NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 (G80): GPUs Re-architected for DirectX 10
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on November 8, 2006 6:01 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The 8800 GTX and GTS
Today we expect to see availability of two cards based on NVIDIA's G80 GPU: the GeForce 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS. Priced at $599 and $449 respectively, the two cards, as usual, differ in clock speeds and processing power.
8800 GTX (top) vs. 7900 GTX (bottom)
The 8800 GTX gets the full G80 implementation of 128 stream processors and 64 texture fetch units. The stream processors are clocked at 1.35GHz with the rest of the GPU running at 575MHz. The GTX has six 64-bit memory controllers operating in tandem, connected to 768MB of GDDR3 memory running at 900MHz. GDDR4 is supported but will be introduced on a later card.
NVIO: Driving a pair of TMDS transmitters near you
You get two dual-link DVI ports driven by NVIDIA's new NVIO chip that handles TMDS and other currently unknown functions. Keeping a TMDS on-die is a very difficult thing to do, especially if you have logic operating at such high clock speeds within the GPU, so with G80 NVIDIA had to move the TMDS off-die and onto this separate chip. The NVIO chip also supports HDCP, but you do need the crypto ROM keys in order to have full HDCP support on the card. That final decision is up to the individual card manufacturers, although at this price point we hope they all choose to include HDCP support.
The 8800 GTX has two PCIe power connectors and two SLI connectors:
Two SLI connectors on the 8800 GTX
Bridges in action
The dual power connectors are necessary to avoid drawing more power from a single connector than the current ATX specification allows for. The dual SLI connectors are for future applications, such as daisy chaining three G80 based GPUs, much like ATI's latest CrossFire offerings.
dual power connectors
The GeForce 8800 GTS loses 32 SPs bringing it down to 96 stream processors and 48 texture fetch units. The shader core runs at 1.2GHz, while the rest of the GTS runs at 500MHz. The GTS also has only five 64-bit memory controllers with 640MB of GDDR3 memory running at 800MHz.
7900 GTX (left) 8800 GTS (middle) 8800 GTX (right)
The 8800 GTS has the same NVIO chip as the 8800 GTX, but the board itself is a bit shorter and it only features one SLI connector and one PCIe power connector.
Only one power connector on an 8800 GTS
...and only one SLI connector
Both cards are extremely quiet during operation and are audibly indiscernible from a 7900 GTX.
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Sunrise089 - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
Then I suppose he's in the market to part with an ugly old high-end CRT. I'd love to buy it from him. Seriously.JarredWalton - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
You want an older 21" Cornerstone CRT? It's a beast, but you can have it for the cost of shipping (which unfortunately would probably be ~$50). I'd also sell my Samsung 997DF 19" CRT for about $50, and maybe an NEC FE991-SB for $50 (which unfortunately has a scratch from my daughter in the anti-glare coating). If anyone lives in the Olympia, WA area, you know how to contact me (I hope). I'd rather someone come by to pick up any of these CRTs rather than shipping, as I don't think I have the original boxes.DerekWilson - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
lol next thing you know links to ebay auctions are gonna start showing up in our articles :-)yyrkoon - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
lol, I've got a 21" techtronics I'll sell for $200 usd, plus shipping ;) Hasnt been used since I purchased my Viewsonic VA1912wb (well, been used very little ).imaheadcase - Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - link
can't stand AA benchmarks myself :)Question: Do you have any info on what kinda card nvidia releasing this feb? Is it something in between these 2 cards or something even lower?
Im looking for a $300ish g80! :D
flexy - Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - link
if ANYTHING counts then how those high-end cards perform WITH their various AA settings.... the power of those cards (and the money spent on :) RIGHT translated into ---> IMAGE QUALITY/PERFORMANCE.Please dont tell you you would get an G80 but do NOT care about AA, this does NOT make any sense...sorry...
I am especially impressed reading that transparency AA has such a LITTLE performance impact. What game engine did you test this on ?
On the older ATI cards (and am i right that T.A. is the same as "adaptive antialiasing" ? )...this feature (depending on game engine) is the FPS killer....eg. w/ games like oblivion (WHERE ARE THE GOTHIC 3 BENCHEIS BTW ? :)...much vegetation etc. game-engines.
Enable transparency AA and see all those trees, grass etc. without jaggies.
imaheadcase - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
Well lots of people don't are for AA. Even if i had this card I would not use it. I visually see NO difference with it on or off. Its personal test. I don't even see "jaggies" on my older 9700 PRO card.flexy - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
you sure are talking about ANTIALIASING ???What resoltions do you run ? Not that my CRT can even handle more than 1600x1200..but even w/ 1600 i get VERY prominent jaggies if i dont run AA.
I made it a habit to run at least 4xAA in ANY game, and some engines (hl2:source engine) etc. run extremely well with 4xAA, even 6xAA is very playable at elast with HL2.
The very recent games, namely NWN2 and G3 now dont support AA, playing at 1280x1024 and it looks utterly horrible ! If you say you dont see jags in say ANY resolution under 1600..very hard to believe
imaheadcase - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
Yes im talking about antialiasing. I normally play BF2 and oblivion at 1024x768 (9700 pro remember).Fact is most people won't see them unless someone points them out. The brain is still better at rendering stuff the way you want to see it vs hardware :)
flexy - Thursday, November 9, 2006 - link
ok..but then it's also a performance problem. If it doesn't bother you, well ok.I also have to settle w/ the fact that many RECENT games are even unable to do AA..however i wish they would.
But once i get a 8800 i will do &&&& to get the most out of IQ, AA, AF, transparency/texture AF, you name it. ALONE also for the reason that i would need a super-high end monitor first to even run resolutions like 2000xsomething...and as long as i have a lame 19" CRT and CANNOT even go over 1600 (99,99% of games even running everything on 1280x or 1360x) i will use all the power to get out best possible IQ in those low resolutions.
Also..looking at the benchmarks..its NOT that you lose any real time gaming-experiencee since THOSE monster cards are made for exactly this...eg. running oblivion with all those settings at MAX AND AA on and HDR...and you are still in VERY reasobale FPS ranges.