 |
|
|
|
|
 |
XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX Review
December 06, 2007 Brandon Sandman Bell |
|
 |
|
|
Summary: The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is here! How does the board stack up against the Radeon HD 3850? Does the 256MB frame buffer bottleneck performance too much? How well does the card OC? Find the answers in today's review!
 XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX Review | Page:: ( 1 / 24 )
|
[image]| <% print_image("01"); %> | <% print_image("02"); %> |
The biggest obstacle that the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB currently faces has been availability: supply is so tight that cards sell out almost instantly when they pop up at online retailers. As a result, AMD’s Radeon HD 3870 and Radeon 3850 have proven popular with enthusiasts looking for an affordable alternative to the 8800 GT 512MB. The Radeon HD 3870 isn’t as fast as the 8800 GT 512MB, but it’s more affordable and delivers performance that’s generally comparable to AMD’s Radeon HD 2900 XT. The card also supports DirectX 10.1 and AMD’s CrossFire X quad-CrossFire technology. The Radeon HD 3850 is even cheaper, with 256MB cards typically selling for $179.
The Radeon HD 3850 completely outclasses other cards in the $150-$200 segment. In our Radeon HD 3870/3850 Performance Preview article we benchmarked the card against graphics cards such as the GeForce 8600 GTS, Radeon X1950 Pro, 2900 GT, and 2600 XT and found that the 3850 delivered better performance. Like the 3870, the Radeon HD 3850 also supports quad-CrossFire and DX10.1 -- and the board even ships with all 320 stream processors enabled -- the only difference is that the 3850 runs at slower clock speeds than the 3870.
Because of its solid feature set, aggressive pricing, and performance, the Radeon HD 3850 has been flying off retailers’ shelves; already you can find backordered 3850 cards on sites like Newegg, and OEMs are lining up to incorporate the GPU inside their PCs.
[image]| <% print_image("03"); %> | <% print_image("04"); %> |
To counter this growing threat, NVIDIA has concocted the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB. The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB takes the same G92 graphics core found in the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB, only its has half the amount of GDDR3 memory, which has also been detuned to run at slower speeds. Whereas the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB boasts 800MHz memory (1.6GHz effective), the baseline specification for the 256MB variant calls for 700MHz (1.4GHz effective). The graphics core and stream processors run at 600MHz and 1.5GHz respectively on all GeForce 8800 GT GPUs.
Like the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB though, NVIDIA’s board partners are free to go beyond the baseline specifications. The XFX XXX Edition card we’re testing today for instance is clocked higher than the stock GeForce 8800 GT 256MB speeds…
| Board Analysis | Page:: ( 2 / 24 )
|
To keep things as simple as possible for their board partners, the reference board design of the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is identical to the 512MB card. NVIDIA’s reference design also uses the same heatsink/fan unit for cooling the GPU.
The stock cooler runs quietly, even when the card is running under load during overclocking. Some users have complained about GPU temps with the cooler, which definitely run higher on average than the GeForce 8800 GTS, but we haven’t come anywhere close to running into any temperature issues with any of the boards we’ve seen. Even when overclocking, the GPU remains well below the GPU max threshold temperature outlined by NVIDIA.
[image]| <% print_image("05"); %> | <% print_image("06"); %> |
The XFX GeForce 8800 GT XXX Board
While XFX’s GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX is based on NVIDIA’s reference board design for the GeForce 8800 GT, XFX has made one addition to the board to aid cooling. Like many of XFX’s previous high-end cards, XFX adds a black aluminum plate to the top edge of the XXX board’s PCB, you can see it resting just above the SLI connector.
[image] | <% print_image("07"); %> | <% print_image("08"); %> |
This plate runs the entire length of the graphics card, and it’s designed to help transfer heat off the board’s PCB, this in turn helps keep the graphics card and its underlying board-level components cool. Heat from the PCB is literally transferred to this plate, where it’s then dispersed by the air within your PC’s case. While the plate surrounds the board’s SLI connector, we didn’t have any problems using any of our SLI cables with the XFX GeForce 8800 GT XXX Edition, all of our SLI ribbon cables, as well as the hard connectors worked flawlessly.
Besides the cooling plate, the other distinguishing characteristic on XFX’s GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX Edition that you can’t miss is its black PCB with neon green DVI connectors. This is a look that XFX has employed almost exclusively to their Extreme line of graphics cards in the past and we’ve always preferred it to the stock green PCBs XFX has employed on their XXX Edition boards we’ve reviewed over the years. To be honest, we’ve never quite understood why the cheaper Extreme boards got the more distinctive-looking black PCB and neon green DVIs while the more expensive XXX cards utilized the stock PCB: the pricier card should look better don’t you think? It’s good to see that XFX has finally corrected this oversight with their latest crop of GeForce 8800 GT cards.
