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Asus GeForce 8800 GT – first look
Almost as fast as the GeForce 8800 GTX, but for much less money
Even the £330 8800 GTX only beats the 8800 GT by 4.8 billion stream processor operations with its 128 stream processors running at 1.35GHz. As we said, the 8800 GT has a faster core speed, so it can feed its stream processors a little faster and handle the outcome in its 16 ROPs (as opposed to the 20 on the 8800 GTS and the 24 on the GTX) quicker than any 8800 card bar the Ultra. Making a similar comparison with a Radeon HD 2900 card is pointless, however, as the maths we've used assumes that each stream processor is capable of doing the same work per cycle. The ATI HD-series stream processor architecture is different to that of the Nvidia 8-series, so even our very rough calculations would make for a meaningless comparison.
As well as the decent shader performance, Nvidia has also tweaked the 8800 GT over its predecessors, claiming to have improved instruction-issue and load balancing, as well as speeding up high-resolution anti-aliasing performance over previous GeForce 8800 chips. Nvidia also claims that the new GPU’s compression is more efficient, although you have to bear in mind that it has a limited frame buffer compared to the 8800 GTX and Ultra chips.
Cramming all this performance into a GPU that can be cooled by a single-slot cooler would be impossible had Nvidia not perfected its 65nm manufacturing process; the chip now contains an amazing 754 million transistors. The benefits of making a silicon chip from smaller transistors are massive. For a start, the chip is physically smaller, so you can make more of them from a single wafer of silicon, which also makes the chip cheaper to manufacture. Smaller transistors can switch faster too, so you can push up the clock speeds without stressing them too much. The final benefit is that a smaller transistor requires less power to switch, and leaks less power too - this is the key reason why the 8800 GT can use a single-height cooler and quiet fan. Making chips from tiny 65nm transistors is tricky - we’re talking about making a product from parts that are tiny fractions of the size of an amoeba - but the benefits are huge.
The Asus EN8800GT that we were sent uses the reference Nvidia cooler but, as you can see, it sports a great big Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts sticker. A copy of the game is included in the box, along with a floppy CD wallet (which we’d consign directly to the bin), a PCI-E power adaptor and a component video cable.
PERFORMANCE
As clever as this chip sounds, if it doesn’t cut it with the games then we’ll treat it as an ASDA shopper would deal with their stroppy eight-year-old. So it’s good news for the 8800 GT that it stormed through our game benchmarks with scores we’ve previously only seen from £300+ graphics cards.
F.E.A.R. failed to be in any way challenging, even at 1,920 x 1,200 with 4x AA and 16x AF, delivering a stupidly high minimum frame rate of 29fps and an average of 59fps. This is slightly faster than a 640MB 8800 GTS, which costs around £235. The frame rates at 1,680 x 1,050 were also impressive, with the 8800 GT racking up a minimum of 54fps and an average of 97fps, while the 640MB 8800 GTS scored a minimum of 52fps and an average of 89fps.
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i think that it is more like ford releasing the new Mondeo at the price of a mondeo, as opposed to the price of a ferrari. Don't forget, 450 pounds is a lot for a graphics card, that'd be the ferrari price.
Comment by wegreenall at 10:49am 8th November 2007
...Ferrari were to announce the arrival of a new lighter, faster, more powerful, more aerodynamic, more comfortable F430 for the price of a Mondeo, and that just about sums this up. I don\'t care what anyone else thinks, this, for whole £76 cheaper than my 640Mb 8800GTS (the cheapest XFX model) is the January sales come early. I\'m not going to send the card back (unless it screws up like my last one) but I will be buying one of these in the new year for my 3rd workstation and I\'d advise anyone thinking of getting any other card to do so as well because the power:price ratio is too good to ignore. My only reservation, now that normal memory amounts are back in fashon after the wierd 320/640/768 varieties, is... are they going to release a 1Gb version...?
Comment by EdArch at 1:48am 7th November 2007
Actually I think I\'m good with my 8800GTd 640MB. I bought to be able to play at 1920*1200 and as test from various websites show at that resolution (especially) with AA and/or AF enables the 640MB tops the GT. Given the fact that I have overclocked mine to above ULTRA (648-1620-2106) numbers, I feel no need to buy a GT. But I am faced with 2 options: eithere sell my GTS or buy another one and pair them for some HD FPS gaming. @ Landy_Ed How much for yours (and does it OC?) or how much would you willing to pay for mine? :-)
Comment by Faiakes at 2:02pm 3rd November 2007
I have a 8800GTS 640MB and the only keeping me sane is the fact that I managed to get a stable OC to 648-1620-2106, which I think puts me on par, at least, with the 8800GT, but more suitable for higher resolutions (1920*1200 and above) due to the extra ram. (still, anyone interested in bying it?)
