NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 256MB Tested

[malware]

Expreview has tested the trimmed down GeForce 8800 GT 256MB. Using Core 2 Quad Q6700@3GHz and ASUSTeK P5E3 Deluxe/Wifi-AP motherboard with DDR3-1066 6-6-6-18-1T they've managed to compare the 256MB GT with ATI Radeon 3850 256MB (Catalyst 7.11 hotfix), NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (ForceWare 169.02 WHQL) and NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB (ForceWare 163.75 WHQL).



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[WhiteLotus]

the results are pretty similar, the 8800GT 256 maybe be people preferred choice simply as it will be probably cheaper.

shame to see ATI contender down a bit but in the end it all comes down to performance/price

 

[crow1001]

Looks like the GT is the card to go for if you want better games performance, even in the UK the GT is priced amazingly good, you can pick it up from £117, you can get the 3850 for £112, i know which one i would want for Xmas.

 

[WhiteLotus]

where are you looking in the UK for said GT?

 

[ktr]

Hmmm, towards higher res, this card borked out...by any chance is it due to lack of memory?

 

[crow1001]

Scan are due them in on the 20th, i mailed them to confirm this and they said they will not be in on the 20th but were expecting healthy stock before the end of the week.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=708007

 

[WhiteLotus]

ah cool - will keep an eye out for other sites (dabs,ebuyer) and see if they get stock in as well

 

[crow1001]

the results are pretty similar

Don't look to similar to me, nearly a 50% difference in favour of the GT at 1280x1024 rez and a good its a good 40 fps ahead at 1680x1050, the ATI card hits the floor real bad when AA is applied. I would not recommend the GT for 1920x1200 rez, this card is for those guys who want amazing performance at a great price but game at 1680x1050/1600x1200 or lower.

Memory is only 1.4ghz. This is confirmed by the xfx site.

It will easily clock up to 1950 on the memory this is just XFX trying to distinguish this card from their overclocked 256mb models which are £13 more expensive, the cheaper version is the way to go, then just clock it.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=708666

 

[mdm-adph]

Well, that's a good showing from nVidia, to say the least. But isn't it weird how the 3800 line of ATI cards actually get better when you start running at higher resolutions with more AA? Isn't that the exact opposite of the 2000 series?

 

[OrbitzXT]

I'm tempted to pawn off my 512 MB GT and get a 256 when it comes out. I play my games at 1360x768 and both cards seem to perform almost identically at lower resolutions.

 

[jydie]

Those scores look pretty good, but why do they compare it to the ATI HD3850??? The 3850 is going for $179 on Newegg... is this card suppose to retail in that range?

 

[crow1001]

Those scores look pretty good, but why do they compare it to the ATI HD3850??? The 3850 is going for $179 on Newegg... is this card suppose to retail in that range?

They compare it because its the cheaper GT with 256MB of ram, not the 512MB model, when it is out, it will be priced in the same area as the 3850 and as such will offer the best bang for buck by a wide margin.

 

[WhiteLotus]

at crow1001:

i was stating the 512 and 256 versions of the 8800GT were similar, but yes you are right it does beat the ATI contender rather heavily

 

[EastCoasthandle]

I take these results with a grain of salt.
-The memory is overclocked
-The HD 3950 loses 26.11 FPS using 4xAA/16xAF in EP2 from 1280 to 1920
-The 8800GT 256 loses 29.92 FPS using 4xAA/16xAF in EP2 from 1280 to 1680 then errors out at 1920.

 

[Xaser04]

The 256mb does sound tempting to me especially priced so nicely on scan.

I will wait until proper benchmarks are releeased before decising but I am thinking get one of these now rather than 2 x 512mb 8800GT's and then around March time upgrade to 2 of the 8800GTS equivilant of the next gen 9xxx series cards.

The other tempting card is the 3850 512mb extreme edition for £130 on ocuk.

 

[wickerman]

I take these results with a grain of salt.
-The memory is overclocked
-The HD 3950 loses 26.11 FPS using 4xAA/16xAF in EP2 from 1280 to 1920
-The 8800GT 256 loses 29.92 FPS using 4xAA/16xAF in EP2 from 1280 to 1680 then errors out at 1920.

Good point, and its also worth noting that in those HL2 benchmarks, both cards score considerably well and even at 1920x1200 it seems it would be quite playable, 40fps is certainly high enough to maintain smooth game play, you may dip now and again into the laggy range, but its still great value.

 

[erocker]

I'm tempted to pawn off my 512 MB GT and get a 256 when it comes out. I play my games at 1360x768 and both cards seem to perform almost identically at lower resolutions.

I'll help you with unloading that card if need be.

 

[WarEagleAU]

Exactly east coast handle. However, I never did think the 3800 series was gonna reign down fire on nvidia. Im just like the performance deltas and such. Very nice.

 

[nguyenpeter76]

any word on when these babies are coming out? i am so tempted to get this with my dell 420
that im going to be forced to get and their upgrade to 8600gts costs 200 already and the 8800gt 256mb performance according to that chart is two times better.. hope this card comes out around that or cheaper

 

[DarkMatter]

I take these results with a grain of salt.
-The memory is overclocked
-The HD 3950 loses 26.11 FPS using 4xAA/16xAF in EP2 from 1280 to 1920
-The 8800GT 256 loses 29.92 FPS using 4xAA/16xAF in EP2 from 1280 to 1680 then errors out at 1920.

What?s your point? Can't understand.
Also what memory is overclocked and how do you know?

 

[spy2520]

What?s your point? Can't understand.
Also what memory is overclocked and how do you know?

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

 

[hat]

Hm... I want one. I play only at 1024x768 anyway.

 

[crow1001]

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

Way ahead.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

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

 

[Airbrushkid]

I don't really understand why anyone would buy a new card with only 256 meg of ram on it. Games are starting to need more of it if you want to go with a high res.