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      07-30-2008, 01:39 PM   #8
UltimateBMW
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MadDog View Post
Good advice. Thanks.

One question: How do you know which 8800GT card to buy ??

I just went to Frys.com and saw 9 different cards, from different manufacturers:
1) BFG GeForce 8800GT OC Video Card (512MB DDR3, PCI-E 2.0, DX10, Open GL 2.0) $179.99 after $20 rebate.
2) PNY GeForce 8800GT 512MB PCI-Express Video Card $189.99.
3) PNY 8800GTS PCI-E Video Card (512MB, PCI-E 2.0) $229.99
4) XFX 8800GT Video Card (512MB, PCI-E 2.0) $139.99 after $30 rebate.
5) EVGA 8800GTS Video Card (512MB, PCI-E 2.0) $219.99 after $30 rebate.
6) XFX 8800GT Alpha Dog XXX 512MB PCI-Express Video Card $159.99 after $40 rebate.
7) BFG 8800GTS OC Video Card (512MB, PCI-E 2.0) $229.98 after $50 rebate.
8) EVGA Geforce 8800GT Video Card (1GB, PCI-Express) $274.99 after $25 rebate.
9) EVGA GeForce 8800GT Video Card (512MB DDR3, PCI-E 2.0, DX10, OpenGL 2.0) $179.99
I am quite glad you asked this actually. And there are two answers for you.

The first answer, which is the real kicker to watch out for, is there are infact 2 versions of the 8800GT. The easy way to tell which version you are looking at is the ram size that the card has. There is a the 8800GT 320MB and a 8800GT 512MB. The 512mb 8800GT is the good one. If you see the other card, don't even bother looking at it. The primary difference between these 2 cards, other than obviously the increase in ram, is that they use different chipsets. The 512MB 8800GT runs on the G92 chip, which is also used throughout the entire 9 series product line by Nvidia. The lesser 320MB 8800GT video card runs the older G80 chipset. The G80 chip was the original chipset for the 8 series, but the 8 series product line got a mid-life revamp (similar to how BMW does mid-life facelifts to their models). This revamp swapped out the GPU in the 8800GT from the G80 to the new G92. The G92 chip is better all around by far. When buying a 8800GT you want to make sure you buy the 8800GT 512MB.

The second answer I have for you isn't nearly as important to distinguish between. And this answer is that all of the cards you have listed above are all the same base-line card. Nvidia doesn't sell their graphics cards out directly, neither does ATI. They send their base cards to retail brands who take their card and tweak them a bit. Some(most) retail brands will factory overclock the card, but in turn you pay for this boost in performance because they also beef up the price alittle bit. However, they all are the G92 chipset 8800GT still. So, the difference between all the cards listed above is all in the company that is selling them. Also, this is where the warranty comes in as I know the company BFG offers full lifetime warranties on their cards, but they are mildly overclocked when compared to some of the other retailers.

The cards that are labelled 8800GTS are the next card above the 8800GT. I haven't really been keeping track of pricing lately. So if this card is in your price range, there is nothing wrong with it. It is a faster card than the benchmark 8800GT. The 9800GTX is basically a rebadged 8800GTS with a few more transistors and the triple-SLI capability. Last time I looked seriously at them the 9800GTX was alot more expensive. However, since the GT200 cards are out now then the prices might of come down more in line with their performance.

*edit* I forgot to mention that I think that 8800GT card with the 1gb ram is a special edition that they made when the 8800GT was getting alittle bit older. I'll need to look it up alittle more before I can be certain about that though. The general rule of thumb when looking at ram size is that the bigger the monitor you have, the more ram you need. Ram size will directly and noticably affect the performance of any application on monitors that are increasing in size. When I say large monitors I am talking about ~24". 22" is the beginning of the larger segment of monitors, but I probably would say its in the upper average size. There are some HUGE monitors out there.
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