisier system.

You can check out the Expreview.com article here.