Jelle's "8800GT 512MB vs 8800GTS 640MB" Review

Discussion in 'Videocards - NVIDIA GeForce' started by Jelle Mees, Nov 6, 2007.

  1. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    Some of you might remember the thread a started last week where I recommended to sell your GTS 640MB for the GT price while you still can so that you can buy the GT without spending a single cent. But I got these comments:

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    I sold my GTS and bought the GT for the money I got for it ( schipping costs included ), in fact, I now have 10€ extra :)

    Because I already sold my GTS, I asked a friend if he could give his card to me for a day so that I could compare performance. I overclocked the GTS to the same speed I had on my GTS.

    As you will see in this review, I only mentioned the Core and the Memory speed for the GTS. For the ones that are interested in the Shader-speed, it was linked to the core. I didn't overclock the shaders on my GTS so if I wanted to compare, I had to use the same overclocks. Besides, there is no need to risk destroying a card that wasn't my own. I knew from my own experience that overclocking the Shaders on the GTS would only give me artifacts, something I don't like in games :D And eaven if you do manage to get the shaders a little higher, the performance improvement on a GTS isn't worth it. ( just my opinion )

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    Test System:
    - Windows XP Pro SP2 X86 ( 32bit )
    - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz
    - 4069MB RAM DDR2 @ 1000Mhz
    - Geforce 8800GTS 640MB & Geforce 8800GT 512MB
    - Antec Nine Hundred ( My Case )
    - Nvidia Forceware 169.04

    All driver settings are at default. The only thing I changed in the driver CP was the Vsync setting ( I had to disable it offcourse ).

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    1. The Shop

    I bought my card at www.dollarshops.eu . It's not the cheapest shop, but the support is great and they deliver fast. I got my card one day after the payment.

    2. Sparkle

    I bought the Sparkle 8800GT 512MB. Sparkle didn't put much effort in the package. It's just the card, only 1 DVI adapter, 2 cables voor video-out, a disk with the driver and that's it.

    The default speeds for this card are:
    600Mhz for the core
    1500Mhz for the shaders
    1800Mhz for the memory

    That's pretty low if you ask me, but who cares, I was planning on overclocking the card to the maximum...

    3. Finding the maximum speed ( Overclocking )

    From the start, I wanted to know if my card was able to get 735Mhz/1170Mhz/1050Mhz ( speeds in VR-Zone review ) but my core was not able to run stable at that speed. The Shader speed and Memory speed was not a problem, but my core just refused to work...

    After reading the VR-Zone review I knew that overclocking the shaders was the most important thing. VR-Zone claimed that overclocking the core and the memory did not give a big performance boost while the shader overclock did. After some experimenting, I could tell that it was true.

    The first thing I did was searching for the maximum Shader speed. After a couple of 3DMark lockups I found it, 1836Mhz. The next overclock step brought the shaders to 1890Mhz and the card was not stable at that speed. Actually it was, but not in the game "America's Army", the game I play the most. Strange because America's Army is not, I repeat, IS NOT a game that has problems with GPU overclocks. ( I've been overclocking cards for years in this game )

    Next thing I did was searching for the maximum Core speed, because this is the 2nd most important speed on the card. Like I sad before, I knew that I was unlucky with my core so i didn't expect much. I was able to get 684Mhz. 700Mhz worked fine in 3Dmark, Crysis and WIC, but again, not in "America's Army". America's Army seems to be a better tool for stressing the card.

    For the memory I ended up with 2088Mhz and that speed is just find if you ask me.

    4. The temperature

    [​IMG]

    Why didn't I test the temperature at default speeds? Well, look at the temperature at the maximum overclock, no need for me to know how COLD ( yes I can say cold :) ) the card is at default speeds.

    There is an easy explanation for this. My case, te "Antec Nine Hundred". This case has an unique design that lowers the card temperature A LOT!

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    I am no architect, that's for sure :p, but you see how come my card has such a low temperature. The fan placed in the middle ( Antec placed a fan slot in the middle of the case ) provides fresh air for the GPU, and the hot air just gets blown in to the PSU fan and directly out the back. There is no way for the card to get hot with such a good airflow. And beleave it or not, the air that leaves my PC at the back is not eaven warm. All fans in this case are 120mm 1900rpm fans.
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2007
  2. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    5. 3DMark 05 and 3DMark 06

    [​IMG]

    As you can see, in 3DMark05 the 8800GT is a lot faster then the 8800GTS.
    If you compare the cards at default speed you see 12% difference. If you compare the maximum overclocks you see 6% difference. So by selling my GTS, I got 6% extra performance for free :)

    [​IMG]

    Again, you can clearly see the performance difference. 14% difference at default speeds and 10% difference between the cards when they are overclocked to the maximum. So by selling my GTS, I got 10% extra performance for free :)

    6. World in Conflict

    [​IMG]

    Here I was a little suprised. Both cards gave me the same performance at stock speeds. Quickly I visited VR-Zone again to check if it was normal and it looks like it is. Still, I was hoping that the overclock could give me extra performance compared to my old card and luckely, it did. To bad it's not much. Only 3%. But still, it's 3% for free :D

    7. America's Army

    [​IMG]

    I don't see the point in calculating percentages here. If you have 400FPS or if you have 600FPS, the human race is not able to see or feel the difference :) Only reason why I did this test was because it's my #1 game that I've played for the past 4 years and I am sure I will play it for many more years to come.

