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| Introduction and Specifications | ||||||
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At the end of October '07, NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GT 512MB hit the scene and garnered near universal praise due to its strong performance and value proposition. With its revamped 65nm GPU and single-slot board design, the GeForce 8800 GT was poised to storm the $200 - $249 graphics card space. However, due to availability issues, street prices remained on the high side at launch. This was especially the case for factory-overclocked models from well respected manufacturers that are currently selling for upwards of $300. Availability is still tight for the GeForce 8800 GT, but we thought it was time to round a few cards up for a HotHardware-style benchmark fest. We’ve got factory-overclocked GeForce 8800 GT cards from Asus, EVGA, and MSI in house, the EN8800GT TOP, the e-GeForce 8800 GT KO, and the NX8800GT, respectively. At their most basic level, all three of these cards are quite similar, but each company does put their own spin on the GeForce 8800 GT in an effort to differentiate their product from the competition. Which one does the best job remains to be seen...
We detailed the GeForce 8800 GT’s architecture and features in-depth in our launch coverage from last October, so we won’t go in depth again here. As you can see from the list of features and specifications above, the 8800 GT is somewhat of a hybrid between the 8600 and 90nm G80-based 8800 series. The G92 at the heart of the GeForce 8800 GT has an updated video engine like the GeForce 8600, but with a shader and ROP configuration reminiscent of a GeForce 8800. If you’d like more information regarding the GeForce 8800 GT and its innermost workings, we suggest reading our launch article which is available right here. Otherwise, read on for Asus, EVGA, and MSI’s take on NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT. |
| The Combatants |
Unlike the majority of today’s high-end graphics cards, the GeForce 8800 GT features a single-slot cooler. The cooler, and its associated shroud, cover the entire front side of the card and it is outfitted with a relatively small, fan. The card’s 512MB of frame buffer memory and GPU both make contact with the cooler which is made of aluminum and copper. The GeForce 8800 GT’s PCB is shorter than the oversized 8800 GTX, and it features only a single SLI connector. Outputs include a pair of dual-link DVIs and an S-Video / HD output. GeForce 8800 GT cards require a single 6-pin supplemental PCI Express power connector as well. All three of the cards we’ll be featuring here have these aspects in common and differ only in clock speeds, bundles, and appearance.
The MSI NX8800GT has a core GPU clock speed of 660MHz with 950MHz (1.9GHz DDR) memory. Those are increases of 60MHz and 50MHz, respectively, over NVIDIA’s reference specifications. And we should also note the card has a 3-year warranty.
The Asus EN8800GT TOP happens to be factory overclocked too. Its GPU core is clocked at an impressive 700MHz and its memory is clocked at 1GHz (2GHz DDR). These relatively high clock speeds, made the Asus EN8800GT TOP the fastest of the three cards featured here. And like MSI’s entry, the Asus EN8800GT TOP carries a 3-year warranty.
Like the MSI NX8800GT and the Asus EN8800GTS TOP, the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT KO is factory overclocked. This card’s GPU came in at 675MHz with 975MHz (1.95GHz DDR) memory, which falls right in between the MSI and Asus cards. EVGA’s lifetime warranty, however, is much better than either company’s. |
| Our Test Systems and 3DMark06 | ||||||||||||||
HOW WE CONFIGURED THE TEST SYSTEMS: We tested all of the graphics cards used in this article on either an EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard (NVIDIA GPUs) or an Asus P5E3 Deluxe (ATI GPUs) powered by a Core 2 Extreme QX6850 quad-core processor and 2GB of low-latency Corsair RAM. The first thing we did when configuring the test systems was enter their respective BIOSes and set all values to their "optimized" or "performance" default settings. Then we manually configured the memory timings and disabled any integrated peripherals that wouldn't be put to use. The hard drive was then formatted, and Windows Vista Ultimate was installed. When the installation was complete we fully updated the OS, and installed the latest DX10 redist and various hotfixes along with the necessary drivers and applications.
Overall, the three GeForce 8800 GT cards we tested performed in-line with expectations in 3DMark06, considering each card's respective clock speeds. The Asus finished on top, followed by EVGA and then MSI. Also note, that the 8800 GTS 640MB card listed in the graphs is based on the G80, not G92. The newer G92-based version is faster than the 8800 GT.
