Review: eVGA e-GeForce 8800GTS 640MB PCI Express

[Mediarocker]

Summary:

You know its time for a hardware upgrade whenever your games start randomly crashing on you. I started having this problem with GMOD 10 and then it started going to all my other games. My nVidia? GeForce? 6800 256 Wasn't just cutting it anymore. Either I'd be hit with a dx9 error or i'd hit a buffer overflow (no ram lock down) error.

So I searched for a new card. That's when I came across this bad boy.

The eVGA? nVidia? GeForce? 8800GTS 640MB SSC Edition.

YEAH BOY! This is every gamers wet dream. At least it was when it first came out. and the current $180+/- Price tag makes it a nice legacy upgrade for those of us who can't afford a new PC at the moment.

Lets see how the specs line up shall we?

Specs:
eVGA? nVidia? GeForce? 8800GTS 640:

• 8800GTS GPU
• 640MB DDR3 Ram
• DX10 Ready
• PCI Express? Architecture
• nVidia? SLI? Ready
• nVidia? Quantum Effects? physics processing technology
• True 128-bit floating point High Dynamic Range (HDR) Lighting
• nVidia? Unified architecture with GigaThread? technology
• nVidia? PureVideo? technology
• 16x fullscreen Anti-aliasing
• Built for Microsoft? Windows Vista?
• Two dual-link DVI outputs support two 2560x1600 resolution displays
• nVidia? ForceWare? unified driver architecture (UDA)
• OpenGL? 2.0 Support
• HDCP Capable

Wow. Thats alot of features. Its making me dizzy. Now I bet you guys are looking for the meat. The Pros.. the cons... the beer... well sorry. No beer. But still.

Pros:
-Got PCI Express 1.0? This card fits.
-Dual Slot fan Keeps card cool venting out the back.
-640MB of DDR3 Ram keeps your games rolling
-8800GTS GPU Processes and DOMINATES any graphics that get in its way.
-DX10 Ready. Need I say more?
-Backed by nVidia and eVGA. Both trusted names in graphics cards.
-nVidia SLI support, Want two of these bad boys? DOOOO ITTT....!argh
-Dual DVI, It comes with 2 analog converters so you analog guys don't gotta freak.
-Vista Ready. YOU HEAR THAT GUYS! ITS VISTA SUPPORTED!

Cons:
-Dual Slot fan takes up more space. Maybe a problem in smaller cases
-Will not fit "Compact" PC's. But then again. Why are you trying to game on your mom's breadbox?
-Needs a dedicated PCI Express Rail. this thing needs MOAR POWAH! Seriously. I lucked out cause I know how to tap into rails. but PLEASE. Make sure you have the correct power supply. 300Watts is NOT enough for this card. (even though I'm doing it.) Your going to need 400-500 Watts with PCI plugs.

The Pros officially Outweigh the cons. So if you were thinking about it. Do it. get it. own it. love it.

It is worth the money.

Hope this helps you guys out.

 

[Morbid #2 - Banned]

Good tutorial, but it seems a bit biased, lacks any technically comparisons, and isn't necessarily the kind of review I'd be looking at if I was thinking of buying one of these cards ....

But other than that, if I didn't know better I'd buy one

 

[Anthemjack]

About the gmod 10 stuff you said, just go into properties and put in -dxlevel 90 it'll stop it from doing that .

 

[Mediarocker]

Good tutorial, but it seems a bit biased, lacks any technically comparisons, and isn't necessarily the kind of review I'd be looking at if I was thinking of buying one of these cards ....

But other than that, if I didn't know better I'd buy one

Sorry if it seems that way I love this card ever since I got it. I'm Unbiased. I swear. I loved my ATi Radeon 9800 AGP8X I just decided to stay with nVidia since most of my games were "Best Viewed on nVidia"

I wanted to make it safe for those who just want something that will work. I would whip out the graphs and performance comparisons.. but then It would take away from the "hey.. you need a card? here ya go. a good card for you." effect.

