NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT: The Only Card That Matters
by Derek Wilson on October 29, 2007 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Out with the Old, In with the New: 8800 GT vs. 7950 GT and 1950 XT
Many gamers are likely still rocking either GeForce 7 or Radeon X1k based hardware. We understand that gamers don't have a continuous $250 fund in order to upgrade their graphics card whenever something new comes out. A good many of us have been waiting (and not so patiently) for a DX10 class graphics card in the $200 - $250 range. The 8800 GTS 320MB has been a great option for those who could afford it, but the 8600 GTS and 2600 XT really haven't delivered anything close to the kind of performance we wanted for the price.
We don't expect many people to "upgrade" to an 8800 GT from an 8800 GTS 320MB, we do expect those who spent at least $250+ on a previous generation DX9 class card to be interested in moving up to a current generation product. In order to paint a good picture of what gamers with older hardware can expect, we decided to pick only a couple reference points. While we could have tested everything out there, we felt that looking at the absolute fasted DX9 class card available (the Radeon X1950 XTX) and a card that offered good performance at between $250 and $300 (the GeForce 7950 GT) would give us a fairly complete picture of what to expect.
The reason this really makes sense, as we will show in a second, is that the 8800 GT absolutely blows away every DX9 class part out there. The only thing we really need to show is what kind of performance improvement you can expect depending on the type of hardware you own. If you own the best possible previous generation card, you get a very good performance improvement at most resolutions. If you own a previous generation card from the same price segment, you can expect a huge improvement in performance across the board. That said, feast your eyes on what everyone who hasn't upgraded yet can look forward to (in addition to all the added features of the GeForce 8 Series).
Many gamers are likely still rocking either GeForce 7 or Radeon X1k based hardware. We understand that gamers don't have a continuous $250 fund in order to upgrade their graphics card whenever something new comes out. A good many of us have been waiting (and not so patiently) for a DX10 class graphics card in the $200 - $250 range. The 8800 GTS 320MB has been a great option for those who could afford it, but the 8600 GTS and 2600 XT really haven't delivered anything close to the kind of performance we wanted for the price.
We don't expect many people to "upgrade" to an 8800 GT from an 8800 GTS 320MB, we do expect those who spent at least $250+ on a previous generation DX9 class card to be interested in moving up to a current generation product. In order to paint a good picture of what gamers with older hardware can expect, we decided to pick only a couple reference points. While we could have tested everything out there, we felt that looking at the absolute fasted DX9 class card available (the Radeon X1950 XTX) and a card that offered good performance at between $250 and $300 (the GeForce 7950 GT) would give us a fairly complete picture of what to expect.
The reason this really makes sense, as we will show in a second, is that the 8800 GT absolutely blows away every DX9 class part out there. The only thing we really need to show is what kind of performance improvement you can expect depending on the type of hardware you own. If you own the best possible previous generation card, you get a very good performance improvement at most resolutions. If you own a previous generation card from the same price segment, you can expect a huge improvement in performance across the board. That said, feast your eyes on what everyone who hasn't upgraded yet can look forward to (in addition to all the added features of the GeForce 8 Series).
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bob4432 - Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - link
i have been waiting for this card :) my old x1800xt will soon be retired once these guys get to ~$180 AR!!!! :) :)R3MF - Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - link
I am deeply impressed with the card, but i have a severe aversion to cut-down products.A 128 SPU version clocked at 640MHz with 2000MHz GDDR memory would go down a treat.
How about it?
mpc7488 - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
About one month.http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=9474">http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=9474
"A G92-derivative will appear later this year with even more shader units. According to company guidance, the new G92 will launch in early December and feature 128 shader units as opposed to the 112 featured on GeForce 8800 GT. ... In addition to the extra shaders, the new G92 will also feature higher core frequencies and support for up to 1GB GDDR3."
varia - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
RE: Wow by EODetroit on: Oct 29, 2007 3:06 PMRating: 2Now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...18+10696...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...18+10696...
When I was checking out around 1pm today at newegg, they got 4 diff. cards, all $249-269
Now, they listed 2, all back order, price: $289-299
Pffff not gonna but from them, for sure.
varia - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Forget newegg, Fry's will have it at this friday.http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5434329?site=sr:S...">http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5434329?site=sr:S...
EVGA GeForce 8800GT Video Card (512MB DDR3, PCI-E 2.0, DX10, OpenGL 2.0)
EVGA:
FRYS.com #: 5434329
Price: $ 229.99
gplracer - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Are these results running the 8800gt as a single or in sli?gplracer - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
never mind it is single i miss read itShlong - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Awesome, been waiting for something like this to come around. Right now at most places the cheapest I've found is $260 with $6 shipping. I'll wait for it to drop down to around the $199 mark & I'll be all over it.clandren - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
how long before we start seeing something like this in a laptop? i think there was a brief mention that it might be possible to make one with passive cooling.. so that makes me hopeful. the 8600 series in laptops doesnt really impress meAggressorPrime - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Page 3"We aren't including any new tests here, as we can expect performance on the same level as the 8600 GTS."
Let us hope the GeForce 8800 GT is on the same level as the GeForce 8600 GTS.