Page 7 - Introducing the Cards - GeForce 8800 GTS
And then there's the GeForce 8800 GTS
Obviously not everyone can afford to cough up half it's monthly salary to play some games. And this is where the GeForce 8800 GTS surfaces. It's quite fun to see the name GTS again actually. It has not been used ever since the GeForce 2 GTS. Nevertheless, for roughly 449 USD .. and that's definitely a better price for a high-end card you can pickup a slightly castrated G80 based graphics card. This GTS model will come with a 500 MHz core clock "only" 640 MB of gDDR memory. It's again clocked at 900 MHz yet this time it's 320-bit (10 pieces of 16Mx32 memory) which makes it confusing again. Other then that we'll now get to the Unified Shaders slash streaming processors. Obviously it has been cut down. The number of shader cores for the GTS product is 96, all of them clocked at a slightly slower 1200 MHz, that's still a shocking piece of architecture.
Apparently since these are state of the art product series you can expect certain stuff for granted; both the GTS and GTX are HDCP compliant products, have support for two high-res monitors with the help if Dual-Link DVI. Also the standard VIVO options including HDTV output are present.
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS
The GeForce 8800 GTS we'll be testing today was submitted by BFG Technology. I have to tell you that I'm really fond of BFG products ever since we started working with them. Agreed, their bundle usually is a little more summier, in this case also no free game included. But usually they have a slightly better price. Included in the bundle are:
- GeForce 8800 GTX 640 MB
- Driver CD
- HDTV block (3-way RCA component)
- 6-pin to Molex power cable
- manual
- VGA->DVI dongle
- BFG t-Shirt
Obviously again this card also is a reference based product, thus has the standard clock frequencies, standard cooler yet with BFG shim on it. I know the word standard does sound a bit "below par" but obviously this is quality stuff. Overall a good bundle that will get you started, it would be nice to have seen a game included at 449 USD though.
Some generic facts:
- All NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX- and GeForce 8800 GTS-based graphics cards are HDCP capable.
- The GeForce 8 Series GPUs are not only the first shipping DirectX 10 GPUs, but they are also the reference GPUs for DirectX 10 API development and certification and are 100% DirectX 9 compatible.
- GeForce 8800 GPUs deliver full support for Shader Model 4.0.
- All graphics cards are being built by NVIDIAs contract manufacturer.
- All GeForce 8800 GPUs support NVIDIA SLI technology.
- At this time there are no 256MB models of the cards
- The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX has a 24 pixel per clock ROP. The GeForce 8800 GTS has a 20 pixel per clock ROP.
- GeForce 8800 GTX requires a minimum 450W or greater system power supply (with 12V current rating of 30A). GeForce 8800 GTS requires a minimum 400W or greater system power supply (with 12V current rating of 26A).
In the photo shoot we'll have a closer look at all three products and tell you a little about connectivity and also that memory mystery.
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