GEFORCE 8800 GTS 320 MB REVIEW AND BENCHMARK
Posted:2007-02-12 By video card review Number of View:51768
GEFORCE 8800 GTS 320 MB REVIEW AND BENCHMARK By :video card review Posted:2007-02-12 xtreview is your : Video card - cpu - memory - Hard drive - power supply unit source Launched at the beginning of last November, GeForce 8 NVIDIA is the new generation of graphics chips . Whereas GeForce 6 and GeForce 7 shared great similarities, the second being only one derived from the first, GeForce 8 for its part has the new architecture. The GeForce 8  series propose the first graphics chip DirectX 10 of the market, the only full compatible card with Windows Vista, NVIDIA also surprised  by revealing a completely unified architecture. The Complex chip GeForce 8 with a little more than 700 million transistors. Four months after its arrival, GeForce 8800 remains today the top-end-range solution available . While waiting for the arrival of R600 from ATI, first graphics chip DirectX 10 for the old Canadian firm, NVIDIA starts to make addition card on G 80 chip. Alternatives from low-end and medium range are planned for the beginning of spring. NVIDIA launches today the reduced version GeForce 8800 GTS. The only difference between 8800gts 640mb and 320mb is the memory volume but in this case with advantage of price. How this lower 320mb memory will impact the performances?. The response to this principal question will be answered by the GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mo, here presented by Foxconn card and with model equipped with 640 Mb coming from TwinTech. GeForce 8800: Briefs recalls Since we already many time wrote about GeForce 8 and we published in preceding review the detailed architecture  review  implemented by NVIDIA we will only make here a small . Briefs recalls . So the geforce 8800 has the DirectX 10 support witch is the new 3D programming interface from Microsoft, available exclusively in Windows Vista.  NVIDIA proposes a unified architecture made from  streaming processor . Each one of these processors can indifferently work on all the types of shaders : pixel shaders,  vertex shaders or geometry shaders. Outline of the architecture of GeForce 8800 GTS Another characteristic of GeForce 8 is the frequency of operation for its streaming processors. This one beeing largely different from the chip frequency . GeForce 8800 GTS work at  500 MHz, the streaming processors in this case are at 1,2 GHz. In fact, in the case of vectorial operations G80 behaves more or less like a conventional graphics chip provided with 32 pixels pipelines, the relatively high processors operation frequency should guarantee a greater effectiveness . This in addition to the memory interface  which is also rather singular here. With the difference of GeForce 7900 or Radeon X1950 which lays out in 256 bits memory interface  , GeForce 8800 GTS is provided with an interface memory 320 bits for a total band-width memory of 64 GB/S, NVIDIA remain using the GDDR3 here. To finish this recalls, it is necessary for us to return on Lumenex, the name of new engine which animates the chips GeForce 8. With G80, NVIDIA attempted to gum the defects which was handicapped in its GeForce 7, in particular at the level of returned effects HDR.  like Radeon X1000, G80 makes  possible to benefit from anti-aliasing when returned HDR is activated in game. Nvidia also added some future for better visual quality: the anisotropic filtering is a lot better than in GeForce 7 . In premium, NVIDIA proposes a new fashion of anti-aliasing, CSAA and based on a new algorithm which makes possible to offer the quality of anti-aliasing 16x to the price of performances usually obtained with an anti-aliasing 4x. GeForce 8800 GTS: characteristics With nearly 681 million transistors and engraved in 90Nm, GeForce 8800 GTS are distinguished from its big brother. Whereas GeForce 8800 GTX is equipped with 128 streaming processors, GeForce 8800 GTS here is satisfied only with - 96 streaming processors. There was also reduction on the side of ROP , witch 20 in GeForce 8800 GTS vs 24 on GTX model . With regards of operation frequencies , GeForce 8800 GTS operates at 500 MHz vs 575 MHz for model GTX and its memory work at 800 MHz vs 900 MHz for the higher model. Clearly, in the table bellow u can see the difference between the three card 8800gts 640mb ,8800gts 300 MB and 8800gtx   GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb GeForce 8800 GTX Interface PCI-express 16x PCI-express  16x PCI-express 16x Engraving 0,09µ 0,09µ 0,09µ Transistors 681 Million 681 Million 681 Million RAMDAC 2 X.400 MHz 2 X.400 MHz 2 X.400 MHz T&L DirectX 10 DirectX 10 DirectX 10 Stream Processors 96 96 128 Units ROP 20 20 24 Memory volume 320 Mb 640 Mb 768 Mb Memory interface 320 Bits 320 Bits 384 Bits Band-width 64 GB/S 64 GB/S 86 GB/S GPU Frequency 500 MHz 500 MHz 575 MHz Frequency of Stream Processors 1200 MHz 1200 MHz 1350 MHz Memory Frequency 800 MHz 800 MHz 900 MHz   TwinTech GeForce 8800 GTS – 640 Mb TwinTech GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb Having 640 Mb video memory GDDR3, GeForce 8800 GTS from TwinTech calls memories chips signed from Samsung and certified