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With DirectX 10 titles like Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 shipping later this year, gamers in the process of upgrading today have been begging for a cheaper DirectX 10 graphics card from NVIDIA. Today’s introduction of the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB finally fulfills that need, with board prices starting at the $299 price point. But does it deliver?
With today’s games, the answer is a resounding yes. In our performance testing the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB often outperformed ATI’s Radeon X1950 XTX, in some cases by double-digit margins. It was by no means an outright victory for the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB, with the Radeon outperforming the GeForce in games like F.E.A.R. and vice versa in favor of the GeForce 8800, but we were surprised at how well the GTS card performed with just 320MB of memory. Even under 8xMSAA and 16xCSAA the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB turned in respectable performance numbers.
The greatest challenge NVIDIA’s board partners will face in our opinion is the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB. Due to a wave of factory overclocked 640MB GTS boards from EVGA and other manufacturers, street prices on GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards are falling rapidly. Right now GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards can already be found for prices as low as $390, and with mail-in rebate you can pick up a 640MB GTS card for around $350 from e-tailers like Newegg. That’s only $50 higher than the official MSRP for the 320MB board.
With pricing like that, you can make a strong argument that the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB is the better value, particularly since we don’t know how well the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB will perform with next-gen games like Crysis once they debut. The 320MB board runs fine now as long as you keep the resolution in check, but that could all change as more graphically-demanding games ship later this year. We’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out once next-gen content begins to be released.
EVGA’s overclocked e-GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 320MB is one awesome performer though. The card even outran the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB in multiple cases, despite having half the memory. If you absolutely must stick to a budget, and can’t afford to splurge a little on a 640MB GTS board, the e-GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 320MB would make a nice alternative to some of the more mundane GeForce 8800 GTS cards. Clearly EVGA has clocked this board for performance, overclocking the graphics core, stream processors, and memory all substantially over the stock GTS speeds, and thrown in a copy of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic for good measure. This RPG was just released at the end of last year and has received fairly decent reviews. And of course, like all EVGA cards, the e-GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 320MB features a lifetime warranty and EVGA continues to offer their Step-Up upgrade program.
With all these features, we feel EVGA’s e-GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 320MB will definitely be one of the most sought after GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB cards. This is one 90% rating that’s well deserved.
Batman: Arkham City PC Review Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s smash-hit action game Batman: Arkham Asylum. As the name suggests, you will be reprising your role as the Caped Crusader and going against an even larger 'prison' filled with Gotham's criminals and villains. A textbook example on how to do a proper sequel, Arkham City takes what worked in the original, excised or improved upon what didn’t, and elevated everything to an even greater scope. The PC version suffered from a few months of delay, but in that time, Rocksteady worked closely to NVIDIA to implement some familiar technologies from the last game, such as PhysX and 3D Vision, along with new DirectX 11 optimizations. But how well was the whole package executed? Read on to find out!
Saints Row: The Third PC Review Saints Row is one of most unique series of games to build upon the open-world action template forged by Grand Theft Auto, and has met with plenty of critical and commercial success since it began on consoles back in 2006. This latest iteration, titled Saints Row: The Third promises the most outlandish fun and freedom of customization of them all, and in a much more PC-friendly package than its predecessor. Does it live up to those expectations and, more importantly, is it worth the price of admission? Find out in Will's latest review!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Softworks’ latest offering in their series of epic fantasy RPGs, as well as one of the most highly-anticipated PC titles of 2011. As the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, prepare to take the fight to the mythical beasts that have returned to the realm after centuries of slumber, all the while exploring a huge and highly-detailed open world.
The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
Intel Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E Performance Review
Today marks the launch date for Intel’s Sandy Bridge-E line of processors, a new family of high-end Core i7 products based on the LGA 2011 platform. This new socket is poised to replace the existing LGA 1366 specification used by the more powerful Nehalem and Westmere parts from the past couple years, specifically Bloomfield and Gulftown, the Core i7-9xx+ line of CPUs.
With 6 cores, 15MB of cache, and support for quad-channel DDR3-1600 memory, the Core i7-3960X sounds like quite a catch. Want to know more about it and how it performs? Read on!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 Review
The self-appointed "most anticipated game in history" launched worldwide this past Tuesday. Why, it's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, of course (of course), what else? Unsurprisingly, the military FPS debate between this and Battlefield 3 rages on, but now that both have been released, surely we can take a look and objectively evaluate them both? Luke's taken the Xbox version of MW3 for a spin this week, so to find out what he thinks of it in today's review!
Stronghold 3 Review
The latest sequel in the long-running real-time strategy franchise from FireFly Studios, Stronghold 3 is all about building your dream castle and defending it against sieging enemies. Almost exactly one decade after the first game was released, this new title promises a return to the classic and well-received gameplay that has been strayed so far from in more recent iterations. Does it live up to those expectations? Will (AKA Synchronous Failure) tells us all about it in his first official FiringSquad review, so read on!
Battlefield 3 PC Review - Single-player Impressions
One of the most highly-anticipated PC games of the year is upon us; Battlefield 3 is now available in North America! EA/DICE have finally delivered a sequel to the core Battlefield franchise, a proper follow-up to BF2. Having played through the game's single-player campaign already, ahead of the multiplayer festivities kicking off around midnight, I figured I'd share my impressions ASAP. Is it really a worthy addition to the core Battlefield series, or just another bullet point on the back of the box? Read on and find out!
Wrecked: Revenge Revisited Supersonic Software Interview
Following up on our hands-on preview from earlier this month, here's an interview with Supersonic Software, creators of Wrecked: Revenge Revisited. The game's coming out on XBLA and PSN in a matter of weeks, but for now, Luke chats with the developer about its predecessors Mashed and Micro Machines, how difficult it can be to get an indie game published, the closure of Codemasters' Guildford branch, and more!
Orcs Must Die! PC Review Orcs Must Die! is the first release from an independent developer named Robot Entertainment. Fans of classic real-time strategy games may have heard that name before, as the outfit is comprised of many veterans from Ensemble Studios, creators of the Age of Empires series.
Equal parts action and strategy, this is a tower defense game that not only puts you in command, but on the front lines of combat, as well. Slaughter thousands of orcs, ogres and other vile creatures of fantasy that invade your fortresses through 24 levels of the story-based campaign. With high levels of replayability thanks to its scoring and leaderboard functionality, multiple difficulty levels, and various styles of play, it sounds a steal at only $15. Does it deliver on all that’s promised, though? Read on and find out!
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