hehe, i know i fooled some of you, but don't get disappointed just yet.

Behold!! The Nvidia Geforce 8800!!! (http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/08/geforce_8800/)

yep, it's finally here, and it looks like its gonna be incredible. you got to love it when a single GPU board beats the living crap out of even the best quad-SLI setups. it gets even better if you notice that this Nvidia board can also do HDR & AntiAliasing at the same time.

and a little extra: make sure you check out the last page of the article for a pretty picture. ;)

It seems like yesterday that Tom's hardware was going ga-ga over my current card.

From what I recall, it'll still be a while before the 7800 is fully taken advantage of.

That looks like an awesome bit of hardware to have, but there'll be an even better one in a few months. :)

WTF.... DX10 benchmarking on XP with DX 9.0c.... I know Tom and Co were excited to get there hands on one...but it cant be truly benchmarked without Vista/DX10 :(

Maybe I missed it....I cant see benches against quad/XFire setups, just standalone Dual GPU cards...and not even (my preshussss) the XFX 7950 :(

Im sure the 8800 will be kickassery, but these benchies tell you nothing hugely surprising.

One of the most important considerations here are nvidias drivers, I was involved in beta testing for Vista RC1 and RC2 for quad SLI drivers(luckily a friend kindly lent me his 7950 :) ) They have along way to go....COD2 for example, pure brown background, allied soldiers are stuck in one position, enemy soldiers are missing !! It was like playing Wolfenstein on a shonky 486...almost :p

Here's another review and nice piccies at hardwareguru (http://www.hardwareguru.com/article/Videocards/391/) (I love the way they do their graphs!)

At $599 USD at release price for the GTS, im going to be waiting a while to see what pans out. My current card has plenty of legs to get me through for a while yet :)


mtfbwya

OMFG! That rendered model picture is INSANE! :drool1: I wonder if that kind of rendering will possible within full-motion games? So long, cartoon graphics!

Reality check time. May I suggest one of these? (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=270653) :xp:

Anyways, here they are! (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductList.jsp?ThirdCategoryCode=111710) Prices will probably drop once ATI releases its R600 cards (I can't wait 'till they come out, either!). I find it interesting that BFG is offering a water-cooled model right off the bat for $800.00US. The things must be space heaters.

WTF.... DX10 benchmarking on XP with DX 9.0c.... I know Tom and Co were excited to get there hands on one...but it cant be truly benchmarked without Vista/DX10 They're probably just saying that you'd be better off purchasing a G80 card now, since it outperforms any previous generation card when using DX9. That's what I got out of it anyway. You're right when you say that you can stick with your 7950GX2 (yeah, I'd brag about it, too! :p ) for a while yet, at least until the first DX10 games are released (I wonder how long that will be?).

I'm sooo glad that I waited to build a new system. Now that the Nforce6 motherboards are out, I just need to wait for the prices to drop to normal before I buy. My system is going to be sooo KICKASS! :D

The ATI fanboy inside of me just cried a little... I guess I'll just have to wait to see how the R600 compares. Either way I'm not looking to upgrade my system for at least another 2 years, I simply can't afford it. I must admit though, that rendered model looked awfully good.

Booyyah! I am disappointed there was no link to a beta or something, but WTH. :p

This thing looks sweet... I can't wait to get my hands on one. It is the most powerful nVidia GPU, btw, right?

EDIT: Gamespot ran a Hands-on on this thing (http://www.gamespot.com/features/6161267/index.html) While it is topping most cards, its got tough competition from 7900 GTX SLI.

That article was a great find, Sabre. Looks like a single 8800GTX can outperform both Xfire and SLI setups of the previous generation in most cases, making it seem pretty cost-effective in comparison. Looks like ATI won't be releasing the R600 until early next year, giving the Nvidia cards quite a head start in sales. I still want to wait until the R600 appears to see how it compares before I make a purchase, though.

EDIT: Gamespot ran a Hands-on on this thing (http://www.gamespot.com/features/6161267/index.html) While it is topping most cards, its got tough competition from 7900 GTX SLI.

Why dont they try XFX 7950 GX2 XXX Edition ?? The 7900 SLI cant handle HD/UHD resolutions as well.

mtfbwya

I must admit that I'm curious to see how it's performance compares to the GX2 as well.

Why dont they try XFX 7950 GX2 XXX Edition ?? The 7900 SLI cant handle HD/UHD resolutions as well.

mtfbwya
I found some benchmarks that include the 7950 GX2 on a French site (you don't really need to read French to understand the benchmarks that start at page 11. They didn't tested quad sli as it falls behind the 7900 GTX SLI almost everywhere)
http://www.clubic.com/article-61974-1-nvidia-g80-geforce-8800-gts-gtx.html)

edit: xbit labs also tried the 7950 gx2: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gf8800.html)

As for me, I'll likely wait until the second gen dx10 cards as my current card can play everything at or near max right now and I don't buy that many games. However, I were to buy a new card, I would wait for Ati's response in a few months.

