*** Unofficial 8800 GTS review thread ***

[BFG10K]

Fudzilla
Hard OCP
Techspot
Firingsquad
Anandtech
Hot Hardware
Computerbase
Tech ARP
Tech Report
Tom's Hardware
Guru3D
ExtremeTech
Bit Tech
Behardware

 

[Corporate Thug]

nice

:thumbsup:

 

[Burpy]

I was hoping they would stay under $350 but it seems most will run a bit higher than that. I'm just going to go with a eVGA 8800GT and use the step-up before it expires. It would of been really great if the 8800GTS was worth the $100 mark-up from the GT. Hard also hinted that the GTS also might suffer from supply issues that will keeps prices high.

 

[BFG10K]

Added Fudzilla link.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Techspot Review

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Anand

 

[theprodigalrebel]

dp

 

[R3MF]

Where are the G92 GTS cards with memory over 2.0GHz?
Does this presage the entrance of a G92 GTX with memory at 2.4GHz and a higher core clock?

It isn't rocket science to put some decent speed memory on a midrange card. Witness the 3870 with 2.35GHz memory, so why haven't any of the so called "OC" versions of the G92 GTS got overclocked memory?

At the same time we all want a card that can play Crysis at 1920x1200 at High details and still get around 30FPS. The GTS can get ~30FPS at Medium details........... whoopy-do!

So, we know its possible to economically provide more bandwidth and we know its necessary, but nobody has done so including the OC'ed versions.

Is this because there is a G92 GTX product around the corner?

Yes i know there is rumoured to be a G92 GX2 dual-card sometime in january, but how about a non-cack single card version.

A card with:
720MHz core clock
2000MHz shaders
2400MHz memory
1GB or memory

would absolutely rock, so why haven't we got one?

 

[cputeq]

*sigh* And my step-up window just ended...I had to settle for GTS-640 to GT instead of the newer GTS. Oh well.

Anyone else having troubles getting Anand's review to come up? I'm getting blank pages most of the time. Not sure if it's my work filtering it or what...I did manage to get page 4 open...once.

 

[MTDEW]

Anand's comes up just fine for me in firefox.
And Anand's final words sums up my personal thoughts on the "new" GTS exactly.

I dont want to thread crap, but it has to be said "We need faster cards, we're still being sold last years performance!"

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: MTDEW
Anand's comes up just fine for me in firefox.
And Anand's final words sums up my personal thoughts on the "new" GTS exactly.

I dont want to thread crap, but it has to be said "We need faster cards, we're still being sold last years performance!"

Yep, sadly its like trading one feature set/strength while sacrificing another. The G92 GTS does show however that extra shading power is beneficial in games that are shader intensive, but still falls behind in higher resolutions/AA enabled where more VRAM/fillrate would be beneficial.

And for all those bemoaning memory clocks etc....I've yet to read all the reviews above, but I've yet to see a *single* benchmark that shows any significant benefit from increased memory bandwidth on the G80 or G92.

 

[Racer7]

Originally posted by: MTDEW
I dont want to thread crap, but it has to be said "We need faster cards, we're still being sold last years performance!"

You're being sold last year's performance, but at half the price.

 

[1ManArmY]

I have until Feb 16 08 to use my step-up from my 8800 GT SC but the new 8800 GTS provides insignificant gains so I'll have to keep my finger's crossed and hope Nvidia releases the next gen high end card in early February as opposed to late February as previously reported.

 

[jonks]

Well these are unlikely to sell like the GTs so hopefully prices will quickly drop where it's worth the small step-up fee.

ED: ok, based on benchs it's not even worth opening up my case to upgrade to this

 

[MTDEW]

You're being sold last year's performance, but at half the price.

Yeah, but if we would have gotten faster cards this year as usual, then you could buy a used 8800GTX at half the price by now too if you still wanted last years performance.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: MTDEW

You're being sold last year's performance, but at half the price.

Yeah, but if we would have gotten faster cards this year as usual, then you could buy a used 8800GTX at half the price by now too if you still wanted last years performance.

It doesn't work that way and it has never worked that way. Try purchasing a 7900GTX or a 7800GTX... You are still looking at sites selling them for 300+. Or take the 8800GTS 320MB which is slaughtered by the 8800GT and still the price is higher... Faster graphics cards do not push prices down, only the 'new' release of neutered high end parts give that result.

 

[chizow]

Well, read over a few more reviews and I think this is the first time I can say that an AT review and a review by Anand isn't even worth reading. Really getting tired of reviewers falling into the "stock clock testing" crap and then touting one part as better than the other.

A MUCH better comparison done at FiringSquad (maybe my new favorite bench site) shows:


Firing Squad Review

When looking over this review, pay special attention to:

Leadtek GeForce 8800 GT Extreme (680MHz core/1.0GHz memory)

vs.

XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB XXX (678MHz core/986MHz memory)

Almost no difference at all in performance.......

