NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 (G80): GPUs Re-architected for DirectX 10
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on November 8, 2006 6:01 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The 8800 GTX and GTS
Today we expect to see availability of two cards based on NVIDIA's G80 GPU: the GeForce 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS. Priced at $599 and $449 respectively, the two cards, as usual, differ in clock speeds and processing power.
8800 GTX (top) vs. 7900 GTX (bottom)
The 8800 GTX gets the full G80 implementation of 128 stream processors and 64 texture fetch units. The stream processors are clocked at 1.35GHz with the rest of the GPU running at 575MHz. The GTX has six 64-bit memory controllers operating in tandem, connected to 768MB of GDDR3 memory running at 900MHz. GDDR4 is supported but will be introduced on a later card.
NVIO: Driving a pair of TMDS transmitters near you
You get two dual-link DVI ports driven by NVIDIA's new NVIO chip that handles TMDS and other currently unknown functions. Keeping a TMDS on-die is a very difficult thing to do, especially if you have logic operating at such high clock speeds within the GPU, so with G80 NVIDIA had to move the TMDS off-die and onto this separate chip. The NVIO chip also supports HDCP, but you do need the crypto ROM keys in order to have full HDCP support on the card. That final decision is up to the individual card manufacturers, although at this price point we hope they all choose to include HDCP support.
The 8800 GTX has two PCIe power connectors and two SLI connectors:
Two SLI connectors on the 8800 GTX
Bridges in action
The dual power connectors are necessary to avoid drawing more power from a single connector than the current ATX specification allows for. The dual SLI connectors are for future applications, such as daisy chaining three G80 based GPUs, much like ATI's latest CrossFire offerings.
dual power connectors
The GeForce 8800 GTS loses 32 SPs bringing it down to 96 stream processors and 48 texture fetch units. The shader core runs at 1.2GHz, while the rest of the GTS runs at 500MHz. The GTS also has only five 64-bit memory controllers with 640MB of GDDR3 memory running at 800MHz.
7900 GTX (left) 8800 GTS (middle) 8800 GTX (right)
The 8800 GTS has the same NVIO chip as the 8800 GTX, but the board itself is a bit shorter and it only features one SLI connector and one PCIe power connector.
Only one power connector on an 8800 GTS
...and only one SLI connector
Both cards are extremely quiet during operation and are audibly indiscernible from a 7900 GTX.
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dwalton - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
When using older cards sacrificing IQ for performance is typically acceptable. Who needs AA when running F.E.A.R on a 9700 Pro.However, on a just launched high-end card, why would anyone feel the need to sacrifice IQ for performance? Some may say resolution over AA, but I find it hard to believe that there is a lot of gaming enthusiasts with deep pockets, who play with insane resolutions yet no AA.
JarredWalton - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
If I look for jaggies, I see them. On most games, however, they don't bother me much at all. Running at native resolution on LCDs or at a really high resolution on CRTs, I'd take that over a lower res with 4xAA. If you have the power to enable 4xAA, great, but I'm certainly not one to suggest it's required. I'd rather be able to enable vsync without a massive performance hit (i.e. stay above 60 FPS) than worry about jaggies. Personal preference.munim - Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - link
"With the latest 1.09 patch, F.E.A.R. has gained multi-core support,"Where is this?
JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - link
I wrote that, but it may be incorrect. I'm trying to get in contact with Gary to find out if I'm just being delusional about Quad Core support. Maybe it's NDA still? Hmmm.... nothing to see here!JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - link
Okay, it's the 1.08 patch, and that is what was tested. Since we didn't use a quad core CPU I don't know if it will actually help or not -- something to look at in the future.Nelsieus - Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - link
I haven't even finished reading it yet, but so far, this is the most comprehensive, in-depth review I've seen on G80 and I just wanted to mention that beforehand.:)
GhandiInstinct - Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - link
What upcoming games will be the first to be fully made on DX10 structure? And does the G80 have full support of DX10?timmiser - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
Microsoft Flight Simulator X will be DX10 compliant via a planned patch once Vista comes out.JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - link
All DX10 hardware will be full DX10 (see pages 2-4). As for games that will be DX10 ready, Halo 2 for Vista will be for sure. Beyond that... I don't know for sure. As we've explained a bit, DX10 will require Vista, so anything launching before Vista will likely not be DX10 compliant.shabby - Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - link
They're re-doing a dx8 game in dx10? You gotta be kidding me, whats the point? You cant polish a turd.