DH Review: (Nvidia) XFX 8800 GTS and 8800 GTX

Zardon · Nov 8, 2006, 06:53 PM

Read the review here
________________

As well as designing a GPU which is capable of excelling in DirectX 10 situations Nvidia had to accommodate existing technology and ensure that not only did their card have the ability to play catch-up with ATI in areas such as the ability to do HDR and AA the ideal scenario would be a product which also outperformed existing competitor solutions in titles from the past few years.

Could all this be done successfully? and would there be any downsides to the approach?

Vikingod · Nov 8, 2006, 07:22 PM

That is how a review should be handled, great job guys.

Asmoday · Nov 8, 2006, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikingod

That is how a review should be handled, great job guys.

Indeed!

Dark Lord · Nov 8, 2006, 07:35 PM

excellent review, as always. really wish i could afford to upgrade my system again...

will we be seeing an SLI review anytime soon for this?

niceguyrichy · Nov 8, 2006, 07:36 PM

ditto great review guys

interesting how well the slower card does against the dual gpu options given the price, and the presumed performance gain when games start to be optimised for dx10.

Sandok · Nov 8, 2006, 07:40 PM

Wow those cards just blew everything out of the water! Honestly, except for the high power requirements and the strange low minimum FPS from time to time, I love it!

Great review and now, you made me convinced I have to own one of those cards!

OmegaRED · Nov 8, 2006, 08:10 PM

Best DH review I've seen.

Necrosis · Nov 8, 2006, 08:19 PM

Tempting..oh so tempting.

BlueMak · Nov 8, 2006, 08:41 PM

DH just bitch slapped every other review site on the net. Excellent job.

Judas · Nov 8, 2006, 08:45 PM

boy..... even makes me want to convert asap.... but i'll await ATI's solution.

Erroneus · Nov 8, 2006, 08:46 PM

Awesome review, loves how you guys mix it with video now and the design of the reviews are as always excellent, nice job.

Also nice job spotting the driver bugs

Partizan · Nov 8, 2006, 08:58 PM

Excellent review.

I wanna throw away my 7900GTO

Erroneus · Nov 8, 2006, 09:07 PM

While GTS seems like a nice card, I'm not sure if it's a better buy then the GTX, which reallly sometimes leaves GTS in the dust.

Lowfat · Nov 8, 2006, 09:09 PM

nice review on some very nice hardware.

~~bobbytomorow~~ · Nov 8, 2006, 09:15 PM

Wow, you guys have the sweetest reviews on the net

bananaman · Nov 8, 2006, 09:41 PM

as always, nice work guys - hell of a chip that 8800 :P

evrt63 · Nov 8, 2006, 09:58 PM

great review! looks like the mark has been set for amd/ati.

SFOSOK · Nov 8, 2006, 11:12 PM

Awesome review, just got done with it.

Only thing I can say I didn't like about it were the streaming videos in the pages. The first one seems kinda off on the first page like it doesn't belong or something. And the last vid seems more appropriate for a game review.

Great review though, good to see Nvidia is on the right track.

Zardon · Nov 8, 2006, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFOSOK

Only thing I can say I didn't like about it were the streaming videos in the pages. The first one seems kinda off on the first page like it doesn't belong or something. And the last vid seems more appropriate for a game review.

First page the movie is just an indication of the card in a case, as it is a very long card. just a little "extra".

Last page movie is basically for those people who skip instantly to the conclusion and perhaps dont have time to read the whole review, this give a brief overview of the card and some features.

Trying to shake things up a little and make the reviews more interactive.

Lelisevis · Nov 8, 2006, 11:22 PM

WTF you flaming lunatics

I sit down at 11 oclock at night to read the review which was amazing coincidently, I get to the last page, halfway through the conclusion and all of a sudden my speakers start pumping out music. I swear I was hanging from the roof by my fingernails firing a*se pellets like a startled rabbit. I'd been playing UT2004 earlier today with the sound turned right up.

Excellent work as usual, a really indepth review thats got me wondering if I should cancel my order for the X1950XTX. Any idea when these will hit the uk market for purchase?

