ASUS surprised us with this rather unattractive and generic looking package for its TOP edition.
The original consensus regarding NVIDIA's new G92 core has been a unanimous thumbs up. That was when reviewers like us finished testing the G92 based GeForce 8800 GT with a broad smirk on our faces. It was fast, it was hot and unfortunately it sold faster than hotcakes. As frustration sets in from the many shortages of the GeForce 8800 GT in retail channels, resulting in higher prices than the initial launch price, our positive feeling for it has slowly been tempered by these supply issues and a nagging suspicion that the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT at its original price was too good to be true after all.
Now, NVIDIA is once again promising another G92 product in the form of the revised version of the GeForce 8800 GTS. As most of you are aware, the outstanding performance of the GeForce 8800 GT has practically made the original GeForce 8800 GTS obsolete. Hence, rumors have long been circulating that the G92 would find its way eventually to the GeForce 8800 GTS. Finally, this is now a reality and we have in our hands, an overclocked, TOP edition of this new 512MB GeForce 8800 GTS from ASUS. Does having the G92 core restore the GeForce 8800 GTS to its proper place in the GeForce 8 hierarchy?
According to the released specifications, it would seem so. The standard GeForce 8800 GTS will be clocked at 650MHz, higher than the 600MHz on the GeForce 8800 GT. Memory clock is set at 1940MHz DDR, again higher than the 1800MHz on the 8800 GT. The stream processor clock is also higher for the GTS, at 1625MHz against the 1500MHz on the GT. What's more, the GTS will have the full complement of stream processors, 128 as compared to the 112 on the GT. With such specifications, this new GTS looks more like the caliber of a GeForce 8800 GTX, except for the rather 'trifling' matter of memory bandwidth, with the 8800 GTS having the same 256-bit bus as the GT. This gives it a total bandwidth of around 62GB/s, lower even than the original GeForce 8800 GTS and a fair distance from the GTX.
Of course, solely going by the memory bandwidth, even the Radeon HD 3870 has more than the new GeForce 8800 GTS. Whether this limitation on the GTS matters in today's games is hard to say, since we're not exactly convinced by the Radeon HD series despite their high memory bandwidth. Perhaps NVIDIA decided that higher clock speeds will compensate for it, even at high resolutions and settings.
Other important details that most of you should already know include the other benefits of the 65nm G92 core, from its support of the new PCIe 2.0 standard to the improved video processor (VP2) found onboard. If not, you can refer to our article on the GeForce 8800 GT and the G92. Before we examine our ASUS review unit in detail, here's a table summarizing the differences between the various high-end GPUs as compared to the GeForce 8800 GTS Version 2.
What's immediately different about this ASUS EN8800GTS TOP and any standard GeForce 8800 GTS for that matter is that NVIDIA has gone back to a two-slot cooler, so it looks almost like the original GeForce 8800 GTS. There seems to be some slight modifications in the design but they are minor ones. For those concerned about noise levels, it is quiet even at full load and with the kind of clock speeds that the new GeForce 8800 GTS runs at, a two-slot thermal solution may be the prudent choice. After all, the heat on the single slot GeForce 8800 GT has been one of our chief grouses.
There is a slight elevation in the fan now, perhaps as a way to allow for greater airflow to the components hidden below?
A standard complement of outputs. The new GeForce 8800 cards have only a single SLI connector, meaning if you're looking for quad SLI, you may need an older GeForce 8800.
Besides the slightly different cooler used, the new GeForce 8800 GTS looks almost the same as the old one. Internally of course, that's another case.
As usual from ASUS, their package is bundled with accessories that some may deem superfluous. Surprisingly, there is no game included, unlike the Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts that we found with its GeForce 8800 GT cards. Instead, what was inside the CD were the ASUS proprietary applications like GamerOSD and SmartDoctor, which are useful for those into tweaking game settings on the fly or need another application to overclock their card.
- 1 x DVI-to-VGA adaptor
- 6-pin Molex power connector
- 7-pin mini-DIN to Component cable
- Quick installation guide
- Driver CD
- CD Leather wallet
Conclusion
As the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy. And that is the reason behind our guarded optimism to the new GeForce 8800 GTS from NVIDIA. The performance has been up to our expectations if not as spectacular as the initial G92 debut. It is only a slight increase in scores over the GeForce 8800 GT. However, if you take the entire GeForce 8 series in perspective, it means the GeForce 8800 GTS has most likely usurped the position held by the GeForce 8800 GTX. It is superior to the older card not just in performance but in features too. Only the insanely expensive Ultra remains a slight notch above the new GeForce 8800 GTS and that's not mentioning the predictably overclocked versions.
But our concerns are not just about the performance and includes the long term supply of these popular G92 graphics cards. With so many SKUs from NVIDIA utilizing this core (GeForce 8800 GT 256/512MB, GeForce 8800 GTS), would NVIDIA be able to meet the expected demand, especially with the crunch holiday season almost here?
Before the launch of the GeForce 8800 GT and its supply problems, we had no such worries. Now, we are not that sure and given the attractive price tag of around US$299 - 349 for the new GeForce 8800 GTS, we are just not completely convinced. Do bear in mind that the GeForce 8800 GT is priced in retail only about US$30 less. Would we see prices soar after the initial batches like the GeForce 8800 GT? That's something we can't really answer. Does it mean you should grab one immediately if you see it selling at its launch price? That is a definite yes. Again however, you would have to consider the minimal performance gain of a standard GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB over the standard GeForce 8800 GT 512MB, and we've seen the same small performance delta between both TOP editions from ASUS too.
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