The feature that has always separated XFX’s XXX boards from their other GeForce cards is clock speeds, and today’s card is no exception. XFX clocks their GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX Edition board at 650MHz core, while the GPU’s stream processors run at 1625MHz and the board’s memory at 800MHz (1.6GHz effective). These speeds compare quite favorably to the stock GeForce 8800 GT 256MB, which runs 50MHz slower at 600MHz on the GPU, and 100MHz slower on the memory at 700MHz (in stock 8800 GT form, the stream processors run at 1500MHz).
[image]| <% print_image("09"); %> | <% print_image("10"); %> |
If factory overclocking doesn’t interest you, XFX will be producing one additional GeForce 8800 GT 256MB SKU, the regular GeForce 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition (model number PV-T88P-UDF4). This board will ship at the stock GeForce 8800 GT speeds with the addition of the aluminum cooling plate on the top edge of the board for adding cooling performance. According to XFX, the stock GeForce 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition carries an MSRP of $209.99 while the XXX board we’re reviewing today retails for $229.99 (the model number for the XXX Edition is PV-T88P-UDD4). We should also mention that in addition to the hardware accessories included with the board (2 DVI adapters, power adapter, component output box) XFX also includes a copy of the DX10 game Lost Planet on DVD-ROM inside the card’s packaging. XFX also tells us that they expect actual street prices to drop another $10-$20 off the MSRP prices quoted above “relatively quickly”. Of course, we have a feeling that supply and demand will ultimately determine the actual price these boards actually sell for once they’re more readily available online.
“Is 256MB Acceptable for Gaming?”
This is a loaded question that’s going to depend on the games you’re currently playing. If you recall the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB, initially its 320MB frame buffer was enough to play the games that were out at the time, but as more demanding games like World in Conflict and BioShock debuted over the summer, its 320MB of onboard memory began to bottleneck the GPU and performance began to suffer, particularly at high resolutions with 4xAA. The card was also plagued by a random slowdown bug that caused some games to slowdown dramatically at random intervals. To resolve the problem, GTS users had to alt-tab out and then alt-tab back into the game clearing the video card’s memory.
To help answer this question for you we’re going to compare the performance of the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB and 512MB with AA on and off so you can see exactly where the 256MB frame buffer begins to become a bottleneck.
| Test Systems | Page:: ( 3 / 24 )
|
System Setup
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800
EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard (for GeForce cards)
ASUS P5E3 Deluxe WiFi AP (for Radeon cards)
2GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4
ATI Radeon HD 3870 512MB
ATI Radeon HD 3850 256MB
Catalyst 7.11
XFX GeForce 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition 512MB (stock GT speeds)
XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX Edition
ForceWare 169.09
300GB Western Digital Caviar SE
Windows XP with Service Pack 2
Benchmarks
Company of Heroes 1.71 (running DX9)
F.E.A.R. 1.08
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Call of Duty 4
Half-Life 2 Episode Two
Lost Planet DX9
World in Conflict
Crysis
| F.E.A.R. Performance | Page:: ( 4 / 24 )
|
| F.E.A.R. Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 61 | 312 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 63 | 302 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 68 | 243 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 60 | 214 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 59 | 268 | |
| FEAR 4xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 5 / 24 )
|
| F.E.A.R.Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 36 | 170 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 30 | 150 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 21 | 127 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 19 | 108 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 28 | 133 | |
| Company Of Heroes DX9 | Page:: ( 6 / 24 )
|
| Company of Heroes Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 55 | 280 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 53.2 | 253 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 41 | 232 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 41.1 | 200.5 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 46 | 218 | |
| CoH 4xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 7 / 24 )
|
| Company of Heroes Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 55 | 280 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 53.2 | 253 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 41 | 232 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 41.1 | 200.5 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 46 | 218 | |
| Oblivion | Page:: ( 8 / 24 )
|
| Oblivion Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 55 | 78 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 56 | 75 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 53 | 71 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 45 | 61 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 50 | 66 | |
| Oblivion 4xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 9 / 24 )
|
| Oblivion Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 39 | 53 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 5 | 9 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 34 | 46 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 29 | 41 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 4 | 9 | |
| World In Conflict | Page:: ( 10 / 24 )
|
| World in Conflict 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 24 | 98 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 21 | 93 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 22 | 100 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 19 | 86 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 18 | 85 | |