Comment by Faiakes at 7:44pm 2nd November 2007
I have a 8800GTS 640MB and the only keeping me sane is the fact that I managed to get a stable OC to 648-1620-2106, which I think puts me on par, at least, with the 8800GT, but more suitable for higher resolutions (1920*1200 and above) due to the extra ram. (still, anyone interested in bying it?)
Comment by Faiakes at 7:41pm 2nd November 2007
The only problem in this industry (and hobby) is that as soon as you buy it, its out of date, no matter what it is. More so is it in the past year, where Intel and Nvidia have totally ''Blitzkrieged'' the market with its massive range of products, more of which are coming out every month. Im dissapointed that 2 months back i bought a 320mb gts, only to find a cheaper and more powerful, single slot card to come out and put the big V sign in my face ! But besides the point Build a system, upgrade it, throw it out, build a system, upgrade it, throw it out, you know the drill..... Go Buy This Card! Alternatively, buy my 320mb GTS for only £130 ? xD
Comment by Lightning_Pete at 11:25am 2nd November 2007
Good first look. Pleased to see the benchmarks at 1680x1050 as that's the res I tend to run at and it's frequently overlooked in most 4:3 aspect centric reviews. I'd be interested in details on a couple of things though: - What is performance like under the Source Engine, UT3 and Crysis? Games like FEAR, STALKER, etc. aren't really stressing modern GPUs imo. - What aftermarket coolers fit with the 8800GT? The current single-slot cooler hits 91C under load. That's not good, and will certainly limit the long-term overclocking potential of the card. There's stuff all detail out there about which aftermarket VGA coolers will fit. I've seen some reports that the mounting holes are the same as the 7xxx series cards but little corroboration. Any info would be useful. ;o)
Comment by Detritus at 12:53pm 30th October 2007
i got it from ebuyer, it was £154.99! THEN i used google check out! so a tenner off! i was wondering if anyone and any dimensions for this card at all?
Comment by jonconlon at 11:04am 30th October 2007
If you're an early adopter you would, like me, have had an 8800GTS 640mb for a year already and probably be looking to upgrade anyway. If having great gaming performance and being able to play Crysis in DX10 mode on high detail at 1680x1050 is being a sucker, then so be it! If you've only just bought your 8800GTS then yes, you would be slightly miffed. I could flog my 8800GTS and grab a pair of these, or just wait until they refresh the 8800GTX with a 65nm chip and get one of those. Choices choices!
Comment by gavomatic57 at 8:11am 30th October 2007
Does having a PCI-E 2.0 slot really make any real world performance difference with this card?
Comment by AlphaLife at 3:23am 30th October 2007
Not like I was first off the bat, I waited awhile. If I'd bought a GTX I'd be really annoyed. This is the equivalent of buying, say, the new ford mondeo, then 6 months later the new fiesta comes out at half the price & outperforms the mondeo to boot. Normally it's the same thing that gets dropped in price a fair whack & the new higher performance stuff comes out at similar price points. Consider the PS, always it comes out at a high price then drops over time. Same with most goods, and usually computer kit as well. This is not about early-adopting per se, as it is the early adopters that normally cover R&D costs before economies of scale come into play at the low-mid price market. Instead, I think nvidia are trying to deliver a killer blow to ATI before they've managed to respond properly to even the original card. I also think they've missed a trick, because another £30 on the rrp would have made all the difference while still not hurting their sales but left less of a poor taste in the mouths of those who spent that little bit more. Look at the prices, it STILL costs a lot more for the GTS 640 despite the new GT pricing & performance. So there's a lot of product lying around that will have to be sold at a loss. Lke I said, I'm glad about the card, if for no other reason that the current draw of gpus is getting stupid & needs to go the other way, but why alienate the very people who cover the initial costs - not much of a reward & that's how you lose loyalty.
Comment by Landy_Ed at 5:10pm 29th October 2007
"Early adopters" is just a nice way of saying "Suckers." In an industry where everything gets cheaper, faster, cooler and more quiet with time, it just doesn't make sense to buy early.
Comment by MetaCatastrophe at 5:07pm 29th October 2007
that tiny fan must work it's socks off... are there going to be any aftermarket dual-slot coolers!? or any single slot but larger-fan models around the corner?? otherwise i'm sold...
Comment by NickMC07121989 at 4:48pm 29th October 2007
The early bird may get the worm Landy_Ed, but the second mouse gets the cheese!
Comment by bbc_libertine at 3:00pm 29th October 2007
overclockers just got a whole range of them in, here: \
Comment by ohtari at 2:59pm 29th October 2007
overclockers just got a whole range of them in, here: \
Comment by ohtari at 2:59pm 29th October 2007
Sounds good but does it support direct X 10.1 and how does it run at 2560 x 1600
Comment by stephen at 1:22pm 29th October 2007
Pleased that the card is here, but it fairly insults the early adopters - normally better kit comes in at the same price point, not half the price. Anyone now want to buy an 8800GTS 640? No? (quel surpris)
Comment by Landy_Ed at 1:20pm 29th October 2007
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