Edit: answered my own question, in stock now at Overclockers uk, BFG even have one pre-prepped with a custom dangerden watercooling block.

***Veridian3*** · Nov 8, 2006, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisW

I can't believe you guys let the 7950 get away with using bloom in the HDR+FSAA benchmarks when you know full well the test would say "fail" for an ATI card that lacked that feature. Very dissapointing, but expected.

Incorrect.

The objective is to show how the 4 products we were comparing perform at their available settings/quality. Not only did using bloom allow us to show how the GX2 compares to the 3 cards which were using HDR it is also more informative than saying "fail". We noted the difference in settings and that the Bloom lighting is less demanding than the HDR alternative.

In addition to this, in previous reviews which featured DX9 Nvidia parts and DX9 ATI parts we have benched the Radeon with bloom on and HDR on and compared the results to the NV part with Bloom only to ensure that a fair and complete representation of the situation is given to the reader.

If you seriously think that saying "fail" is useful to anyone then you really don't have a grasp of how to write informative editorial. It would be about as useful as benching the 8800 at 16xAA and writing "Fail" alongside the Radeon results.

I guess if thats the only thing you can find "wrong" with our article then we must be doing something right.

Oh, and by the way... its disappointing not "dissapointing".

brutusmaximus · Nov 8, 2006, 11:47 PM

Amazing review guys, well impressed. I wouldnt listen to Chrisw. between him and Waltc, they are like the ATI mafia on forums. Nonsensical rantings, but as its coming from the dude who adores ATI and created radlinker, do we really expect anything else?

The 8800 is only a card, and a damn fast one at that, im stunned people seem to get all hurt and their panties in a wad when their favoured manufacturer lags behind. You can bet your asses ATI have something up their sleeve.

Zardon · Nov 8, 2006, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisW

Using "fail" (which has been used many times in several reviews of ATI cards on the internet to make ATI look bad)

On the "internet"? I couldnt care less what's on the "internet", I only care about what is on DH, and if you for one minute think this site has some bias towards either manufacturer then you are sadly mistaken - quite funny now that Nvidia has superior hardware some people have an issue with it. Weren't we "ATI Fanboys" when we reported ATI had faster hardware not so long ago? Let's get real, we still wouldn't be here if we didn't do a damn good job. ATI work closely with us as anyone knows as do Nvidia. Why is that? because we say it like it is and we back it up with cold hard fact as well as offering both companies help with their drivers on many levels behind the scenes. We adhere to NDA's, we don't breach confidence and we work as best we can with them both. They know this.

No offense Chris, but your postings in threads are extremely biased towards ATI. I would hate to say thats because you are an ATI beta tester and you made radlinker as I had the greatest respect for you, but seriously I do think you need to take a step back and look at the big picture here. Blinkered loyalty to any company which ignores the facts is not a good thing.

Stuart has already replied and if you feel that isnt a good enough reason well then, I guess thats something you will have to deal with... outside this thread. You made your point, and I expect to see no more from you in here, or this will turn into a how "chrisw" sees the world style debate which we have had before. I hope this doesn't sound harsh because it is not meant to be.

@ brutusmaximus - lower the tone, I wont tolerate insults.

Zardon · Nov 9, 2006, 12:01 AM

THREAD CLEANED

I would like to just say to everyone reading this, if you have something to say, then do so about the review and lets not get into insults or flaming, it is immature and it just lowers the tone of the whole site.

I am not a hardass, We want to hear your views, but come on, lets do so in a way that we can all take something from it.

SFOSOK · Nov 9, 2006, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

First page the movie is just an indication of the card in a case, as it is a very long card. just a little "extra".

Last page movie is basically for those people who skip instantly to the conclusion and perhaps dont have time to read the whole review, this give a brief overview of the card and some features.

Trying to shake things up a little and make the reviews more interactive.

Yea, I like the move on it. Makes it a little bit more alive for those who don't read too much. Good call.

Zardon · Nov 9, 2006, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFOSOK

Yea, I like the move on it. Makes it a little bit more alive for those who don't read too much. Good call.

