NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS: Unified Powerhouses

The GeForce 8800 GTS shares many of the same features as the 8800 GTX, but the two cards differ in a number of ways.

      
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS

For one, the 8800 GTS is built upon a shorter 9" PCB. The card also requires less power; NVIDIA recommends a 400W PSU that can supply 26A on its 12V rails. As such the GTS has only one 6-Pin PCI Express power receptacle. The GTS also has only a single SLI edge connector, so at some point in the future the GTX is likely to offer a few additional features when running in SLI mode. 

         
EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS

We actually received a retail-ready EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS for the purposes of this article. Underneath the card's cooler, which is identical to the one used on the GTX, lies a G80 GPU clocked at 513MHz and 640MB of GDDR3 memory clocked at 1584MHz. Please note that the GTS has "only" 96 streaming processors enabled in the GPU, and its memory has a 320-bit interface, as opposed to 384-bits on the GTX. The 320-bit memory interface means the GTS is outfitted with 10, 32-bit DRAMs.  The PCB does have pads for 12, however. So, there is a possibility that future, unannounced GeForce 8800 series cards with 384-bit memory interfaces may use this PCB design.

EVGA bundles their e-GeForce 8800 GTS with a nice assortment of accessories and software. Included in the box along with the card itself, were a pair of DVI to DB15 VGA monitor adapters, an HD component output dongle, an S-Video cable, a Molex to 6-Pin PCI Express power adapter, a user's manual, some EVGA decals, and a couple of CDs. One disc contained the obligatory drivers, while the other contained a full version of the brand-new game Dark Messiah. Dark Messiah is a great title to showcase some of the capabilities of this card. Many thanks to EVGA for throwing it in with their GTS.