NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT: The Only Card That Matters
by Derek Wilson on October 29, 2007 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Line Substitution: 8800 GT vs. 8800 GTS
As we've mentioned, on paper the 8800 GT looks much better in every area except for memory bandwidth. Even though memory size is an advantage for the 640MB card, we know from experience that the added memory size really doesn't net us much in the way of performance except in the most extreme circumstances. So we certainly expect the 8800 GT to outperform both the more expensive 8800 GTS 320MB and (by extension) the 8800 GTS 640MB. Essentially, this should give us the performance of a $400 card for $200 - $250. Quite a good deal no matter how you slice it.
And from the first, our expectations are upheld and then some. The 8800 GT does top the GTS. This seals the deal: the 8800 GTS is no longer a viable product. While NVIDIA has stated that the 320MB part will be dropped very quickly, they expect the 640MB card to stick around for a few months. We don't see this happening unless retailers start selling the 640MB part for $250 as well. While such a drastic price reduction is possible, it isn't very likely. Once people hear about the performance difference of the 8800 GT over the 8800 GTS, there may be a lot of $400+ 8800 GTS inventory sitting on shelves.
As we've mentioned, on paper the 8800 GT looks much better in every area except for memory bandwidth. Even though memory size is an advantage for the 640MB card, we know from experience that the added memory size really doesn't net us much in the way of performance except in the most extreme circumstances. So we certainly expect the 8800 GT to outperform both the more expensive 8800 GTS 320MB and (by extension) the 8800 GTS 640MB. Essentially, this should give us the performance of a $400 card for $200 - $250. Quite a good deal no matter how you slice it.
And from the first, our expectations are upheld and then some. The 8800 GT does top the GTS. This seals the deal: the 8800 GTS is no longer a viable product. While NVIDIA has stated that the 320MB part will be dropped very quickly, they expect the 640MB card to stick around for a few months. We don't see this happening unless retailers start selling the 640MB part for $250 as well. While such a drastic price reduction is possible, it isn't very likely. Once people hear about the performance difference of the 8800 GT over the 8800 GTS, there may be a lot of $400+ 8800 GTS inventory sitting on shelves.
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DukeN - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
This is unreal price to performance - knock on wood; play oblivion at 1920X1200 on a $250 GPU.Could we have a benchmark based on the Crysis demo please, how one or two cards would do?
Also, the power page pics do not show up for some reason (may be the firewall cached it incorrectly here at work).
Thank you.
Xtasy26 - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Hey Guys,If you want to see Crysis benchmarks, check out this link:
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/1...">http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/.../2007/10...
The benches are:
1280 x 1024 : ~ 37 f.p.s.
1680 x 1050 : 25 f.p.s.
1920 x 1080 : ~ 21 f.p.s.
This is on a test bed:
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 @2.93 GHz
Asetek VapoChill Micro cooler
EVGA 680i motherboard
2GB Corsair Dominator PC2-9136C5D
Nvidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB/Zotac 8800GTX AMP!/XFX 8800Ultra/ATI Radeon HD2900XT
250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 16MB cache
Sony BWU-100A Blu-ray burner
Hiper 880W Type-R Power Supply
Toshiba's external HD-DVD box (Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive)
Dell 2407WFP-HC
Logitech G15 Keyboard, MX-518 rat
Xtasy26 - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
This game seems real demanding. If it is getting 37 f.p.s. at 1280 x 1024, imagine what the frame rate will be with 4X FSAA enabled combined with 8X Anistrophic Filtering. I think I will wait till Nvidia releases there 9800/9600 GT/GTS and combine that with Intel's 45nm Penryn CPU. I want to play this beautiful game in all it's glory!:)Spuke - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Impressive!!!! I read the article but I saw no mention of a release date. When's this thing available?Spuke - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Ummm.....When can I BUY it? That's what I mean.EODetroit - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Now.http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Sub...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...18+10696...
poohbear - Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - link
when do u guys think its gonna be $250? cheapest i see is $270, but i understand when its first released the prices are jacked up a bit.EateryOfPiza - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
I second the request for Crysis benchmarks, that is the game that taxes everything at the moment.DerekWilson - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
we actually tested crysis ...but there were issues ... not with the game, we just shot ourselves in the foot on this one and weren't able to do as much as we wanted. We had to retest a bunch of stuff, and we didn't get to crysis.
yyrkoon - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Yes, I am glad instead of purchasing a video card, I instead changed motherboard/CPU for Intel vs AMD. I still like my AM2 Opteron system a lot, but performance numbers, and the effortless 1Ghz OC on the ABIT IP35-E/(at $90usd !) was just too much to overlook.I can definitely understand your 'praise' as it were when nVidia is now lowering their prices, but this is where these prices should have always been. nVidia, and ATI/AMD have been ripping us, the consumer off for the last 1.5 years or so, so you will excuse me if I do not show too much enthusiasm when they finally lower their prices to where they should be. I do not consider this to be much different than the memory industry over charging, and the consumer getting the shaft(as per your article).
I am happy though . . .