If we tunnel deeper into 3DMark06's results, we see how each card's overall score was derived. Once again, as expected, the Asus card finished in the top spot in both the shader model 2.0 and shader model 3.0 / HDR tests, followed closely behind by EVGA's offering, and then the MSI NX8800GT. |
| Half Life 2: Episode 2 | ||||||
The three GeForce 8800 GT cards tested here were tightly grouped in our custom Half Life 2: Episode 2 benchmark, as expected. As you can see, they were also significantly faster than the competition at all resolutions. |
| Company of Heroes | ||||||
Performance Comparisons with Company of Heroes Details: www.companyofheroesgame.com
Unlike the Half Life 2: Episode 2 results on the previous page, this time around with Company of Heroes, the competition was able to pull ahead of the GeForce 8800 GT cards at a couple of resolutions. Once again, however, the highest clocked GT - the Asus EN8800GT TOP - finished in the lead in relation to the other GTs, followed by EVGA, and then MSI. |
| Enemy Territory: Quake Wars | ||||||
Performance Comparisons with ET: Quake Wars Details: www.enemyterritory.com
The three factory-overclocked GeForce 8800 GT cards featured here returned to the head of the pack in our custom Enemy Territy: Quake Wars benchmark, once again finishing with Asus in the lead, then EVGA, and then MSI. |
| Crysis Performance | ||||||
Performance Comparisons with Crysis Details: www.ea.com/crysis
More expected results with teh Crysis GPU benchmark. The highest clocked card of the bunch, the Asus EN8800GT TOP took the top spot, followed by the next highest clocked card, the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT KO, and finally the MSI NX8800GT. The deltas separating the three GeForce 8800 GT cards were miniscule, however. |
| Overclocking The 8800 GT | ||||
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When all was said and done, we hit a stable 725MHz GPU clock speed with 2.08GHz memory. While overclocked, we re-ran a couple of high resolution benchmarks to show the performance gains offered by the higher clock speeds. Because the cards were already significantly overclocked from the factory, however, we gained only a couple of frames per second in both tests with our somewhat higher, final overclocked speeds. |
| Our Summary and Conclusion | ||||||||||||
Performance Summary: The three GeForce 8800 GT cards tested for this article performed as expected throughout our entire battery of benchmarks. The highest clocked card of the three, Asus' EN8800GT TOP, finished slightly ahead of EVGA's e-GeForce 8800 GT KO, which in turn finished slightly ahead of the MSI NX8800GT. In terms of the GeForce 8800 GT's performance in general versus its main competition, for the money, the GeForce 8800 GT is the card to own.
ASUS EN8800GT TOP:
MSI NX8800GT:
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The MSI NX8800GT – and the other two cards from Asus and EVGA below – is essentially an NVIDIA reference board design with higher GPU core and memory clock speeds and with a custom decal affixed to its fan shroud. MSI includes a driver / utility CD with their card, along with a user’s manual, a quick installation guide, a DVI-to-VGA adapter, a dual Molex-to-6-Pin PCI Express power adapter, an S-Video cable and a HD component output dongle. Sorry folks, no game was to be found.;)
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Asus’ offering is based on NVIDIA’s reference design as well. The Asus EN8800GT TOP has a custom decal affixed to its fan shroud, and it is bundled with a leather CD / DVD case, a driver and utility disk, and a second utility disk that includes a number of proprietary Asus applications in addition to a copy of 3DMark06. The card’s bundle also includes a DVI-to-VGA adapter, a dual Molex-to-6-Pin PCI Express power adapter, a HD component output dongle, and a full version of the current, DX10 title Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts – a quality title to say the least.;)
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This brings us to the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT KO. Like the other two cards featured here, the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT KO is virtually unchanged from NVIDIA’s reference design, save for the card’s custom fan-shroud decal. Its bundle includes a user’s manual, a couple of EVGA stickers, a driver / utility CD, dual DVI-to-VGA adapters, a dual Molex-to-6-Pin PCI Express power adapter, an S-Video cable and a HD component output dongle. Along with these items, however, the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT also comes with a full version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars – one more adapter than the other cards and a game that’s on-par with Asus’ choice. 
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