I appreciate the comments mate, they arent for everyone and im not sure I love them myself, but we try and make it a bit more interesting, might not always work for everyone !

What do you think about the 8800 series? impressed?

SFOSOK · Nov 9, 2006, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

I appreciate the comments mate, they arent for everyone and im not sure I love them myself, but we try and make it a bit more interesting, might not always work !

What do you think about the 8800 series? impressed?

Man, that card is insane. Having to review a crossfire x1900xtx crossfire solution and 7950GX2 to compete with a single card single GPU solution. I wish I was staying longer so I could pick up a new moniter, PSU, CPU, and this card.

I'm also now very eagerly awaiting ATI's release and see what they bring to the table.

Again awesome review for an awesome card.

Zardon · Nov 9, 2006, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lelisevis

Excellent work as usual, a really indepth review thats got me wondering if I should cancel my order for the X1950XTX. Any idea when these will hit the uk market for purchase?

Overclockers have some in stock and some coming in soon. they are normally the first to get them.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/8800_Series.html

mkk · Nov 9, 2006, 01:03 AM

Nice to see the GX2 getting whooped in shader heavy situations, where the future in gaming graphics lies. I haven't been reading too much about these cards but I notice that some vendors has quite varying memory specs on 8800 cards, likely due to some early spec confusion. Can we clarify that 768MB is the norm for 8800GTX and 640MB for 8800GTS or are there currently other known variations? Keep up with having videos with the reviews when possible, it adds some extra spice. Rather not autoplaying though.

Oh, one more thing. How's the overall noise level with these card coolers?

dipstick · Nov 9, 2006, 01:10 AM

Nice review guys, I could not control myself after reading it

Keep up the good work

Nov 8, 2006, 06:53 PM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,481 Rep Power: 162	DH Review: (Nvidia) XFX 8800 GTS and 8800 GTX Read the review here ________________ As well as designing a GPU which is capable of excelling in DirectX 10 situations Nvidia had to accommodate existing technology and ensure that not only did their card have the ability to play catch-up with ATI in areas such as the ability to do HDR and AA the ideal scenario would be a product which also outperformed existing competitor solutions in titles from the past few years. Could all this be done successfully? and would there be any downsides to the approach?

Nov 8, 2006, 07:22 PM	#2
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,162 Rep Power: 94 System Specs	That is how a review should be handled, great job guys. __________________ *How You Can Help DriverHeaven By Using Digg*

Nov 8, 2006, 07:35 PM	#4
Dark Lord HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 5,791 Rep Power: 94 System Specs	excellent review, as always. really wish i could afford to upgrade my system again... will we be seeing an SLI review anytime soon for this? __________________

Nov 8, 2006, 08:10 PM	#7
OmegaRED HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Ottawa , Canada Posts: 5,032 Rep Power: 119 System Specs	Best DH review I've seen. __________________ E Penis Specs (Upgraded!) <------------- See System Specs

Nov 8, 2006, 08:41 PM	#9
BlueMak HH's Asteroids' Dominator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Hellas->Macedonia->Thessaloniki Posts: 9,665 Rep Power: 179 System Specs	DH just bitch slapped every other review site on the net. Excellent job. __________________ The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm *Sic semper tyrannis.*

Nov 8, 2006, 07:40 PM	#6
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,472 Rep Power: 54	Wow those cards just blew everything out of the water! Honestly, except for the high power requirements and the strange low minimum FPS from time to time, I love it! Great review and now, you made me convinced I have to own one of those cards!

Nov 8, 2006, 08:19 PM	#8
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,605 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	Tempting..oh so tempting.

Nov 8, 2006, 08:46 PM	#11
Erroneus Loving my Windows 7 Ent. Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 13,011 Rep Power: 82 System Specs	Awesome review, loves how you guys mix it with video now and the design of the reviews are as always excellent, nice job. Also nice job spotting the driver bugs __________________ Last edited by Erroneus; Nov 8, 2006 at 09:00 PM.

Nov 8, 2006, 08:58 PM	#12
Partizan Fun loving criminal Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Slovenia Posts: 1,161 Rep Power: 48 System Specs	Excellent review. I wanna throw away my 7900GTO __________________ Live and let live!