 

[MTDEW]

ArchAngel777,
I'd have to disagree, if we had an 8800GTX killer, i'd say its pretty safe you could purchase a used 8800GTX now for $350 - $380. (which is what the new GTS is going for)

But thats all speculation so we could argue that all day.

My point is.... Since Ati/Amd arent "pushing" Nvidia, we arent getting much performance increases this year.

As all the benchmarks show , we just have a bunch of cards all bunched together with similar performance.

 

[Syntax Error]

^ Is that above review testing the GTS clock-for-clock with the GT? I'd like to see a review do exactly that, IMO, the 8800GTS seems like an 8800GT but clocked higher due to its better dual-slot cooler.

If the 8800GT had a dual slot cooler, it'd be without a doubt a better buy than a GTS in many circumstances. Nvidia must've made the 8800GT single-slot for exactly this reason, and to give people a reason to buy a card a $100 more for essentially a better cooler.

 

[MTDEW]

When looking over this review, pay special attention to:

Leadtek GeForce 8800 GT Extreme (680MHz core/1.0GHz memory)

vs.

XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB XXX (678MHz core/986MHz memory)

Almost no difference at all in performance.......

Saw that, ive been avoiding posting about stuff like that because all is does is turn into an argument with someone.

But the simple fact is ITS TRUE!

And thanks for posting it.

 

[MTDEW]

If the 8800GT had a dual slot cooler, it'd be without a doubt a better buy than a GTS in many circumstances. Nvidia must've made the 8800GT single-slot for exactly this reason, and to give people a reason to buy a card a $100 more for essentially a better cooler.

Man, i couldnt agree more, they tried to cripple the GT with a single slot cooler and "too low" fan speeds, because they Knew an OC'ed GT would equal a GTS.

So glad im not the only one seeing these things.




Edit, because i cant spell today worth a poop...LOL

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Syntax Error
^ Is that above review testing the GTS clock-for-clock with the GT? I'd like to see a review do exactly that, IMO, the 8800GTS seems like an 8800GT but clocked higher due to its better dual-slot cooler.

If the 8800GT had a dual slot cooler, it'd be without a doubt a better buy than a GTS in many circumstances. Nvidia must've made the 8800GT single-slot for exactly this reason, and to give people a reason to buy a card a $100 more for essentially a better cooler.

Was about to post a caveat to my previous post, but this would be covered in there.

Yes, its very close to a clock for clock comparison (2/24MHz difference in core/memory, respectively) and probably closer than you'll find elsewhere if they even provide tested clock speeds.

But yes, the one caveat I'd say is a decent reason to get a GTS if you can find one for $30-$50 more would be for the dual-slot cooler, which undoubtedly cools better than the single-slot cooler (based on my own experiences with the G80 and G92). The Asus TOP model clocked at 740MHz seems to confirm this. Plus you get those extra 16SP and 8 texture units for that whopping 0-2% increase in performance.

 

[Syntax Error]

For $30-50 on top of an 8800GT, I'd rather get a Zalman VF1000...too bad those suckers don't blow outside of the case, though.

However, for many of us, an 8800GTS is NOT $30-50 more, it's more like $80-120 more on top of what we paid (at launch, the 8800GT was $229-240 and subsequent deals that's come out since [BB with coupons: $210-ish and Dell: $208]) for a better cooler and slightly higher clocks?

Please. Clock-for-clock, the GTS is the same thing as the GT.

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: Syntax Error
For $30-50 on top of an 8800GT, I'd rather get a Zalman VF1000...too bad those suckers don't blow outside of the case, though.

However, for many of us, an 8800GTS is NOT $30-50 more, it's more like $80-120 more on top of what we paid (at launch, the 8800GT was $229-240 and subsequent deals that's come out since [BB with coupons: $210-ish and Dell: $208]) for a better cooler and slightly higher clocks?

Please. Clock-for-clock, the GTS is the same thing as the GT.

QFT.

 

[MTDEW]

For $30-50 on top of an 8800GT, I'd rather get a Zalman VF1000...too bad those suckers don't blow outside of the case, though.

However, for many of us, an 8800GTS is NOT $30-50 more, it's more like $80-120 more on top of what we paid (at launch, the 8800GT was $229-240 and subsequent deals that's come out since [BB with coupons: $210-ish and Dell: $208]) for a better cooler and slightly higher clocks?

Please. Clock-for-clock, the GTS is the same thing as the GT.

Yeah, i think too many people are seeing the 8800GT vs the 8800GTS posts as 8800GT owners just trying to justify their purchases.

When im sure most are for the same reason i post about it...... I want more performance and id gladly purchse it if i could, sadly the 8800GTS is not more performance...its more of the same performance we've had for over a year now.

I dont think anyone is saying if you buy an 8800GTS that its a bad buy, its just whether you think the extra $$$ is worth the better cooler that exhausts the hot air out of your case.

For some its worth it, for others its not.

So for anyone who's buying an 8800GTS and thinks all 8800GT owners think you're crazy....
Dont worry , its not true...we all want your dual slot cooler! :thumbsup: