Conclusion
In the end, Nvidia has taken its time, but offers an exceptional card with the GeForce 8800GT Compare Prices on GeForce 8800GT Video Cards. For about $230 it nearly displays the power of a GeForce 8800GTX (under 3%) twice as expensive, with the only downside being a slightly lower memory capacity (512 MB instead of 768 MB) and a bandwidth 10% lower than that of a GeForce 8800GTS. However, in games, the latter is usually outperformed by 30% without filters (using the 320 MB version) by the GeForce 8800GT and the GTX is only 12% higher. We have to say that the transition to the 65 nm process meant the arrival of more than just a couple of G92 on a wafer. By the way, this chip boasts 754 million transistors. It's small, consumes less than a GeForce 8800GTS 320 MB, and the 8800GT is also quite silent despite its single slot cooling system.
As a matter of fact, the only objective criticism that you can make today is that it has taken such a long time to arrive, because in the mean time, Nvidia inflicted us with its GeForce 8600 which aren't mid-range cards for gamers according to us, forcing us to side with the 8800GTS 320 MB, and that's in another price range. This is however old news and it's all good, especially when you see how demanding this quarter's games are, with Crysis leading the way.
It's hard however, to finish this review without dropping a line on the fact that AMD's response (Radeon HD 3000) will launch in two and a half weeks, and that even if the 8800GT can't be made into a bad deal, we still need to see what the Canadians have in store for us.
The GeForce 8800GT is the mid-range card that we've been waiting for, the honorable replacement of the GeForce 3 Ti 200 or GeForce 4 Ti 4400, with its performances easily outclassing those of a 8800GTS for a much lower price.
We give the Nvidia GeForce 8800GT our Best Bang for the Buck Award.
Positives
- Excellent performance/price ratio
- Decreasing power consumption
- Silence and card's dimensions
- PureVideo 2
Negatives
- Why didn't it offer such a card earlier?
Performance Round Up
The averages obtained for each card and for each game exclude Crysis, however Crysis doesn't change the ranking, but simply couldn't be tested using the same resolution as the other games. Similarly, the numbers obtained with STALKER are found in averages taken without filters, but since the game hasn't been tested with antialiasing on, it's excluded from the averages taken with filters, which boosts the card's results, STALKER being really demanding.
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