EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GS 384 MB

[W1zzard]

Even though the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GS comes with just 96 shaders and 12 ROPs it can easily compete with AMD HD3850 and HD3870. The card offers great price/performance and is very very quiet. With up to 30% overclocking this card is every overclocker's dream being able to surpass the much more expensive 8800 GT when overclocked.

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[muon]

Brilliant review.

edit: Im surprised by the relatively low power consumption.

edit: Its a g92 core? Thatd explain the power consumption. Very impressed by the card.

 

[PaulieG]

Very nice review W1z. Card looks to be an excellent value. One of your comments in the conclusion caught my attention, and wish more people would consider this more often: "I have said countless times that I personally would never buy a video card for more than $250 because it's just a waste of money for too little performance gained."

 

[W1zzard]

"I have said countless times that I personally would never buy a video card for more than $250 because it's just a waste of money for too little performance gained."

yeah funny how i work in this industry that preaches you to buy a new card every 6 months, yet am not willing to spend crazy $$ for hardware

 

[newtekie1]

Amazing review of a seemingly amazing card. It seems there is an amazing value in this card, and it is nice to see it beating the 3850.

Very nice review W1z. Card looks to be an excellent value. One of your comments in the conclusion caught my attention, and wish more people would consider this more often: "I have said countless times that I personally would never buy a video card for more than $250 because it's just a waste of money for too little performance gained."

That is a good guideline, but I would put the price at $300 today.

 

[PaulieG]

yeah funny how i work in this industry that preaches you to buy a new card every 6 months, yet am not willing to spend crazy $$ for hardware

Well, I'm guilty of buying new hardware on an almost bi-monthly basis, but I always buy a step or two down from the best. Then it's my job (and hobby) to get the most out of it, and I frequently make it better than the best.

 

[MikeJeng]

A-mazing.




2 fps slower than the GT in crysis.

 

[PaulieG]

Amazing review of a seemingly amazing card. It seems there is an amazing value in this card, and it is nice to see it beating the 3850.



That is a good guideline, but I would put the price at $300 today.

Well, maybe I'd go $275 with after market cooling. Honestly though, with cards like the 8800GT at $220, and this GS even lower, why would you need to spent $300? One could argue that buying high end means its more "future proof". For me, I never own a gpu long enough to worry about the distant future. I already have some short term future proofing, it's called overclocking...

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

why cant someone buy my 7900GS locally ... this card was made for me.

Anyone knows of an aftermarket cooler that exits at the rear for these cards?

 

[divinebaboon]

Does anyone know if this card and the XFX 8800GS(not XXX) have similar performance? The sale at newegg on the XFX one ends on the 20th..I should probablly just grab one instead of waiting for Evga if there's no huge performance difference.
Oh and I think I'm gonna clock em to 680Mhz and memory to 1000...should be the same right?

 

[muon]

Does anyone know if this card and the XFX 8800GS(not XXX) have similar performance? The sale at newegg on the XFX one ends on the 20th..I should probablly just grab one instead of waiting for Evga if there's no huge performance difference.

Well, the memory on that XFX card is worse than this. 1400mhz instead of the reference 1600mhz. This probably means they are using 1.2 or 1.4ns memory. That wont overclock to anywhere near to the evga in this review.

 

[newtekie1]

Well, maybe I'd go $275 with after market cooling. Honestly though, with cards like the 8800GT at $220, and this GS even lower, why would you need to spent $300? One could argue that buying high end means its more "future proof". For me, I never own a gpu long enough to worry about the distant future. I already have some short term future proofing, it's called overclocking...

I don't know, I had my 7900GT since it hit the market. I paid $300 for it, but it lasted a very long time. It probably helped that I added a second one when I found it for $100.

I think $300 for a G92 GTS 512MB is worth it. I wouldn't go beyond that though. I'm just a $300 video card person.

 

[divinebaboon]

Well, the memory on that XFX card is worse than this. 1400mhz instead of the reference 1600mhz. This probably means they are using 1.2 or 1.4ns memory. That wont overclock to anywhere near to the evga in this review.

Oh ok,thanks! I'll wait for the evga then.
It would also be Hilarious if this card comes out the same day as the 9600GT...
Btw W1zzard where did you get the card?Evga sent it to you?lucky..

 

[AddSub]

Oblivion was not included in the benchmark suite? Oh well...

 

[divinebaboon]

Oblivion was not included in the benchmark suite? Oh well...

neither was COD4...

 

[PaulieG]

Does anyone know if this card and the XFX 8800GS(not XXX) have similar performance? The sale at newegg on the XFX one ends on the 20th..I should probablly just grab one instead of waiting for Evga if there's no huge performance difference.
Oh and I think I'm gonna clock em to 680Mhz and memory to 1000...should be the same right?

They should be very similar. The one advantage with XFX is that they do not invalidate your warranty if you use after market cooling.

 

[newtekie1]

Oblivion has no way of making a standarized accurate benchmark, we have this discussion in almost every review of a video card. W1z has said a number of times that Oblivion won't be included in the benchmark suite.

COD4 is still pretty new, and is there even a way to benchmark it? If there is I'm sure it will be included, but for it to be included it needs to be tested with all the cards the 8800GS is being compared to, which takes time. Personally I would rather see reviews out quickly with a good set of benchmarked software then see every game possible covered.

 

[divinebaboon]

Oh btw I just saw this...is it useful?
http://www.mvktech.net/index.php?option=com_remository&func=fileinfo&filecatid=2475
I don't have any experience in ocing videocards...will that bios unlock the limit nvidia put on the hcip?

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

This card looks promising for the price. I will definitely be looking into this vs the 9600gt.

 

[KainXS]

just don't buy the XFX 8800GS, a friend of mine is on his second RMA now with that car, the XFX version is terrible

so far he got 2 cards with 700mhz ddr3 which was preoverclocked to 800mhz
don't do it

 

[Polaris573]

Oh btw I just saw this...is it useful?
http://www.mvktech.net/index.php?option=com_remository&func=fileinfo&filecatid=2475
I don't have any experience in ocing videocards...will that bios unlock the limit nvidia put on the hcip?

Probably not. W1zzard said the limit was set by the driver not the BIOS.

 

[newtekie1]

Oh btw I just saw this...is it useful?
http://www.mvktech.net/index.php?option=com_remository&func=fileinfo&filecatid=2475
I don't have any experience in ocing videocards...will that bios unlock the limit nvidia put on the hcip?

No, the limit isn't a BIOS issue, it is a driver issue. The driver reads what card it is and limits the clock speed. Any time the clock speed is higher than the 680MHz the drivers reset the clock speed to 680MHz. The only way to get around it is to flash the card with a higher clocked BIOS.

 

[werty316]

Great review.

Depending on how the 9600GT performs against the 8800GS and whether or not I can wait for the rest of the 9 Series, I might just get an EVGA 8800GS.

 

[W1zzard]

yes i got the card from evga, and it is already on its way back to them... too bad i cant keep this nice little card

the next round of benchmarks when we retest all cards will have cod4 scores as well. this will be as soon as unified whql drivers for all geforce + 8800 gs + 9600 gt are available

 

[Mussels]

I really like this card - lots of people i know are upgrading from X1650pro / 7600GT cards, but dont want to cough up for an 8800GT.

These are cheap, and have enough power to manage a 22" widescreen. Single slot, low noise...

SLI tests next time, w1zz?