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NV1. Recommended Purchases from G8x/G9x Family
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These are GPUs that are recommended for purchase for each price range. Please note that some are manufacturer, and model specific. Reasons will be explained. Basically the reasoning behind these choices is simple, practicality, durability and the value of the GPU itself.
Out of the 8800GT family
The 8800 family is filled with variations with many Manufacturers making customized designs of the 8800GT, first off we have the 8800GT 512MB. This is the IDEAL 8800GT, if you are counting value, and performance altogether.
The 8800GT 256MB suffers from inferior performance (approx +20%~ less compared to the 8800GT 512MB) due to the lack of framebuffer, which is a major issue with it. There is one advantage, which is price. However as performance suffers heavily with the reduced framebuffer on newer games it isn't a good choice.
The 8800GT 1GB, from PALIT and ASUS, while 1GB sounds like a nice number, it isn't necessarily useful. Practically, the 8800GT 1GB's extra load of framebuffer is extremely redundant. With less than half of the framebuffer utilised for all the games. Benchmarks also show that the performance does NOT increase at all with the redundant framebuffer-even in Crysis.
The 8800GT 512MB is the best option. Why? Price, performance value.
One problem. The reference 8800GT's phase design is very poorly designed. With only 1 Phase for the memory, and two phases for the Vcore. The main problem is that the Vcore phase's capacitors , chokes, MOSFETs, generally have a lot to handle. If we remove all the reference designs, we are left with two options.
The Palit 8800GT 512MB Sonic, or the Gigabyte 8800GT 512MB Ultra Durable 2 (GV-NX88T512HP)
The Palit 8800GT 512MB Sonic
Gigabyte GV-NX88T512HP
Lets elaborate on the features of both cards shall we? Both cards sport a 3 Phase power design for the Vcore, as opposed to two. This does mean indeed that the phases will run cooler. However the Gigabyte edges out a tiny bit in this aspect with the components used in comparison. Both GPUs use non-reference cooling, which are of the same calibre (expect load temps of around 70*C~60*C), which is far superior than the stock reference (80*C + normally). Both cards furthermore, come pre-overclocked, which is a nice addition to their value.
Now to the differences, the Gigabyte 8800GT has one major advantage, as seen in the image, the 8800GT has a shorter PCB, around 1.5 Inches shorter. This means it is far more HTPC friendly compared to the Palit and other 8800GTs.
However on the other hand, the Palit has HDMI, which is slowly becoming needed for high end Flat screen TVs.
The Gigabyte has one rather unique feature, which is a power saving feature that is offered on their newer E series motherboards. Basically operating on the same principle, it cuts down power usage and temperatures by a hefty amount during Idle. Note that software is required for this feature to work however.
Out of the both of these GPUs, it comes down to your needs. The Gigabyte would be better if you worry about the durability and the size of the card, as well as the power saving, while the Palit would be better suited for when HDMI is needed in a high performance PC. It also boils down to the price, but take note of the advantages of each GPU, note that performance is almost the same with both.
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