Date:
Monday , February 12, 2007
Category:
GPU / Video Cards
Manufacturers:
BFGTech
Author:
Brent Justice
Editor:
Kyle Bennett

BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB

NVIDIA’s third GeForce 8 series GPU is ready to be added to their lineup, and this time at a very attractive price point that should appeal to a lot of people. We’ll test the new BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB against the competition as well as its older sibling to see exactly what the better value is, prepare for some shocking results.

Introduction

It has been only three months since the hard launch of NVIDIA’s next generation GPUs, the GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce 8800 GTS supporting DirectX 10. Three months in and NVIDIA is here to debut a third entry into their new lineup for the more price conscious. We have yet to hear or see what AMD/ATI has to offer in their next generation; everyone is waiting with bated breath for that one. While we wait, NVIDIA is basking in the limelight with the only GPUs available to the end user that support the latest DirectX 10 technology.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any DirectX 10 games to exploit that technology yet. In fact, it could be several more months before we are able to enjoy the benefits that DirectX 10 is promising to deliver. While we cannot test DirectX 10 performance or image quality in games now, we can still enjoy what the GeForce 8 series GPUs have to bring to the table in today’s games. The GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce 8800 GTS simply offer the best gaming experience you can get on planet Earth right now in current DirectX 9 games.

While we wait for NVIDIA Windows Vista ForceWare drivers to mature (and boy do they need to) we can go ahead and test current gaming performance with current games in Windows XP. Currently Windows Vista offers no tangible benefits to gamers to upgrade at this moment. Sure, the only way you are going to benefit from DirectX 10 is going to be by upgrading to Windows Vista, but currently there are no DirectX 10 games, therefore the argument is moot. With that in mind we are going to evaluate today’s video cards with the good ole tried and true Windows XP.

The GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB

Continuing one of their advantages, NVIDIA is indeed hard launching the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB. NVIDIA has been on a roll with these hard launches and we hope they continue. It is great to see such commitment with new video cards; we hate to evaluate video cards that you won’t actually be able to buy, honestly, what benefit is that?

The GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB is exactly the same GPU as the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB. As the name implies, the only difference is that the memory size has been cut in half from 640MB to 320MB. The GPU itself is exactly 100% the same.

To summarize the specifications that means it is built on the 90nm manufacturing process, has 96 stream processors running at 1.2 GHz and the ROPs running at 500 MHz with GDDR3 memory running at 1.6 GHz. Even though the memory is cut in half by size the memory bit depth is still 320-bit just like the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB.

GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB video cards are double-slot, use the same cooling unit and are exactly the same length, width, and height as the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB. The power requirements are exactly the same, requiring a minimum 400W or great power supply with a 12V current rating of 26A or higher. Truly, the only difference is memory size.

This is very exciting in two major ways; number one, the specifications being the same means it should deliver the exact same shader performance in your games. The memory size difference though will mean that at some higher resolutions you may see a performance difference and you may have to back off on some antialiasing settings. The raw shader performance, raw ROP performance, and raw memory bandwidth though will be exactly the same.

The second reason this is exciting is because with that reduction in memory size NVIDIA is able to bring the price down to $299-$329! (Depending on what brand you buy and where you buy.) The GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB debuted at $449; considerably more expensive. Considering that cards will certainly be selling for less than MSRP if supplies are firm, we likely have what is amounting to a very solid midrange purchase in terms of high level 3D gaming.