NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT: The Only Card That Matters
by Derek Wilson on October 29, 2007 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
It's really not often that we have the pleasure to review a product so impressively positioned. The 8800 GT is a terrific part, and it is hitting the street at a terrific price (provided NVIDIA's history of properly projecting street prices continues). The performance advantage and price utterly destroyed our perception of the GPU landscape. We liked the value of the 8800 GTS 320, and we were impressed when NVIDIA decided to go that route, providing such a high performance card for so little money. Upping the ante even more this time around really caught us off guard.
This launch really has the potential to introduce a card that could leave the same lasting impression on the computer industry that the Ti4200 left all those years ago. This kind of inflection point doesn't come along every year, or even every generation. But when architecture, process enhancements, and design decisions line up just right, the potential for a revolutionary product is high. Maybe our expectations were lowered due to the lack luster performance of the 8600 and 2600 series of cards, as well as the lack of true midrange cards priced between $200 and $250. Even without the sad state of the low end and lack of a midrange part, the 8800 GT is a great option.
What we expect going forward is for NVIDIA to fill in their now mostly devastated product line (we only count the 8400, 8500, 8800 GT, and 8800 GTX/Ultra as viable offerings from NVIDIA) with a new range of 65nm parts. As soon as their process is up to speed and validated by a strong run of G92 hardware, it will only be logical to move all (or most) other GPUs over. The production of smaller die sizes directly translates to monetary savings. There is a cost associated with moving a design over to a new process, but the 8800 GT could have been built with this in mind. It could be that 8800 GT is simply a way to ramp up 65nm production for the rest of the lineup. They could have hidden some extra transistors up there to enable them to simply turn on a higher end part when yields get high enough. Alternately, perhaps we could see another line of low end cards make their way out based on the 65nm process (because smaller die size adds up to reduced manufacturing cost).
Whatever the reason for the 8800 GT, we are glad of its existence. This truly is the part to beat in terms of value.
It's really not often that we have the pleasure to review a product so impressively positioned. The 8800 GT is a terrific part, and it is hitting the street at a terrific price (provided NVIDIA's history of properly projecting street prices continues). The performance advantage and price utterly destroyed our perception of the GPU landscape. We liked the value of the 8800 GTS 320, and we were impressed when NVIDIA decided to go that route, providing such a high performance card for so little money. Upping the ante even more this time around really caught us off guard.
This launch really has the potential to introduce a card that could leave the same lasting impression on the computer industry that the Ti4200 left all those years ago. This kind of inflection point doesn't come along every year, or even every generation. But when architecture, process enhancements, and design decisions line up just right, the potential for a revolutionary product is high. Maybe our expectations were lowered due to the lack luster performance of the 8600 and 2600 series of cards, as well as the lack of true midrange cards priced between $200 and $250. Even without the sad state of the low end and lack of a midrange part, the 8800 GT is a great option.
What we expect going forward is for NVIDIA to fill in their now mostly devastated product line (we only count the 8400, 8500, 8800 GT, and 8800 GTX/Ultra as viable offerings from NVIDIA) with a new range of 65nm parts. As soon as their process is up to speed and validated by a strong run of G92 hardware, it will only be logical to move all (or most) other GPUs over. The production of smaller die sizes directly translates to monetary savings. There is a cost associated with moving a design over to a new process, but the 8800 GT could have been built with this in mind. It could be that 8800 GT is simply a way to ramp up 65nm production for the rest of the lineup. They could have hidden some extra transistors up there to enable them to simply turn on a higher end part when yields get high enough. Alternately, perhaps we could see another line of low end cards make their way out based on the 65nm process (because smaller die size adds up to reduced manufacturing cost).
Whatever the reason for the 8800 GT, we are glad of its existence. This truly is the part to beat in terms of value.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
90 Comments
View All Comments
bob4432 - Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - link
i have been waiting for this card :) my old x1800xt will soon be retired once these guys get to ~$180 AR!!!! :) :)R3MF - Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - link
I am deeply impressed with the card, but i have a severe aversion to cut-down products.A 128 SPU version clocked at 640MHz with 2000MHz GDDR memory would go down a treat.
How about it?
mpc7488 - Thursday, November 1, 2007 - link
About one month.http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=9474">http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=9474
"A G92-derivative will appear later this year with even more shader units. According to company guidance, the new G92 will launch in early December and feature 128 shader units as opposed to the 112 featured on GeForce 8800 GT. ... In addition to the extra shaders, the new G92 will also feature higher core frequencies and support for up to 1GB GDDR3."
varia - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
RE: Wow by EODetroit on: Oct 29, 2007 3:06 PMRating: 2Now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...18+10696...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...18+10696...
When I was checking out around 1pm today at newegg, they got 4 diff. cards, all $249-269
Now, they listed 2, all back order, price: $289-299
Pffff not gonna but from them, for sure.
varia - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Forget newegg, Fry's will have it at this friday.http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5434329?site=sr:S...">http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5434329?site=sr:S...
EVGA GeForce 8800GT Video Card (512MB DDR3, PCI-E 2.0, DX10, OpenGL 2.0)
EVGA:
FRYS.com #: 5434329
Price: $ 229.99
gplracer - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Are these results running the 8800gt as a single or in sli?gplracer - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
never mind it is single i miss read itShlong - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Awesome, been waiting for something like this to come around. Right now at most places the cheapest I've found is $260 with $6 shipping. I'll wait for it to drop down to around the $199 mark & I'll be all over it.clandren - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
how long before we start seeing something like this in a laptop? i think there was a brief mention that it might be possible to make one with passive cooling.. so that makes me hopeful. the 8600 series in laptops doesnt really impress meAggressorPrime - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Page 3"We aren't including any new tests here, as we can expect performance on the same level as the 8600 GTS."
Let us hope the GeForce 8800 GT is on the same level as the GeForce 8600 GTS.