The Many Flavors of EVGA

[ragtop63]

I've been doing extensive research on various PC components in order to build a new Core 2 Duo system. The main purpose of the new box is for gaming but I might use it for photo/video editing too. I'm not too concerned about price but I also believe in getting my money's worth. Though, I will splurge a little if I feel it will extend the usability of my investment (cuz we all know that games get better & better and so must the hardware). I also plan to overclock the PC.

My dilemma lies in the graphics card arena. I've been reading many reviews & forums on the various cards available out there and I think I've pretty much narrowed it down to an 8800 GTS from EVGA. I'll probably be playing on a pretty big screen (24" Ultrasharp Dell) so I'm sure I can benefit from the 640MB models (unless the 320MB models will suffice?)

The Many Flavors of EVGA:
e-GeForce 8800GTS
e-GeForce 8800GTS Superclocked
e-GeForce 8800GTS KO ACS3

Now I know that the only difference between all of these is the amount of RAM and the overclocking of the GPU. Though, I'm not sure what ACS3 is and does it provide any benefits I can use?

My question is: What's the difference (aside from support & safety) between me buying a factory overclocked card and buying a standard card and using a utility like RivaTuner to set the clock on the card myself? And is the price difference (AVG $60 USD from low to high) worth it?

Why not an 8800 GTX? Well, simply put, I think the cost isn't worth the gain (or lack thereof).

 

[senor_bob]

Now I know that the only difference between all of these is the amount of RAM and the overclocking of the GPU. Though, I'm not sure what ACS3 is and does it provide any benefits I can use?

ACS3 = Asymmetric Cooling System (version 3) It's basically an upgraded fan/heatsink. Read evga's propaganda about it here and here.

My question is: What's the difference (aside from support & safety) between me buying a factory overclocked card and buying a standard card and using a utility like RivaTuner to set the clock on the card myself? And is the price difference (AVG $60 USD from low to high) worth it?

If you buy a factory OC'd card the warranty covers the OC. EVGA's warranty covers OC anyway as far as I know. Not worth it IMO, get the standar and clock it yourself. The factory OC's cards might us the best binned GPUs, but then again, there's no proof of that. ACS3 has better cooling so will probably allow more clocks than the standard card's heatsink.

 

[slim142]

you are gonna pay like an extra $100 for a bigger plastic cover, some extra mhz and some degrees less than the normal card.

IMO not worth it

overclock, you can get almost the same speed by overclocking yourself. You can get the KO clock speeds easily. The fancy heatsink is not worth it. Even if you get teh ACS3 version, I read that only 1mhz in memory clock and core clock can be achieved because the ACS3 version is the highest overclock that can be achieved in the 8800gtx in air.

Which are worth are the KO or OC versions, for some extra $10 or $15 you get the extra mhz with warranty.

 

[ragtop63]

Guys (or girls),
I kinda figured that overclocking myself would be a better bet (financially). I guess I might end up going for the medium overclocked card so I have room to play if I feel the need. Your comments are much appreciated.

On a kind of different note: Does anyone have an opinion on these particular cards vs any other 8800 GTS cards?