| WiC 4xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 11 / 24 )
|
| World in Conflict Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 22 | 57 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 13 | 50 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 14 | 44 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 11 | 36 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 11 | 46 | |
| HL2 Episode 2 | Page:: ( 12 / 24 )
|
| HL2 4xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 13 / 24 )
|
| Lost Planet DX9 | Page:: ( 14 / 24 )
|
| Lost Planet 4xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 15 / 24 )
|
| Call Of Duty 4 | Page:: ( 16 / 24 )
|
| Call of Duty 4 Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 58 | 128 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 53 | 114 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 52 | 100 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 45 | 86 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 49 | 104 | |
| CoD 4 4xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 17 / 24 )
|
| Call of Duty 4 Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 38 | 81 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 34 | 73 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 30 | 58 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 27 | 48 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 31 | 70 | |
| BioShock 0xAA/0xAF | Page:: ( 18 / 24 )
|
| BioShock DX9 4xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 19 / 24 )
|
| BioShock Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 52 | 105 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 50 | 97 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 56 | 123 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 48 | 103 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 46 | 86 | |
| Crysis DX9 0xAA/0xAF | Page:: ( 20 / 24 )
|
Crysis – Direct3D
| Crysis Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 17.9 | 34.2 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 9 | 22.3 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 14.7 | 28 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 8.6 | 22.5 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 9.7 | 21.1 | |
| Crysis DX9 2xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 21 / 24 )
|
Crysis – Direct3D
| Crysis Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB | 24.3 | 35.4 | | XFX GeForce 8800 GT 256MB XXX | 5.7 | 12.3 | | Radeon HD 3870 512MB | 16.3 | 22.6 | | Radeon HD 3850 256MB | 4.9 | 10.5 | | GeForce 8800 GT 256MB | 5.4 | 11.5 | |
| Overclocking | Page:: ( 22 / 24 )
|
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 23 / 24 )
|
Pros
G92 GPU: With 112 stream processors and blazing clock speeds that are equal to, if not better than the GeForce 8800 GTX in most cases, the G92 GPU inside the GeForce 8800 GT is a screamer when it comes to performance: despite its narrower memory interface the 8800 GT is faster than last year’s GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB, all while consuming less power. This is all due to the GPU’s 65-nm manufacturing process. The GeForce 8800 GT is also able to get by with just a single slot cooler that generates very little noise.
When it was initially available, the card was also priced to move at $250-$300.
Because of its outstanding price/performance ratio, the GeForce 8800 GT is sold out everywhere. If that’s not a testament to just how good a GPU this is, nothing else is.
Faster Clock Speeds: XFX clocks their XXX Edition board at speeds higher than NVIDIA’s reference specifications for the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB call for, opting to run their board at 650MHz core (50MHz higher than stock) and 1625MHz on the stream processors, that’s 125MHz higher than stock. Finally, the card’s memory operates at 800MHz (1.6GHz effective), which is 100MHz higher than your typical GeForce 8800 GT 256MB card. In our testing these higher speeds netted the board an additional 8% in performance in Crysis at 1600x1200 with 0xAA/0xAF.
Double Lifetime Warranty: XFX’s double lifetime warranty program provides lifetime warranty coverage to the original purchaser of the XXX graphics card, as well as the card’s second owner, providing comprehensive warranty coverage to both users. In order to activate the double lifetime warranty, both users must register their card with XFX.
Enthusiasts will also be glad to know that XFX’s warranty isn’t voided if you make modifications to your card, say for instance if you swap out the stock cooler for a more powerful unit, or step up to liquid cooling. As long as you don’t physically damage the card in the process of the upgrade (say for instance, you break off a capacitor), you won’t void the XFX warranty.
Finally, in case you run into problems with your card, XFX provides 24/7 toll-free phone support for North American users.
In stock: Both the XFX XXX Edition and the stock Alpha Dog Edition popped up on Newegg late Wednesday at the XFX MSRP of $209.99 for the Alpha Dog and $229.99 for the XXX with a $10 mail-in rebate knocking it down to $219.99. If you’re interested in picking up either one of these cards we suggest you do it now before they sell out.
Cons
Price: With an official MSRP of $229.99, the XFX GeForce 8800 GT XXX is priced dangerously close to the supposed starting price of the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB. For another $20-$30 you could potentially upgrade to a GeForce 8800 GT 512MB board that has the additional frame buffer memory you need to play newer games like Crysis and BioShock with higher levels of AA without seeing frame rates in the single digits.
4xAA Performance in newer games: Again, as you saw in our benchmarks, many of today’s latest games run terribly with 256MB cards like the GeForce 8800 GT and Radeon HD 3850. These cards just don’t have enough onboard memory to run these newer games with high graphics settings and 4xAA, so you’ve either got to turn down the graphics settings in these games or turn off AA to get adequate performance. This is something to keep in mind if AA is an important feature to you.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 24 / 24 )
|
 Print Article! | Close Window ]
|
