Conclusion

We don’t know what the marketing executives at NVIDIA were thinking when they decided to name their latest G92 GPU derivative the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB. This marks the fourth different GTS GPU that NVIDIA has concocted, and based on the card’s name, the laymen who doesn’t follow the industry religiously would naturally assume that the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB is the least powerful when the opposite is actually the case. By recycling the 8800 GTS moniker one more time this is going to lead to confusion and we know that it’s just a matter of time before the stories of consumers who are irate because they mistakenly purchased the more expensive GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB assuming it was faster start trickling in.

To prevent this from occurring, this board should have been designated the GeForce 8900 or GeForce 8850.

Rather than stubbornly keeping the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB at the $349-$399 mark in their lineup, NVIDIA also needs to let the 640MB die. NVIDIA maintains that there are some cases where the 640MB outperforms GPUs like the 8800 GT 512MB and 8800 GTS 512MB, but in most cases the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB is the faster card overall.

NVIDIA’s PR team is also a little misleading when it comes to board pricing. While we’ve been told that the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB will be priced in the $299-$349 by NVIDIA PR, as best as we can tell, it looks like actual street prices will start around $349 for a baseline GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB card and work their way closer to the $400 mark for a factory overclocked board with all the trimmings. This is quite a bit more than what we were told in the weeks leading up to the board’s official launch.

Given the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB’s outstanding performance though, this higher price tag is definitely justified. The 8800 GTS 512MB cards blazed through all of our benchmarks, with performance generally falling anywhere between the GeForce 8800 GT and the GeForce 8800 GTX, while a card that’s been overclocked can put up numbers that are higher than the GTX in some cases.

If you’ve got $400 to spend on a graphics upgrade this Christmas, the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB is without a doubt the card we recommend. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB ends up stealing sales away from the GeForce 8800 GTX. Factory OC'ed GeForce 8800 GT cards like the Leadtek GeForce 8800 GT 512MB Extreme are also tempting, if you need to save a little money these cards can be found for around $300 and frequently outperform the stock GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB. Finally, at the sub-$200 mark, AMD's Radeon HD 3850 is the clear choice right now.

Thanks to its high clock speeds, the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB is probably the card most enthusiasts will lust after. The GeForce 8800 GTX and Ultra are still faster overall when you really crank up the AA and screen resolution, but for the majority of gamers playing at 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 with a little AA, the GeForce 8800 GT and 8800 GTS 512MB are quite capable. When you factor in overclocking, the 8800 GTS 512MB card is even more tempting. But thanks to its confusing naming, the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB may have a tough time capturing mindshare in comparison to other cards like the 8800 GT and GTX. Only time will tell on that one though...