Introduction
For many enthusiasts looking for a new GPU, it would seem best to wait for the 9 series which will be coming from nVidia over the next few months. However, what do you do if you happen to want something now, now, now? Well, the latest card from the green camp is the 8800GTS “refresh” with 512MB. Is it worth it’s price tag? Let’s find out.
Features
- NVIDIA® unified architecture with GigaThread™ technology
Massively multi-threaded architecture supports thousands of independent, simultaneous threads, providing extreme processing efficiency in advanced, next generation shader programs. - NVIDIA® Lumenex™ Engine
Delivers stunning image quality and floating point accuracy at ultra-fast frame rates. - Full Microsoft® DirectX® 10 Support
World’s first DirectX 10 GPU with full Shader Model 4.0 support delivers unparalleled levels of graphics realism and film-quality effects. - Dual 400MHz RAMDACs
Blazing-fast RAMDACs support dual QXGA displays with ultra-high, ergonomic refresh rates–up to 2048×1536@85Hz. - Dual Link DVI
Capable of supporting digital output for high resolution monitors (up to 2560×1600). - NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology
Delivers up to 2x the performance of a single GPU configuration for unparalleled gaming experiences by allowing two graphics cards to run in parallel. The must-have feature for performance PCI Express graphics, SLI dramatically scales performance on over 60 top PC games. - PCI Express™ Support
Designed to run perfectly with the next-generation PCI Express bus architecture. This new bus doubles the bandwidth of AGP 8X delivering over 4 GB/sec. in both upstream and downstream data transfers. - 16x Anti-aliasing
Lightning fast, high-quality anti-aliasing at up to 16x sample rates obliterates jagged edges. - NVIDIA® PureVideo™ Technology
The combination of high-definition video processors and NVIDIA DVD decoder software delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for all video content to turn your PC into a high-end home theater. (Feature requires supported video software.) - OpenGL™ 2.0 Optimizations and Support
Ensures top-notch compatibility and performance for all OpenGL applications. NVIDIA® nView® Multi-display Advanced technology provides the ultimate in viewing flexibility and control for multiple monitors. - NVIDIA® nView® Multi-Display Technology
Advanced technology provides the ultimate in viewing flexibility and control for multiple monitors.
Specifications
| 8600GT | 8800GTS | 8800GT | 8800GTS | 8800GTX | 8800 Ultra | ||
| Release Date | 17/04/07 | 08/11/06 | 29/10/07 | 11/12/07 | 08/11/06 | 02/05/07 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Codename | G84 | G80 | G92-200 | G92-400 | G80 | G80 | |
| Fabrication Process (nm) | 80 | 90 | 65 | 65 | 90 | 90 | |
| Core clock (MHZ) | 540 | 500 | 600 | 650 | 575 | 612 | |
| Peak fillrate | Billion pixel/s | 4.3 | 10 | 9.6 | 10.4 | 13.8 | 39.2 |
| Billion bilinear texel/s | 8.6 | 12 | 33.6 | 41.6 | 36.8 | 39.2 | |
| Billion bilinear FP16 texel/s | 4.3 | 12 | 16.8 | 20.8 | 18.4 | 19.6 | |
| Shaders | Stream Processors | 32 | 96 | 112 | 128 | 128 | 128 |
| Clock (MHZ) | 1160 | 1200 | 1500 | 1625 | 1350 | 1512 | |
| Memory | Bandwidth (GB/s) | 22.4 | 64 | 57.6 | 62.1 | 86.4 | 103.7 |
| DRAM type | GDDR3 | GDDR3 | GDDR3 | GDDR3 | GDDR3 | GDDR3 | |
| Bus width (bit) | 128 | 320 | 256 | 256 | 384 | 384 | |
| Memory Options (MB) | 128 – 512 | 320 – 640 | 512 – 1024 | 512 | 768 | 768 | |
| Effective DDR Clock | 1400 | 1600 | 1800 | 1940 | 1800 | 2160 | |
| Power Consumption (Watts) | 43 | 108 | 138 | 146 | 145 | 175 | |
| Transistor Count (millions) | 289 | 681 | 754 | 754 | 681 | 681 | |
| Theoretical Shader Processing Rate (Gigaflops) | 114.2 | 345.6 | 504 | 624 | 518 | 576 |
G92
The 8800GTS “refresh” 512MB is the second of nVidia’s cards to sport the G92 processor. It’s an improvement over the original GTS chip – G80 – in several ways. The first and foremost is the size reduction from 90nm to 65nm. While it retains the unfied shader architecture of previous cards, this allows it to run cooler and therefore probably quieter due to the need for lower levels of cooling. Like the 8800GT before it, the GTS is PCI-e 2.0 compliant and comes with the same PureVideo 2.0 chip which adds a bitstream processor and enhanced video processing to offload AACS-decyption and H.265 decoding.
Another difference between the new GTS and it’s predecessor is the increase in stream processors from 96 to 128 – in line with the 8800GTX and Ultra cards. Even though the G92 chip is more energy efficient than its older brother, due to increase clock speeds and the inclusion of extra memory, the new GTS consumes 38watts more.
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