    8. Crysis

    [​IMG]

    16% extra performance @ default speeds, 18% extra performance with the cards overclocked, for free that is :D

    These results suprised me a little, I never expected to have 40+FPS on 1280x1024 with 16xAF with the highest graphics possible in the game. Looks like I will be able to play this game at 1600x1200 16xAF with no problems. 30-35FPS has the same "mouse-feeling" as 60FPS in another game. My GTS just wasn't fast enough, but the GT is.

    UPDATE:

    Some people requested a benchmark from me on another forum, might aswell post it here:

    [​IMG]

    That's right, this time it got above 41 :D

    9. Conclusion

    Upgrading for free ( yes, i dare to say it again :) ) was the best thing I could have done. Ok, in some games only a few % extra, but in others I have 10-20% extra performance.

    I don't know how fast my card is compared to GTX or the Ultra. I wasn't able to contact someone who had a GTX or Ultra. But I am pretty sure that there isn't much different between my GT and the Ultra.

    I would also like to mention that I jumped from # 28 to #17 in the 3DMark05 chart in the Netherlands ( the previous #17 had Core 2 Duo E6850 @ 4100Mhz and 8800GTS 320MB ) and I jumped from #54 to #32 in 3DMark06. My PC is now faster then the previous #32, a guy with the E6850 @ 4700Mhz and the Geforce 8800 Ultra.

    I hope some of you liked this review, comments are more then welcome.
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2007
  3. tuco

    tuco Ancient Guru

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    I think these tests could be much improved with higher resolutions, to see whether the 640 mem is better than the 512.

    Nice benchies tho, could you run a source game, or perhaps oblivion?
     
  4. Copey

    Copey Guest

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    Good stuff mate, i use this resolution and it is the most popular resolution used in the world(supposedly) so is fairly useful, still aint decided what im doing yet.
     

  5. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    Already returned the GTS 640MB, but I could run a source game on all resolutions on my GT if you are interested in that.
     
  6. Crossfire

    Crossfire Ancient Guru

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    Nice review Jelle !!

    I think this will help alot of people decide on wether or not they will upgrade. And people who are getting ready to build new PCs.
     
  7. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    I could have tested on many resolutions, but beleave it or not, "all of the above" took me many hours. And it's true what you are saying, only 14% of all gamers games on a resolution that is higher then 1280x1024. And 16xAF does stress the cards more.
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2007
  8. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    Thanks, I hope so.
     
  9. Jagman

    Jagman Ancient Guru

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    Nice job Jelle, been looking at the Antec 900 case for a while now and you may well have forced my wallet open again, dammit! :bawl:
     
  10. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    It's really worth it, with this case there is no need for extra cooling. And I know people who buy extra VGA cooling for every GPU they buy, with this case you only have to spend money once.
     

  11. BlackZero

    BlackZero Guest

    Ok can you confirm you are geting 40+ fps in the gpu benchmark with very high settings and 16xaa.
     
  12. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    Yep. I confirm :p 40+, well...it's very close to 41 isn't it :D

    Here you can see how the game looks on the so called "DirectX 10" tweaks:
    http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=241946
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2007
  13. BlackZero

    BlackZero Guest

    I must say that is very hard to believe, i get around 25fps with all very high settings with my 8800gts fully overclocked and without any aa at 1280x1024.

    I am not doubting you :p, its just really difficult to accept and if someone else could also confirm this is the case then I will truly believe a 8800gt is the way to go even for gts 640mb owners who are gonna be running at 1280x1024 as current trade values for both cards are the same almost.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 6, 2007
  14. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    Mmm... isn't that pretty low? Are you using 169.04? My FPS on another Nvidia driver was 29.54FPS with my GTS 640MB. Try to update and see how that helps. And I don't know what the performance difference is between 4 x 3.0Ghz and 4 x 3.6Ghz.
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2007
  15. tuco

    tuco Ancient Guru

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    No, thats ok m8, I was just curious about the GT performance at high res, I'm going to upgrade shortly, but fortunatly in january. I'm assuming I will have more choice at that time reguarding cpu and gpu, plus op 64 vista with cyrsis. I want to play at 1680x1050, so I really want to see those benchies at that resolution.
     

  16. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    Crysis doesn't perform well on Vista. Haven't tried it yet, but I don't think I can get 40FPS on DirectX 10 1280x1024 16xAF.
     
  17. BlackZero

    BlackZero Guest

    Ok i did some tests for cpu scaling in another thread and the difference between my quad at 2.4 and 3.0 was around 1%, so that doesnt seem to matter.

    I am using 169.04 and unless i am missing something I think everyone is getting frames in line with mine, thats why everyone is complaining.

    I mean if people were getting 40+ fps with the 'very high' settings and 16x AA at 1280x1024 they would have no reason to complain.

    Please have another look and if your results are correct then we should all be buying an 8800gt
     
  18. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    I think you are confusing AA with AF.

    AA: The feature that removes the Jagged lines that are created when you draw a diaganal line on a screen. It removes the jaggies by adding a slightly darker shade next to the pixel creating a blurred effect that makes the image more smooth.

    AF: Is Texture filtering of objects that are far away and usually tilted at an angle the further object is blurred slightly to help the effect of distance. Think of the opening titles of star wars where the letters blur as they get further away.

    The performance impact from AA is 10x bigger then the impact from AF :)
     
  19. Dieheart

    Dieheart Master Guru

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    I want to see some benchies with a rez at 1680 x 1050.
     
  20. Jelle Mees

    Jelle Mees Banned

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    Sorry, can't do that, I have 4:3 screen :)
     

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