 

[GCrusader]

Yeah the 8800 GTS is pretty good for the price you pay. I love nVidia...and I plan to stick with them

 

[Anthemjack]

Ummm How do you know its a PCI express 1.0 or 2.0? I just wanna know... And this card rocks, but... I dunno how to see the PCI express stuff and all D: .

 

[Mediarocker]

Ummm How do you know its a PCI express 1.0 or 2.0? I just wanna know... And this card rocks, but... I dunno how to see the PCI express stuff and all D: .

well typically, if your PC is new and a higher end model.. it should have PCI-e 2.0. If its older (like mine) it should have PCI-e 1.0 or 1.1. and if your talking about buying a card, then it should typically tell you if its 2.0 or not.

 

[Anthemjack]

I dunno if it is 1.1 or not cause I am new to these (even though I am a computer nerd) I never heard of PCI express, I dunno if it runs PCI express 1.1 1.0 or 2.0 I know its a x16 though.

 

[Havegooda {A|R}]

No offense, but this isn't really a review. All you did was list some specs and give out "pros" and "cons", if you can call them that.

"DX10 Ready. Need I say more?" - DX10.1 is out, and there are NO Nvidia cards that support it. More of a con if you ask me.

"Vista Ready." - Anything that's less than 8 years old is Vista ready. Kind of pointless.

"Dual DVI" - Only useful when you have two monitors, and a single 640MB GTS wouldn't be able to cope at that res.

You don't even include benchmarks or any other data. Sorry, but again, this isn't a review.

EDIT: And what do you mean by "tap into rails"? I highly doubt you fashioned your own PCIe connector, opened up your PSU (and risking getting electrocuted), somehow got it connected to a "rail" and successfully booted without frying your card.

If so, I demand pics of this epic win!

EDIT2: The "Best viewed on Nvidia" crap is BS. Nvidia pays companies to put that ad there, nothing else. If anything, ATI/AMD has the best/most accurate colors. Nvidia's blacks are off...

~Gooda~

 

[GCrusader]

Well...look at your motherboard's specs. They should be able to tell you if you have PCI-e 2.0 or not.

 

[Morbid #2 - Banned]

No offense, but this isn't really a review. All you did was list some specs and give out "pros" and "cons", if you can call them that.

"DX10 Ready. Need I say more?" - DX10.1 is out, and there are NO Nvidia cards that support it. More of a con if you ask me.

"Vista Ready." - Anything that's less than 8 years old is Vista ready. Kind of pointless.

"Dual DVI" - Only useful when you have two monitors, and a single 640MB GTS wouldn't be able to cope at that res.

You don't even include benchmarks or any other data. Sorry, but again, this isn't a review.

EDIT: And what do you mean by "tap into rails"? I highly doubt you fashioned your own PCIe connector, opened up your PSU (and risking getting electrocuted), somehow got it connected to a "rail" and successfully booted without frying your card.

If so, I demand pics of this epic win!

EDIT2: The "Best viewed on Nvidia" crap is BS. Nvidia pays companies to put that ad there, nothing else. If anything, ATI/AMD has the best/most accurate colors. Nvidia's blacks are off...

~Gooda~

I'm just coming to say that what he posted, whether or not it's a good review doesn't mean you need to come in here and basically break down what he said...

Your 'critique' if you can call it that, is just down right flaming... Yes you are making a point, but you are being an all around donkeybutt about it.

Give the kid a break, he's 'reviewing' something he likes and wants other people to know about. If you feel there's something wrong with it, instead of pointing out every flaw with (presumably...) a mean attitude... Fix what he didn't add, post the information you think we should see. (Or link us to sources where we can get the information)

My main point is... GIVE THE KID A BREAK this isn't an overclocking forum, most people don't even CARE about the real specs or a breakdown.... So just chill out, and be nice...

Regardless, thanks for YOUR input Mediarocker.

 

[AWPerator]

Last I checked, a PCI-E 1.0 and 2.0 both run from the same slot.

 

[GCrusader]

Yeah that's usually the case but the lanes are sometimes different.

 

[Havegooda {A|R}]

I'm just coming to say that what he posted, whether or not it's a good review doesn't mean you need to come in here and basically break down what he said...