Nov 8, 2006, 09:07 PM	#13
Erroneus Loving my Windows 7 Ent. Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 13,011 Rep Power: 82 System Specs	While GTS seems like a nice card, I'm not sure if it's a better buy then the GTX, which reallly sometimes leaves GTS in the dust. __________________

Nov 8, 2006, 09:09 PM	#14
Lowfat HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can Posts: 4,079 Rep Power: 72	nice review on some very nice hardware.

Nov 8, 2006, 09:15 PM	#15
~~bobbytomorow~~ Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: vancouver Posts: 450 Rep Power: 0	Wow, you guys have the sweetest reviews on the net

Nov 8, 2006, 09:41 PM	#16
bananaman banana muncher Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: London Posts: 1,254 Rep Power: 48	as always, nice work guys - hell of a chip that 8800 :P __________________

Nov 8, 2006, 09:58 PM	#17
evrt63 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: oregon Posts: 88 Rep Power: 0	great review! looks like the mark has been set for amd/ati.

Nov 8, 2006, 11:12 PM	#18
SFOSOK -Thread Ender- Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 6,882 Rep Power: 51 System Specs	Awesome review, just got done with it. Only thing I can say I didn't like about it were the streaming videos in the pages. The first one seems kinda off on the first page like it doesn't belong or something. And the last vid seems more appropriate for a game review. Great review though, good to see Nvidia is on the right track. __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Nov 8, 2006, 11:22 PM	#20
Lelisevis Howlin at the moon Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 1,663 Rep Power: 0	WTF you flaming lunatics I sit down at 11 oclock at night to read the review which was amazing coincidently, I get to the last page, halfway through the conclusion and all of a sudden my speakers start pumping out music. I swear I was hanging from the roof by my fingernails firing ase pellets like a startled rabbit. I'd been playing UT2004 earlier today with the sound turned right up. Excellent work as usual, a really indepth review thats got me wondering if I should cancel my order for the X1950XTX. Any idea when these will hit the uk market for purchase? Edit: answered my own question, in stock now at Overclockers uk, BFG even have one pre-prepped with a custom dangerden watercooling block. Last edited by Lelisevis; Nov 8, 2006 at 11:32 PM.*

Nov 8, 2006, 11:47 PM	#22
brutusmaximus DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 520 Rep Power: 62	Amazing review guys, well impressed. I wouldnt listen to Chrisw. between him and Waltc, they are like the ATI mafia on forums. Nonsensical rantings, but as its coming from the dude who adores ATI and created radlinker, do we really expect anything else? The 8800 is only a card, and a damn fast one at that, im stunned people seem to get all hurt and their panties in a wad when their favoured manufacturer lags behind. You can bet your asses ATI have something up their sleeve. __________________

Nov 9, 2006, 12:01 AM	#24
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,481 Rep Power: 162	THREAD CLEANED I would like to just say to everyone reading this, if you have something to say, then do so about the review and lets not get into insults or flaming, it is immature and it just lowers the tone of the whole site. I am not a hardass, We want to hear your views, but come on, lets do so in a way that we can all take something from it.

Nov 9, 2006, 01:03 AM	#29
mkk Avasted Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 3,842 Rep Power: 81 System Specs	Nice to see the GX2 getting whooped in shader heavy situations, where the future in gaming graphics lies. I haven't been reading too much about these cards but I notice that some vendors has quite varying memory specs on 8800 cards, likely due to some early spec confusion. Can we clarify that 768MB is the norm for 8800GTX and 640MB for 8800GTS or are there currently other known variations? Keep up with having videos with the reviews when possible, it adds some extra spice. Rather not autoplaying though. Oh, one more thing. How's the overall noise level with these card coolers? __________________ Your 58x0/57x0 card gettig stuck at 400/900? Last edited by mkk; Nov 9, 2006 at 01:11 AM.

Nov 9, 2006, 01:10 AM	#30
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,592 Rep Power: 57 System Specs	Nice review guys, I could not control myself after reading it Keep up the good work