The GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB

Familiar specs

If you’re familiar with the specs for the original GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB, then NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB should be pretty recognizable to you. No changes have been made to the graphics processor itself. NVIDIA takes the same G80 GPU with 96 stream processors running at 1.2GHz, and integrates it onto their GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB board. None of the GPU’s processing units have been deactivated, and all of the GTS clock speeds carry over untouched, NVIDIA even leaves the memory interface itself intact at 320-bit. The only difference is that the board’s onboard graphics memory has been cut in half, from 640MB down to 320MB.

Because so much of the GeForce 8800 GTS carries over intact on the 320MB board, NVIDIA claims the board will perform similarly to a stock GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB card at lower resolutions, only at 2560x1600 will performance really start to suffer according to NVIDIA. Of course as always we’ll be testing the board extensively in our suite of games to see how it performs.

The really sweet part about the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB though is its price; NVIDIA expects boards to start right around $299, with higher-end factory overclocked boards selling for around $329-$349. The rest of NVIDIA’s GeForce lineup is priced as follows:

GeForce Pricing As of 02/07 Source: NVIDIA
GeForce 8800 GTX	$599-$649
GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB	$399-$449
GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB	$299-$349
GeForce 7950 GT	$249-$299
GeForce 7900 GS	$179-$199
GeForce 7600 GT	$129-$159
GeForce 7600 GS	$99-$129
GeForce 7300 GPUs	<$89

As you can see, the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB basically occupies the spot once held by the GeForce 7900 GTX in NVIDIA’s lineup. As a result, expect 7900 GTX boards to slowly fade away as they’re replaced by the 8800 GTS 320MB. Initially we were quoted an MSRP of $329 for higher end 320MB 8800 GTS boards, but apparently newer SKUs bumped that figure up to $349 just last Friday. At that price point, some GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB boards may be priced awfully close to some stock GeForce 8800 GTS cards, which are quickly approaching $350 or less at some online retailers. But as we’ll show you in the benchmarks, these factory overclocked 320MB GTS boards can sometimes outperform the stock GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards. In particular, EVGA’s e-GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked is one such 8800 GTS 320MB board that has been highly overclocked. Let’s take a closer look at the board…

The EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 320MB

EVGA follows the exact same formula used previously on their e-GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 640MB card, for their 320MB SKU. The graphics core on the Superclocked cards runs at 576MHz (76MHz faster than a stock 8800 GTS), while the stream processors are overclocked to 1.35GHz (that’s 150MHz higher than the reference GTS card). These are the same speeds as a stock GeForce 8800 GTX by the way, ensuring that both Superclocked boards will be terrific performers.

On the memory side EVGA clocks the board at 850MHz (1.7GHz effective), which is 50MHz higher than your typical GeForce 8800 GTS card. As a result of the higher memory speeds, the e-GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked tops out at 68GB/sec of peak memory bandwidth, an improvement of 4GB/sec over stock.

The rest of the board is similar to NVIDIA’s reference board design for the GeForce 8800 GTS. You’ve got the same dual-slot cooling that runs nearly silent even under load, making the card ideal for use in a low-noise environment like a home theater PC, while the board is also outfitted with two dual-link DVIs and supports HDCP. As an added bonus, the card comes bundled with a copy of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic on DVD-ROM, while hardware accessories bundled with the card include your typical assortment of goodies: two DVI adapters, a power adapter, and S-Video and component video cables.