Graphics 8800gt review request

In this day and age who isn't?!... Looking forward to another good review. Oh, and there is 3 brands in scans today only deals 30/10, stock clocks though.

 

So.. Midnight, then?

 

It'll be done when it's done...

Thanks to a Steam update on Friday night, I lost about 20 hours of results (~150 individual tests) so I'm contemplating whether to not bother with that, or redo all of those results (or some of them at the very least). If you add all of this to some very weird driver bugs, it's a miracle that I've got this close. I've had no less than 5 different driver issues and (before the steam update) I had 8 games in my test suite... some of the bugs are fixed, some not so fixed.

I was working on a DX10 performance article before the 8800 GT launch got quite literally dropped on me at short notice, so my DX9 comparison data is... let's say.. limited. I might just address that in a separate article covering WinXP performance though.

 

No rush, you know we're just being smartasses.

The fact of the matter is, there's a bunch of reviews from other sites out there already, but there's still a load of people waiting eagerly for a Bit-Tech review.
Why? Because Bit-Tech reviews are always better, more thorough, more informed and always worth the wait.
A Bit-Tech review offers a much better "final word" on a product than the typical LOTSOFHCARTZNBECNHMARKZLOL reviews by the vast majority of sites.

It'll be done when it's done, and we can wait.

 

Also, the images/pages don't take an age to load, its written for both n00b's and more Geeky people at the same time, there aren't stupid links attached to words like 'motherboard' **Hexus i'm looking at you!** and the Picceys are generally brilliant.

Not to mention the numbers of different resalution comparisons and the 'honest' final answer...

 

No rush Tim - I hadn't realised how quickly this launch came about.

I read a news article that the 8800GT was rumoured a couple of weeks ago, and now suddenly it's here, costing little and performing lots. Now there's a rumour of the new ATi card, whatever it's called, that could give the GT a run for its money...

 

i completely agree with those above, i haven't actually looked at any other reviews yet for it

 

Which brand would you choose? Sparkle, Albatron, BFGTech, Asus, XFX, Zotac or Inno3D?
If you could please air your reasoning as well?

Thanks!

 

Can the chaps at Bit confirm if a 7900 waterblock is compatible. I would love to WC one of these.

 

Posts in forums elsewhere suggest that existing blocks and HSFs designed for 7-series cards That only cover the core should fit the 8800GT with minimal trouble, but most full-cover blocks such as the DangerDen Koosah and EK's full-cover blocks won't fit.

Jerm from DD confirmed that the Koosah won't fit the 8800GT, but that they're working on a modified Koosah specifically for the GT.

I'm thinking of sticking a Swiftech MCW60 on mine when I get it.
Reports suggest that the card is temperature-limited to around 700MHz on the core with the stock HSF, so hopefully WC will take it higher before other limitations crop up.

 

but isn't High Dx9 only?

the GTX can do Crysis, all very high, 1680x1050 with about 12-14FPS, so i expect the 8800GT to do something along along the lines of 10FPS.

the thing is, according to other review sites, the 8800GT doesn't do very well in WiC Dx10 or Company of Heroes. at least their WiC Dx10 test, 1680x1050, 2xAA, 4xAF was lower than my GTX's same all highest, 1680x1050, 4xAA 16xAF. so that's why i want to know whether the GT can stand up to the GTX in Dx10 tests. it lacks in memory bandwidth and stream processors.



basically, im trying to not feel sorry for my new GTX, which i bought for £190 from a friend 3 week ago.

 

Good call', that's what I am hoping to use. I am not really interested in full blocks as decent copper ramsinks are sufficient and it's not worth putting the extra heat in the loop.

 

MCW-60 is now out of production. Its the MCW-60R now!

 

FRAPS detects it is running in DX10 with high settings in the configuration I'm using and if you go to the Windows Vista Game Browser and click on the Crysis SP demo icon, it gives you the option to start DX9 or DX10 versions of the game.

The GT has caveats and I think that a lot of people have jumped on the bandwagon saying it's a GTX for 150-200 quid. It's definitely not that, but that doesn't make it a bad card if you know its caveats.

Basically, review sites haven't had any time to test the card and haven't tested things in much depth (many/most got hardware on Thursday/Friday, I got hardware last Monday and to my knowledge I was certainly the first in the UK and one of the first outside the US). I'm on my fourth driver at the moment in a quest to fix some of the bugs I'm finding and I've tested at 0xAA, 4xAA and in some cases 8x(Q)AA as well at three different resolutions (well, four... but only three per game).

 

Don't worry Tim. Take your time and do it good

 

Lemme guess. Fewer stream processors and less memory means it chokes on large textures/high AA?

It looks like a decent card for the price though, but I am anxious to see some numbers!

 

I agree. I'd rather have a thorough review next week than a skimpy one now.

 

Forget about the review Tim, i've just bought one on Ebuyer for £147.97 inc post

Im sure it will be worth me reading it anyway

 

Im totally new to this card - can someone give me the breakdown on what the fuss is all about? i was told theres a new graphics card by nvidia that was scheduled to come out, is this it? is this the "good one" i was told about? will it run crysis on high settings and be relatively future-proof for games? Im thinking of buying a high end graphics card, the budget is under £200 - Is this card the way to go?

 

what are the caveats?