14 DAY TRIAL // There's nothing you could say about the 8800 series that hasn't already been said. Web sites dedicate entire pages of information to this video card, as if it were a revolution. How about we finding out how it really performs for a change?
Since you all have the info about G80, I will only remind you of the new features found in this product. First, there's the impressive memory size, 768MB of Ram using 384-bit wide memory chips running at 1800MHz. Then you have the mighty G80 GPU running at 575MHz with the ability to process 128-bit wide HDR instructions and 16x AA. Almost SLI like, isn't it?
Actually, this idea is not so far from the truth, at least not when you think about the performance it delivers. Dailytech recently published a quick test using the following parts: Core 2 Extreme QX6700 ,NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI based motherboard, 2x1GB PC2-6400, NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX, PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 XTX. And the results were as expected; G80 is indeed a performance monster. In 3Dmark 2006 it scored 11200 points in a single card configuration, making it 59% faster than 1950XT. Engines like Quake4 and Half Life 2: Lost Coast just loved working with this card, since it was roughly 92% faster than the competition (Q4: 116.93fps/60,74fps).
As for power consumption, Nvidia succeeded in keeping it pretty low for such a power hungry GPU: in load mode it consumes only 4% more than Ati's video card.
And now you know. If it's worth the effort, it's for you to decide. However, keep in mind the following aspects: the card needs a real 450W PSU for single card use and this is a must. As second criteria, you've probably found out that several manufacturers, including eVGA, need to withdraw 8800 GTX boards from stores in order to change a faulty resistor. So be prepared for a big wait if you want this card from day one.