to work at 1,2 NS. Its operation frequencies  are 513 MHz for the chip and 792 MHz for the memory (default specifications card has 500 MHz for the chip and 800 MHz for the memory). The card is delivered with various accessories including two adapters DVI/VGA, a double-Molex cable PCI-Express ,an adapter providing out put . Side software, it will be necessary to be satisfied with simple driver CD , TwinTech not delivering any game with the accompany graphics card !!!! Foxconn GeForce 8800 GTS - 320 Mb Signed Foxconn, GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb used in this review test is identical to the model from TwinTech. we finds the green PCB, the black double power connector of PCI-Express  Based on the design of reference NVIDIA, GeForce 8800 GTS from Foxconn use without much surprise the reference cooling system . . Contrary to GeForce 8800 GTX, the cooling system in GeForce 8800 GTS can keep relatively  a discrete operating temperature even in full load. Foxconn GeForce 8800 GTS - 320 Mb With 320 Mb video memory, the card has as many memories chips  (ten) as in GeForce 8800 GTS 640mb , requirement to preserve the advantage of the 320 bits memory bus . On other hand, the memory was selected with economy, the chips are signed Hynix. Offering two connectors DVI , mini-DIN and the standard HDCP , the card has the standard frequencies with 500 MHz for graphics chip and 800 MHz for memory. The manufacturer also proposes an overclocked model whose frequencies are 575 MHz for the graphics chip and 900 MHz for the memory. Foxconn delivers its card with a game pad USB, two adapters DVI/VGA, a cable doubles Molex for PCI-Express , as well as a cable for TV-out, composite and S-Video. No game accompanies the card; it will be necessary to be satisfied with driver CD and the instruction book.  To test the performances of GeForce 8800 GTS, we had recourse to the following platform: Mother board Asus P5W-DH Deluxe - BIOS 1707, Processor INTEL Core 2 X6800 Extreme - 2.93 GHz, 2x1 GB Corsair Twin2X PC6400 C3, Hard disk Western DIGITAL Raptor 150 GB - Serial-ATA 150 Our machine functioned under Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 and had the last driver and BIOS available to the date of test. We will oppose here GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB from  Foxconn with it s big brother signed TwinTech and provided with 640 Mb video memory. We will also compare them with the performances of GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce 7900 GTX. We do not forget solutions ATI/AMD with Radeon X1950 XTX. About video driver, we used ForceWare 97.92 for the GeForce 8 card and  ForceWare 93.71 for GeForce 7. With regard to Radeon, we used the CATALYST 7.1. In order to get the most precise possible result in our comparison of performances between GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb and GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb, we regulated the two card at the same frequencies with NVIDIA driver. 3DMark 06 v1.1.0 we starts our tests with 3DMark 06. we finds at the head and without much surprise GeForce 8800 GTX whereas our two GeForce 8800 GTS respectively occupy the second and the third place , in front of Radeon X1950 XTX from ATI. The card from Foxconn show here lower performances  than TwinTech model provided with 640 Mb with about 4%. Doom 3 - v1.3 Doom 3 starts to get the side of the good old  Quake 3 :-).  the high-speed model  from NVIDIA, GeForce 8800 GTX exceed here the 300 fps in 1280x1024! It was systematically followed by GeForce 8800 GTS whose variation is slightly higher than 5% in 1920x1200. The TwinTech model show here performances higher than the Foxconn card. vs GeForce 7900 GTX, the GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb are 17% here faster whereas Radeon X1950 XTX is in bad position here . Far Cry v1.4 - HDR7 Far Cry was tested here in his last version 1.4 with HDR effects  activated. At head we finds as alwais GeForce 8800 GTX followed with our two GeForce 8800 GTS. The difference between the Foxconn card provided with 320 Mb video memory and the TwinTech model with 640 Mb is tiny here, but always with the advantage of TwinTech: 1,8% in 1600x1200 and 1,7% in 1920x1200. Vs Radeon X1950 XTX, GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb is faster by 33% here. F.E.A.R. v1.08 F.E.A.R. tested here in the version1.08 . Here, the card from Foxconn is 18% faster than ATI model . Between edition 640 Mb and alternative 320 Mb  GeForce 8800 GTS,still the same performances value of about 4%. Splinter Concealment Theory Chaos - v1.05 Radeon X1950 XTX here show very good result finishing second, with equality with GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb, but behind GeForce 8800 GTX . According to Splinter cell, GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb from Twintech is 5% faster than the model provided with 320 Mb from Foxconn. Vs GeForce 7900 GTX, GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb offer only a very limited performances profit  : not more than 8%. Half-Life 2 Lost Coast Under Half-Life 2, the performances of GeForce 7900 GTX are slightly higher than those of Radeon