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BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB

NVIDIA launching a new 65nm GeForce 8800 GTS specification today, this time with 128 streaming processors. We have a retail BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB to look at today in Crysis, UT3, and COD 4 with in-depth gameplay evaluation.

Introduction

This holiday season it seems NVIDIA is flooding the marketplace with new GPU specifications, and that isn’t a bad thing per-se, but it is creating a lot of confusion because many of the GPUs share the same branding and are very close in performance. Picking out the right video card this Christmas can be a daunting task for any gamer. We are going to evaluate the new GTS in comparison to its closest competitors, which are the GeForce 8800 GTX and the new GeForce 8800 GT 512MB. By the end of this evaluation you should know what really is the best buy.

The original GeForce 8800 GTS was launched over one year ago on November 8th, 2006 alongside the GeForce 8800 GTX. A quick recap of the GTS specifications include a 90nm GPU with 96 stream processors, a 320-bit memory bus, core clock of 500 MHz, stream processor clock of 1.2 GHz and memory clock of 1.6 GHz. Initially this video card debuted with 640 MB of GDDR3 and later a 320 MB GDDR3 version was released with the exact GPU same specifications.

Looking to October 28th, 2007 and you will find a brand new GPU released by NVIDIA based on a 65nm manufacturing processes called the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB. This new video card had more stream processors than the older GTS, at 112, but still less than the GeForce 8800 GTX’s 128. The GeForce 8800 GT is actually less expensive than the GeForce 8800 GTS, but as we found out in this evaluation its performance is very close to the level of a GeForce 8800 GTX, outstripping the 90nm GTS of old. This simply means that the GeForce 8800 GTS became irrelevant with the advent of the GeForce 8800 GT at least for those gamers with monitors that supplied resolutions of 16x12 and below.

At the end of the GeForce 8800 GT evaluation we shared you with you an update that some add-in-board manufacturers were in fact going to have faster performing older GeForce 8800 GTS GPU based video cards, further confusing the market place:

A very interesting addendum to this. I just got off the phone with BFG Tech and NVIDIA has been doing some strange things lately. As of this morning, the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB (unsure on the 320MB) will have its stream processors officially increased to 112, the same as the GT. This should put the GTS back ahead of the GT as per the paper specs.

A 112 stream processor GeForce 8800 GTS may outperform a GT in some situations, but frankly with the higher texture performance and stream processor and core clock speeds on the GeForce 8800 GT it is still going to be overall faster in shader intensive games. As if this weren’t confusing enough, today NVIDIA is releasing a new GPU specification, basically refreshing the GTS and in many ways is a refresh of the GTX as well.

GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB

The only way to differentiate the new 65nm GTS compared to the older 90nm GTS at retail if not specified is by looking at the model name; if it specifies 512MB of memory it is the new 65nm GTS. The previous 90nm GTS uses 320 MB and 640 MB of memory due to its memory bus configuration. The new 65nm GTS uses a 256-bit memory bus, and is configured with 512MB of memory. So if you see a GTS with 512MB of memory it is the new 65nm GTS, and if you see one with 320MB or 640MB it is the older 90nm GTS.

The new GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB uses the new 65nm manufacturing process just like the heavily sought after GeForce 8800 GT. There are 128 stream processors on the new 65nm GTS; the same amount as on a GeForce 8800 GTX. The real kicker is this, the new 65nm GTS stream processors are clocked at 1.625GHz which is even faster than a 90nm GeForce 8800 Ultra’s stream processors which are clocked at 1.5GHz. Not only that, but the new GTS core speed is clocked at 650 MHz, which is 75 MHz faster than a 90nm GTX and 38 MHz faster than a 90nm Ultra. That means this new 65nm GTS has faster raw shader processing power than the “flagship” GeForce 8800 Ultra. The catch though is that the 65nm GTS memory bus has been reduced to 256-bit, compared to the 90nm GTS at 320-bit, and the 90nm GTX at 384-bit.

The memory bit-depth on the new GTS is 256-bit, versus 320-bit on the old GTS and 384-bit on the GTX. This is however the same width bus as the new GeForce 8800 GT. The memory frequency runs at 970 MHz (1.94 GHz) which provides 62 GB/sec of bandwidth. As you can see in comparison to the GTX it is a lot less due to the lower bus-width, and of course less memory at 512MB versus 768MB. The beauty of a 65nm core though is that it only eats up 150W of power, versus the GTX at 185W.

So what we have is a sort of mish-mash of performance here. The raw shader performance is higher than even an Ultra, but it is crippled with a more narrow memory bus-width and lower framebuffer capacity compared to the GTX. Compared to the GeForce 90nm 8800 GT though, everything about it is faster. This seems to indicate that it should fit nice and snug in-between the GT and GTX, reclaiming the rightful place in performance for the GTS.

BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB

There will of course be add-in-board partner overclocked video cards, and BFGTech is no stranger to this practice. The BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB is overclocked to a 675 MHz GPU frequency versus the stock 650 MHz GPU frequency. That is a rather small 25 MHz core speed bump and there is no overclock of the memory at all. The stream processors are also overclocked to 1.674 GHz, a small 49 MHz increase. This doesn’t come cheap at an MSRP of US$399 for the BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB.

On the front of the box specifications are listed quite clearly so you can easily see the 512MB of GDDR3 memory on board and know it is the new 65nm GTS.

The BFGTech (and all 512MB 8800 GTS 512MBs) will be a double-slot video card. Air is pulled in from the end of the video card where the power connector is and pushed out the back of the computer. There are no vents for air to escape inside your case, so most of it should exhaust out the rear of your case. Only one auxiliary power connector is required to operate this video card, unlike the 90nm GTX requirement of two. This video card also supports PCI-Express Gen2. SLI and HDCP are supported in hardware with Windows Vista support.

You will notice that the heatsink fan is tilted downward in the pictures. The only reason it is like this is because it cannot lie flat because the capacitors are in the way near the power connection. There have been a few rumors and conspiracy theories posted on forums across the ‘net about the tilt of the fan, but it is nothing special, it just can’t lie flat because hardware components are in the way, and the tilt does not impede performance of the heatsink.

Lengthwise, the BFGTech 65nm GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB is the same length as the 65nm GeForce 8800 GT. It is shorter than the 90nm GeForce 8800 GTX.