First 8800GT 512 review?

[Repr]

Yeah, but now I'm doing it with a sense of humour. But was i pissed when i bought my card then they made this right after? Yeah, and so were a lot of other people. But i hear there are other cards coming out within my step up time frame that I might like and are faster than this card. But i have to take into consideration the bottleneck factor, in which my cpu won't take full advantage of the cards abilities, and then make my decision then.

 

And let's keep this friendly, hey?

 

since you want step-up. nvidia has given several 8800GTX chips to the OEM manufactorers to make 112 shader line 640 GTS. maybe worth watching it as well.

[jaz]

Yeah, i make more calls than i can keep track of to evga. I am on a 1st name basis with all the teks...j/k. I do keep track, and my only option is evga. They are a real good company, i got no complaints about them at all. Great tek support.

 

They hint at a card coming out around a week or 2 before my step up time ends, so we will see what's up. I have seen some insane clocks on just the gts640mb versions, like 684/Hi 900's. But i'm not going to oc my card as I will be trading it in for something a bit better.

 

I realise there is a point where it would be a waste to step up as the cpu would bottleneck the card, but Thaxz has just this morning posted a nice little article about the monitor (lcd) being the biggest bottleneck of all @60fps and i have mine set @60hz, and have "don't list modes this model can't support" enabled, and the only one that shows up is 60hz.

 

So i got it boiled down to geting a card that will give me the best quality for my rez [12x10] and lcd limits.

[nailzs]

On my modest rig I went from a 4276 with a BFG 7950GT OC to a 8408 with my new EVGA 8800GT KO 512MB in 3DMark '06 running at 2209.80 MHz, no overclock.

[jaz]

Do you mean your cpu is not oc'ed or the card? I'm assuming you know your card is factory oc'ed cuz you have the ko version. At the end of my step up time (12/21) if they don't come out with an alternative to this card that is around the same price, I might have to lighten up and trade down-($wise, not performancewise). I've been talking a lot to a mod at the evga forum and he said these cards are awesome oc'ers'. But then again, he has the same card i do (only stock, i think) and he clocked his @684/945.

 

But the gt can clock around 700/2000 and a decent shader spd increase. The only thing that turns me off about these cards is the single slot coolers. I like the big 'ol double slot design that exausts hot air out the back. Too bad arctic cooling hasn't come up with something for them, or maybe they're working on one?

I would just have to pay for my choice of shipping options. If i choose the 3 day both ways options that would bring the total for buying and stepping up to around $350, which isn't too shabby for this card. And drivers are only going to improve their performance.

 

By the way, nice choice of card, Nailzs. Enjoy. Oh yeah, i read somewhere on their forum a double slot cooler from one those 7xxx series has the same mounting holes as your new card does. You might have the option of using that if it fits and if you prefer that. Just thought I'd let ya know what i saw.

[taowulf]

I am lookign forward to getting a 8800 GT....I just wish that everyone wasn't out of stock.

[Branjo]

I have to say that im still happy as a pig in S**t with my GTS. I knew before hand that the second I bought it there would be a better card somewhere else but this is the way it goes.

I never buy a new card that isn't gonna give me a 100% increase and the GT no matter how tempting it is isn't gonna do that. Going from an ATI8500-->ATI9800-->X800XT-->8800GTS has been a buzz everytime so I think i'm gonna have to wait for the Nvidia 10xxx series to give me the wow factor that im used to.

 

If you are planning a new rig then the GT is a viable option but as an upgrade from a GTS I just don't see the point. The upgrade bug will never leave you alone if you constantly feed it.

[custom_coms]

I agree that upgrading from a 640mb version of the 8800GTS is NOT worth it.

 

However, the difference in fps at resolution over 1600x1200 in new games (aka Crysis) between a stock 320mb 8800GTS and a stock 512mb 8800GT is more than 50% in some cases. This is literally the difference between being able to play a game smoothly and enjoyably vs. not being able to play it at all.

 

As games mature, they are quickly filling up vram-the 320mb card just doesn't have enough vram. That is why in certain examples the 640mb 8800GTS is over twice as fast as the 320mb card (and the 8800GT is faster than the 640mb gts). While the 320mb GTS card has more available bandwidth than the GT, its pointless since the textures have already filled the available memory-being able to pump more textures more quickly is useless if you don't have the available memory. This is also why overclocking the ram/memory bus on the GTS doesn't do much to increase the cards performance (plus the bus is so fast as is that it doesn't really help to increase its clocks). You add in the new fabrication process, the extra shaders, a significant core and shader clock speed increase, VP2 offload capability, and the 8800GT is a serious card that sells for less than its predecessors.

 

All of the reasons above have prompted me to initiate step up on my eVGA 8800GTS SC (overclocked over factory to 612 core/1512 shaders/900 memory) to a stock 8800GT. I am currently pulling 30fps on medium settings, 1680x1050, in Crysis *demo* (the real game should have a big performance increase) with the GTS and rig in sig-I will update after the exchange.

[jaz]

I hear nvidia got a new card maker, so stock should increase soon. Plus they're ramping up production cuz they didn't expect it to be such a hit.

[momoceio]

I agree that upgrading from a 640mb version of the 8800GTS is NOT worth it.

 

However, the difference in fps at resolution over 1600x1200 in new games (aka Crysis) between a stock 320mb 8800GTS and a stock 512mb 8800GT is more than 50% in some cases. This is literally the difference between being able to play a game smoothly and enjoyably vs. not being able to play it at all.

 

As games mature, they are quickly filling up vram-the 320mb card just doesn't have enough vram. That is why in certain examples the 640mb 8800GTS is over twice as fast as the 320mb card (and the 8800GT is faster than the 640mb gts). While the 320mb GTS card has more available bandwidth than the GT, its pointless since the textures have already filled the available memory-being able to pump more textures more quickly is useless if you don't have the available memory. This is also why overclocking the ram/memory bus on the GTS doesn't do much to increase the cards performance (plus the bus is so fast as is that it doesn't really help to increase its clocks). You add in the new fabrication process, the extra shaders, a significant core and shader clock speed increase, VP2 offload capability, and the 8800GT is a serious card that sells for less than its predecessors.

 

All of the reasons above have prompted me to initiate step up on my eVGA 8800GTS SC (overclocked over factory to 612 core/1512 shaders/900 memory) to a stock 8800GT. I am currently pulling 30fps on medium settings, 1680x1050, in Crysis *demo* (the real game should have a big performance increase) with the GTS and rig in sig-I will update after the exchange.

 

 

I'm pretty sure you can't go from a GTS to a GT since the GT is cheaper...

[custom_coms]

I'm 100% sure you can. You can "step-up" to any card in eVGA's lineup as long as you pay the difference. If the new card is cheaper, you don't pay any difference and just cover shipping.

 

This is well documented, and I am in step-up queue right now for the 8800GT.

[jaz]

Ya, i asked them on the phone, you just have to pay for shipping. They don't give you the difference $wise....lol. But you can go from a gts to a gt. You just loose money, but gain in performance. These cards oc like crazy, from what i hear.

 

And you can fit a previous zalman double slot cooler on there, according to a poster at evga that actually did it.

 

Lol...you beat me to it, custom, you posted just before i did.

[momoceio]

In that case, I might as well step up