X1950 XTX whereas GeForce 8 take the lead here . The card from Foxconn is 28% here faster than the top-end-range model from ATI, and this, in 1920x1200. The difference in performance between our two GeForce 8800 GTS is set here to 3%, model with 640 Mb having always the advantage. Supreme To order We measure here the performances using FRAPS . GeForce 7900 GTX and Radeon X1950 XTX are here with equality whereas GeForce 8800 GTX is largely at the head. Between the two extremes we finds our GeForce 8800 GTS whose model 640 Mb preserves an unquestionable advantage (4,6%) over the edition with 320 Mb from Foxconn. Cal Of Duty 2 - v1.3 Under Cal Of Duty 2, Radeon X1950XTX offers about the same performance as GeForce 8800 GTX. Our two GeForce 8800 GTS are practically with equality and vs GeForce 7900 GTX the small last of NVIDIA, even provided with 320 Mb of video memory, will boost the performances by  18%. Tomb Raider Legends - Next Gen - v1.2 - AA Lara Croft gives his preference to GeForce 8800 GTX, and this, without much surprise, whereas Radeon X1950 XTX has higher performance than GeForce 7900 GTX. GeForce 8800 GTS is shown however more powerful than the card from ATI (35% variation in 1920x1200) whereas there always remains a difference between version 320 and 640 Mb. The card from Twintech is 6% faster than the model from Foxconn . Company of Heroes - v1.4 - AA For Company Of Heroes, GeForce 8800 GTX remains the leader . However, Radeon X1950 XTX is able to rise in the third place between our two GeForce 8800 GTS. The Twintech model provided here with 640 Mb finishes second whereas the model equipped with 320 Mb has a lot lower result . Let us note  that antialiasing is activated, in fact the chip needs video memory, memory which is missing on the Foxconn card. Thus, GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb are 28% faster than edition with 320 Mb. Besides the latter manages just to do better than GeForce 7900 GTX provided for its part with 512 Mb video memory. Doom 3 - v1.3 - AA 4x The activation of antialiasing under Doom 3 does not change large-thing, the game remain favorable to NVIDIA chips . The  GeForce 8800 GTX is largely at the head. In spite of antialiasing, our two GeForce 8800 GTS are with equality, model with 640 Mb being about 5% faster than edition 320 Mb. The variation with Radeon X1950 XTX is limited . F.E.A.R. v1.08 - AA 4x - AF16x With F.E.A.R.  the activation of effects antialiasing and anisotropic filtering with soft shader do not make any surprise, GeForce 8800 GTX finishes first. Radeon X1950 XTX successful on the other hand to rise in the third place, lack of memory in GeForce 8800 GTS from Foxconn is penalizing it vs the Twintech model provided with 640 Mb video memory. GeForce 8800 GTS 640 is 38% faster here than its alternative with 320 Mb. Blow, GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb arrives the GeForce 7900 GTX . Cal Of Duty 2 - v1.3 - AA 4x - AF we finds here our GeForce 8800 GTX at the head whereas division by two of video memory quantity  proves to be fatal in GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb. performance beeing lower and lower vs the 640 Mb passing to higher resolution, the performances obtained are more than twice lower . ATI benefits from it to allocate the second place with Radeon X1950 XTX here faster than GeForce 8800 GTS 640 Mb. Half-Life 2 Lost Coast - AA4x - AF16x One finishes with Half-Life 2 by activating this time the various options of filtering and antialiasing via  gaming menu . GeForce 8800 GTX preserves the advantage whereas GeForce 8800 GTS are practically with equality. It is at least the case in 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 where the variation does not exceed 3% whereas in 1920x1200 GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb this value is larger , the version with 640 mb in this case show 10% of higher performances . But this does not prevent, GeForce 8800 GTS 320 Mb to remains faster by 31% here than Radeon X1950 XTX. Conclusion NVIDIA had the good idea to maintain all the other design features of GeForce 8800 GTS on this model 320 Mb, which limits the drop in performances . At equal frequencies, the new card is most of the time, slightly in withdrawal vs older card provided with 640 Mb video memory. Extremely logical, that this value will be higher when the resolutions is increased and antialiasing is activated. But overall remains tolerable, because if we agrees to lose up to 9% of performances compared to model 640 Mb, the 320 Mb make you save between 80 and 100 euros. NVIDIA indeed announces an advised public price of 319 euros including all taxes for its new model. the model which remains without true competition since AMD still does not have a chip DirectX 10 . xtreview is your : Video card - cpu - memory - Hard drive - power supply unit source we would be happy to answer for your question . if you have suggestion or comment regarding this review our support would be glad to help just join our forum and ask u will get the best answer to discuss check our forum section :-) RATE THIS REVIEW 1 2 3 4 5    / 5   View Stat

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