Your 'critique' if you can call it that, is just down right flaming... Yes you are making a point, but you are being an all around donkeybutt about it.

Give the kid a break, he's 'reviewing' something he likes and wants other people to know about. If you feel there's something wrong with it, instead of pointing out every flaw with (presumably...) a mean attitude... Fix what he didn't add, post the information you think we should see. (Or link us to sources where we can get the information)

My main point is... GIVE THE KID A BREAK this isn't an overclocking forum, most people don't even CARE about the real specs or a breakdown.... So just chill out, and be nice...

Regardless, thanks for YOUR input Mediarocker.

Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry for correcting OPs mistakes and his misinformation (intentional or not). Next time I see someone listing a last-gen API as a "pro", I'll just leave it be instead of informing him/everyone else that there's a new version. [/sarcasm]

It's fine if he wants to post his thoughts on the card, but again, calling this a review is asinine. He seems to have very little technological know-how, which isn't a problem in general, but when you go around spitting stuff out (such as the quote below) that is untrue, it's my (and others) duty to correct it. If we didn't, people gaming at 1280x1024 res would be jumping all over the 2GB 8800GT cards.

Please give me a quote that makes it appear that I was flaming. In the post you quoted, all I did was give my thoughts on his "pros" and "cons" and request details on how he "tapped into rails". How is THAT flaming?

Yeah that's usually the case but the lanes are sometimes different.

The only difference between PCIe 1.1 and 2.0 is the amount of bandwidth each lane has. Same length, backwards compatible, different bandwidth.

To OP: I apologize if I sounded like I was flaming you. Very nice post of your thoughts on the card.

~Gooda~

 

[Volcom]

Yeah the 8800 GTS is pretty good for the price you pay. I love nVidia...and I plan to stick with them

You may say that now... but when that new card called the um... 4870X2 came out it dominated..... price and performance wize...

 

[Mediarocker]

No offense, but this isn't really a review. All you did was list some specs and give out "pros" and "cons", if you can call them that.

"DX10 Ready. Need I say more?" - DX10.1 is out, and there are NO Nvidia cards that support it. More of a con if you ask me.

"Vista Ready." - Anything that's less than 8 years old is Vista ready. Kind of pointless.

"Dual DVI" - Only useful when you have two monitors, and a single 640MB GTS wouldn't be able to cope at that res.

You don't even include benchmarks or any other data. Sorry, but again, this isn't a review.

EDIT: And what do you mean by "tap into rails"? I highly doubt you fashioned your own PCIe connector, opened up your PSU (and risking getting electrocuted), somehow got it connected to a "rail" and successfully booted without frying your card.

If so, I demand pics of this epic win!

EDIT2: The "Best viewed on Nvidia" crap is BS. Nvidia pays companies to put that ad there, nothing else. If anything, ATI/AMD has the best/most accurate colors. Nvidia's blacks are off...

~Gooda~

Sorry to bring this back up.

I do agree with you gooda on this not being a "Real Review" I had no idea that there was this many technophiles in this organization and its something I didn't prepare for, I was just giving my general concensus on this card and didnt want to delve too deep into the true technical specifications as well as all the charts graphs and whatnot. And I wanted to keep it "newbie friendly" I would also say that I did indeed get carried away with how impressed I was with being able to run all my games on high without any slowdown, so I probably did give this card a better review than it deserved. I will be testing newer cards soon, and I will include benchmarks and actual technical specifications that technophiles like us crave. I will also make sure to keep opinions out of the matter and keep facts as facts.

Thanks for you critique gooda, and I'm sorry for causing such a ruckuss. My next review will be a TRUE review.

-Media

 

[Havegooda {A|R}]

Looking forward to it !

~Gooda~

 

[GCrusader]

The 8800 GTS was pretty good for the money back then though. xD

 

[Mediarocker]

Looking forward to it !

~Gooda~

Oh btw, I'll definitely post the pics of the epic win

But it might be a while.. That 50LBS Tower is a pain to move around. plus i have so many connectors You could open a connectors shop and never run out.

I've been opening PSU's for years, and have safely negotiated it without any problems. The key is to not get complacent and to discharge the capacitors before you start doing work