NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 256MB Tested

[Xaser04]

Because not everyone games with maximum in game settings or at high resolutions.

As long as the performance of this card is right where it matters then it could be a killer purchase. (especially at £117 and when compared to the equally priced 256mb 3850)

 

[Airbrushkid]

But even with 1280x960 it will struggle. The older games are fine. Say like Fry Cry I can get about 90 fps with my old 6800 GT OC 256 card. So it's hard to believe that many will play with 1024x768 or lower. With the way LCD'S are and there native resolution.. I like my CRT's.

 

[Xaser04]

Given that there are no real benchmarks for the card yet we can't be sure that it will struggle or not.

The 256mb 3850 seems to do ok at reasonable resolutions so I don't see why the 8800GT should be any different.

For reference my X1900XT 256mb can play crysis ok at medium settings at 1680x1050,(medium/high if I drop the resolution to 1440x900). It hovers around the high 20's low 30's mark which is fine for me. The 256mb 8800GT should do better than that.

 

[Airbrushkid]

With my GTS 320, I can play Crysis with all settings on hight no AA and the resolution is 1280x960. And I get an average of 30 fps. But now if want to use AA I cannot. Not enough Vram.

 

[DarkMatter]

his point is the 8800gt drops off alot quicker after 1280 even though it is still ahead.

If that's the case, it doesn't make any sense. From 1280x to 1680x resolutions the 8800gt drops 28% (79fps/109fps*100=72,47). And the HD3850 from 1280x to 1680x drops 24% (39% loss on 1920x) not such a big difference. Still the 8800GT is 10fps faster at 1680 than HD3850 at 1280. Again what's your point?

I'm sure that Nvidia will fix that problem at 1920 when the card actually ships. Ati is not the only one that improves with newer drivers, Ati fanboys seem to forget that.

And in the end this cards are designed for low resolutions and/or low AA. In fact neither of the cards have enough power to handle newer games (with new engines) at such high settings, still the 8800 is +50% faster, when AA enabled.

I'm sorry I forgot to link a source as to how I know the memory is OC. Take a look at XFX's homepage and scroll to the bottom. There you will see that the 8800 GT 256's memory normal clock is 1400MHz not 1800MHz. When a co. that normally OC's their video cards use standard clock on this video card, that's saying something to me.

Source

Here is a direct link

That doesn't mean that all 8800GT 256 are going to use lower memory speeds. AFAIK reference 8800GT 256 runs memory at 1800Mhz just as his big brother. Many vendors make DDR2 mainstream models from DDR3 at reference. This could be the same.
EDIT: Indeed in the first pic, GPU-Z shows default clock is 900Mhz (1800 ddr).
EDIT2: Just another one, sorry. I just found this:
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4292&Itemid=1
XFX does have overclocked 8800gt 256, and most models have 1800Mhz on memory. Also that price is the same as 3850 in UK? I remember reading that HD3850 sells around 115 vat inc. in UK...

 

[Xaser04]

RRP for the 3850 256mb from the big websites is corca £110-£120 not including postage.


The cheapest 8800GT 256mb I have seen is £117 (the XFX one with the slower memory)

If the benchmarks from the op post are representative of the overall performance increase even the 256mb 8800GT has over the 3850 then it will be a bargin indeed.

Heck even if it was only 10% quicker it would be better value for money.

 

[DarkMatter]

RRP for the 3850 256mb from the big websites is corca £110-£120 not including postage.


The cheapest 8800GT 256mb I have seen is £117 (the XFX one with the slower memory)

If the benchmarks from the op post are representative of the overall performance increase even the 256mb 8800GT has over the 3850 then it will be a bargin indeed.

Heck even if it was only 10% quicker it would be better value for money.

So they are at almost same price? Bad news for Amd, specially since it has been said that Nvidia could fix its shortage problems, that don't have anything to do with the chip, but with some power components: http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4301&Itemid=1

I hope that there are lots of Amd fanboys out there. Because if there aren't Amd is going to have really tought times ahead. I don't want Amd to get out of the game.

 

[Xaser04]

Yep it would seem judging by the prices I have seen so far that the 256mb 8800GT is being priced quite aggressively to fall in line with the pricing of the 3850.

If the performance holds true then tbh the 3850 needs to be priced around the £90 mark to be competitive*

*this is based on prive vs performance shown in the op post.

 

[spy2520]

If that's the case, it doesn't make any sense. From 1280x to 1680x resolutions the 8800gt drops 28% (79fps/109fps*100=72,47). And the HD3850 from 1280x to 1680x drops 24% (39% loss on 1920x) not such a big difference. Still the 8800GT is 10fps faster at 1680 than HD3850 at 1280. Again what's your point?

I'm sure that Nvidia will fix that problem at 1920 when the card actually ships. Ati is not the only one that improves with newer drivers, Ati fanboys seem to forget that.

And in the end this cards are designed for low resolutions and/or low AA. In fact neither of the cards have enough power to handle newer games (with new engines) at such high settings, still the 8800 is +50% faster, when AA enabled.

the point makes sense, however it doesnt change the fact that the 8800gt is still better. kinda like if a car has less pull in 6th gear than another, but its still 30mph faster in 6th gear.

 

[DarkMatter]

the point makes sense, however it doesnt change the fact that the 8800gt is still better. kinda like if a car has less pull in 6th gear than another, but its still 30mph faster in 6th gear.

True, but I still don't see the point of all that. Why should he take those benchmarks with a grain of salt based on that?
If he was being informative, cool, but other than that I don't see any proof there to dislike those benchies. I asked for that, and I am still asking, where do you both want to go about that? It's a sincere question, I just can't see anything there...

EDIT: BTW Why did you use a car as an example? Why? Why? Nice car.

 

[trt740]

it depends on the price if the 8800 gt 256 goes for around 220 dollars then the 3870 is a better choice if the 8800 gt 256 goes for 179.00 then it's the better choice.

 

[nguyenpeter76]

any word on its release date?? hope its within a few weeks