NVIDIA's next-gen graphics card (G80) is set for launch in the VERY near future, a monster of a thing which will be NV's first DX 10 based card to hit the market.

The first two cards to emerge based on G80 are said to be the GeForce 8800GTX and 8800GT, and a little birdie has managed to get some early shots of the reference cards and let them spread around the web like wildfire.

Check them out over at Nordic Hardware and the VR-Zone forums folks.

Considering the information that has appeared about the power consumption of G80 we can't say we're surprised, but it's still pretty sensational to see a hybrid cooler on a prototype graphics card from NVIDIA. The dual 12V power connectors tells of its power hunger as well. We should mention that these pictures are highly unofficial and may very well be fake or simply show a very early version of G80. But would they turn out to be a good reflection of what we will see in stores people should start thinking of if they have enough power, or even if you have enough room for it. But for now, we're going to let the pictures speak for themselves.