Nvidia GT and GTS Showdown: XFX, Zotac &

- 23rd Jan 2008

Review Menu

Conclusion

Gainward

Gainward’s latest 8800 GT is an exceptional product. It might not have the most appealing packaging we have ever seen but as far as the bundle is concerned we are impressed. A more up to date version of PowerDVD would be benefical as the inclusion of a DVI>HDMI converter means the card is crying out for a bundled audio cable so that both audio and video can be passed to a HDTV.

As well as having the best bundle on show today the card is one of the prettiest Geforce cards we have seen recently, thanks to a very well designed cooler. Great looks and a fantastic package are all very well, however the all important card performance does not disappoint either. Despite using a lower specification core and lower clock speeds the majority of our tests showed that the card was not noticeably slower than the two GTS cards, it would be near impossible to tell it apart from the other models when gaming. There were also some situations where the additional memory on the card helped it to perform better than the GTS models, Gears of War being a particular highlight. Unreal 3 powered games seem to thrive on additional memory.

When you add all this to the fact this card is the cheapest model on test today Gainward have a sure fire winner.

What do these awards mean?

Gainward card is available from Overclockers.co.uk for £223 inc vat

XFX and Zotac

Due to the near identical specifications of the XXX and AMP! Edition cards they are battling for the same customers and really there is not much to separate them. Both cards have the exact same build quality only differing in the brand of memory used, Qimonda for XFX and Hyundai for Zotac.

Both boards have a reasonable warranty with Zotac offering 2 years and XFX lifetime, therefore if you intend to keep the card for longer than a couple of years this could be an aspect which swings your decision towards XFX. There is also the matter of a free game with the XFX card which is not included with the Zotac model.

So, if you want an enhanced GTS, with lifetime warranty and you would not mind a free copy of Lost Planet go for the XFX. If you want an enhanced GTS at as low a price as possible then Zotac is the way to go.

Both cards earn the Driver Heaven "Editor's Choice Award".

What do these awards mean?