Nvidia 8800GT is no doubt the best video card in performance/price ratio.
 
It is also true that there are some models of 8800gt that is really confusing..
 
Im planning to buy one.. but which of these??
 
8800GT plain/Vanilla 512 mb ddr3(anybrand)
Palit 8800GT SUPER 1GB ddr3
8800GT OC version 512mb ddr3
Inno 3d i-chill accelero series 512mb ddr3
 
So much to choose.. so much to think...  
 
Which is really better amongst four??  

You don't need 1Gb of video memory unless you are playing at REALLY high res, and then the 8800gt alone wouldn't be powerful enough.
 
The overclocked ones are overrated, as you can overclock these things so easily its ridiculous.  Usually the overclocks are so mild its sort of humorous. Older cards were harder to overclock and the OC cards had better parts and such. With the newer GPU's they overclock so easily.
 
The plain cards or any even OC cards that have the stock cooler, in my opinion are no good. I think they cheaped out on the coolers with the single slot and they get to hot.  Look for a card that has a better cooler and you are all set. I took the plain vanilla 8800GTS with the 2slot cooler and OCed with ease. Sure i spent more than the 8800Gt but to me it was worth it not to hear the 8800GT fan spooling up like a rally cars turbo.

yes there is the 8800gts is better
 
the cooling sucks on the gt, yes if you water cool or you after market cooling.
 
 
best single card is the highest oc 8800gts, after that it looks like a pair of 9600gts look pretty darn good
 
triple crossfire looks good too, 1 X2 and 1 single gpu
 
you do not need more then 512mb ram per card, more ram hurts 32bit os operation

if you're dead set on the 8800GT, EVGA sells a good OC version of it, plus a 90 day step-up program and lifetime warranty.  I always buy EVGA cards, best service hands down.

I got the Asus EN8800GT, runs sweet, OC at your liesure depending on the game you're playing.

I live in Canada. Tigerdirect have the plain jane eVGA 8800GT for sale right now at $189 after rebate which I bought. The plain jane version is clocked at 600/1800. The eVGA KO version that is clocked at 650/1900 is about $280. I would concur with the guy above who states these are very overclockable cards. 2 minutes with RivaTuner and you're there at the KO settings and running very stable. I pushed it to 680/2100 at whoch point it is giving 8800GTX perfomance and it still ran fine on 3DMark05. In terms of price/performance it doesn't get any better so I personally would not waste extra money on manufacturer overclocked cards. I would also strongly endorse eVGA as a manufacturer - I had a 7800GT prior to this and that thing ran great for two years - now retired as the new card is here. I don't think the 512 MB GTS is worth the extra money - you're talking about a marginal performance increase for a lot more money.
 
Just my 2 cents

just posted this in the other topic you had open,
 
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/arti [...] VzaWFzdA==
 
This HardOCP article states that the extra mem adds next to nothing in the performance department, however, if you don't care or aren't subject to the great warranty other brands (like evga and XFX) offer I really recommend getting the palit 512 MB Sonic version, as it has a better cooling solution in both performance and noise levels and will OC past most of the other brands, for example, the guys at hardOCP (And I) got the card to 740 core and around 1000 MHZ mem, toms tried a leadteck and got to 680/1050, http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/1 [...] rclocking), the guys at firing squad got 694/980 using a reference sample (or an EVGA, not sure) (http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_8800_gt_performance/page18.asp) and so on, more reviews for you here (http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2110122)
 
So, the point is, the palit 512 sonic will be cheaper, have better cooling (and anyone can tell you that the stock cooling sucks in the 8800gt) and OC better, the only dropdown is worse bundle (tomb raider legacy in my case, I've heard EVGA has crysis in it) and worse warranty, if that's not a problem for you, the go for it, in other case then get a more established brand like XFX, eVga or BFG.

Hmm, the $165 AR 9600GT and $130 AR 8800GS have to rank in there somewhere too.  
 
And among 8800GT my personal favorite now is the MSI quad pipe.  Wish I had two of those instead of these BFG's.  
 

Ooops - in my post above I meant the Superclocked Version (not the K.O version)

But what abou the I chill Inno 3d 8800 gt???
 
Do you recommend it or not??
 
http://www.inno3d.com/products/gra [...] ero_x1.htm

Don't know much about it, it should be nice. Just depends on the cost.  OC'ed core and mem but not the shaders. And an Ax1 cooler, which should be better than the reference in both temps and noise.  Doesn't vent any hot air out of the case but neither does my VF900 and I'm thrilled with that cooler on the 8800GT.  I'd say priced near a reference cooled version, it would be the better choice for sure.  Avoid that single slot ref cooler IMO, unless you don't mind noise or need a single slot card.