8-Way GeForce 8800 GT Roundup

While Microsoft may feel that the introduction of Vista was more groundbreaking, in our minds the introduction of NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GT was without a doubt, the most significant new product introduction in 2007 for the PC. “Why!” you ask? Simple. No other product had as profound an impact on its intended audience. While Vista launched to a lukewarm reception, and it’s true that there were faster GPUs that were launched earlier in 2007, no other product sent consumers scurrying to reach for their credit cards quicker than the GeForce 8800 GT. Online retailers across the globe sold out of their GeForce 8800 GT cards within a day of the GPU’s release last October.

The GeForce 8800 GT didn’t just establish new levels of performance at the $250-$300 price point, it completely redefined what gamers expect out of a $300 graphics card: a factory overclocked GeForce 8800 GT card can give the GeForce 8800 GTX a run for its money at 1600x1200, all while costing hundreds of dollars less.

The fact that it accomplishes all this while running quietly with lower power consumption and requiring just one graphics slot is icing on the cake!

Because of its outstanding price/performance ratio, the GeForce 8800 GT was the card of choice in our $500 Gaming PC Upgrade article. In the article we directly challenged the notion that you need to spend thousands of dollars to build a nice PC for gaming. In fact, we proved that $500 is all you need to upgrade an existing computer to deliver performance and graphics that were better than any game console from Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft. This is all due in large part thanks to the GeForce 8800 GT.

So in that article we told you to pick up a GeForce 8800 GT as the centerpiece of your system followed by solid components like the Gigabyte motherboard, Athlon 64 X2 4000+ and OCZ RAM playing a supporting role, but we didn’t tell you which GeForce 8800 GT to buy.

In today’s article we’re going to take a look at eight of the best GeForce 8800 GT cards on the market right now.

We’ve rounded up cards from ASUS, ECS, EVGA, Gigabyte, Leadtek, MSI, Palit, and XFX. Each card has its fair share of unique features going for it. For instance, some of the cards ship with aftermarket or custom cooling for better thermal performance, while all of them are factory overclocked. The following chart summarizes the key features found in the boards we’re evaluating today (all of the prices come from Newegg or TigerDirect):

GeForce 8800 GT Comparison
Card	Core Clock Speed	Memory Clock Speed	Reference Design/Cooling?	Game Bundle	Price
ASUS EN8800GT TOP	700MHz	1.0GHz	Yes/Yes	Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts	N/A
ECS N8800GT-512MX DT	650MHz	950MHz	Yes/No	No	$270
EVGA e-GeForce 8800GT SSC	700MHz	1.0GHz	Yes/Yes	Varies-Crysis or ET:QW	N/A
Gigabyte GV-NX88T512HP	700MHz	920MHz	No/No	Neverwinter Nights 2 w/manual	$260
Leadtek WinFast PX8800GT Extreme	680MHz	1.0GHz	Yes/Yes	Neverwinter Nights 2	$280
MSI NX8800GT-T2D512E OC	660MHz	950MHz	Yes/Yes	No	$230
Palit GeForce 8800GT Sonic	650MHz	950MHz	No/No	Tomb Raider Anniversary	$260
XFX GeForce 8800 GT (PV-T88P-YDQ4)	625MHz	900MHz	Yes/Yes	Company of Heroes	$250