I found some benchmarks that include the 7950 GX2 on a French site....

Thanks D333... But those seem to refer to stock GX2s, the XXX edition an overclocked GX2 ... ah well...Im sure there will be benchies eventally...

Quad SLI is a ways off, if at all ???

mtfbwya

Some more reviews:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2870)

http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=903&cid=2)

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTIxOCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==)

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/391/)

All good sites.

nice work SpaceAlex :)

Now, who wants to buy me one :D

mtfbwya

here's an update on the new GeForce 8800 series that Tom's Hardware did on two seperate systems: one was on a new Core2-based system while the other was on an Athlon FX-60 based system. the results didn't surprise me, but it is something interesting to take note of if you're building a new system or in the planning stages of building a new system.

teh linky. ;) (http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/29/geforce_8800_needs_the_fastest_cpu/index.html)

Cmon stinger ! Not again :(

I think Toms should stop churning out these irrelevant benchies...they must have simply too much time on their hands. A Monkey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey) could have told you the revelation that "8800 Needs the Fastest CPU"

Who is going to go to the trouble of getting a DX10 card and then NOT run it in a DX10 environment. Makes no sense at all.

Decent benchies of the 8800s true potential are a ways away. DX10 cards should only be tested on a Vista system, and having done 3 rounds of driver testing for Nvidia in sli and quad sli I can tell you there drivers are far from giving you anything great in Vista.

I really should post a screenie of COD2...It looks all brown and squishy in Vista(Rc2) with the nvidia RC2 vista beta drivers....it really reminded me of old school Doom from the 90s :) Lolz...fancy having 1gb of video memory, running Vista and getting THAT for a result. But it's beta, so we cant gripe too much :)

I know nvidia are working on the drivers feverishly but until its all done and settled, then someone should assemble a vista certified rig and let it rip.

mtfbwya

Hmm...

I found it interesting that TH failed to mention that you could get similar performance from an overclocked E6400 or even E6300 for a mere fraction of the price, but I guess they were just dealing with stock clock speeds in the article. I liked that they picked the MOBO that I'd buy.:D
I can tell you there drivers are far from giving you anything great in Vista.
Luckily Nvidia and ATI still have some before Vista's launch to get it right. :)
DX10 cards should only be tested on a Vista systemI really think that the reason that TH is using DX9 as a reference in their tests is:
1)to compare the 8800's with the previous generation on it's turf and
2)through the comparison MAYBE try to dissuade anyone from purchasing a high-end DX9 card this close to Vista's launch. MAYBE.;)

Hmm...2)through the comparison MAYBE try to dissuade anyone from purchasing a high-end DX9 card this close to Vista's launch. MAYBE.;)

Most gamers I know are hardware focussed(I being one of them) Most are more excited about quad core atm rather than DX10. Getting a high end card like the x1950 or the 7950 gx2 is going to still give you great performance for a while to come, particularly coupled with a quad core CPU and some better drivers.(Not even thinking about whether Quad SLI will pan out)

Still, I seriously dont forsee game boxes saying 'minimum specs 1gb video RAM' for a little while - do you !!! So those of us with x1900/1950s and 7950 GX2s can hang onto 'em for a while longer :D

Remember, getting a DX10 card will mean they AT LEAST have to get Vista. Then a motherboard and CPU that can maximise its potential. Its a big financial decision,and people even considering the 8800 would know all these things intricately - without nvidia/ati's prodding.

Im just lucky Im getting access to OEM Vista free when its unleashed upon the world, otherwise I odnt think I'd be paying for it until I noticed my specs starting to labour with the new titles I really wanted to play. Despite having it though, its only really going to be on my media center pc - vista is going nowhere near my gaiming pc till nvidia can cough up some capable drivers(including the HDTV stuff I do)

Right now Im handling NWN2 all full specs and not skipping a beat(had no problem with the highly pretty but POS storyline Oblivion either at full settings).

I dont see myself needing to think about any upgrading at least til late next year... which is when I'll be thinking about an AMD K8L quaddie first and foremost

You could *give* me an Intel quaddie and I wouldnt complain, but you'd never catch me buying one. :blast5:

mtfbwya

Most gamers I know are hardware focussed(I being one of them) Most are more excited about quad core atm rather than DX10. Getting a high end card like the x1950 or the 7950 gx2 is going to still give you great performance for a while to come, particularly coupled with a quad core CPU and some better drivers.(Not even thinking about whether Quad SLI will pan out)ahh, but not everyone out there has a high end system with a GX2, SLi, or XFire setup now do they?? ;)

one of the major reasons for me to post that article is because it has quite a bit of relevence to people such as myself. i've been waiting a long while for the DX10 boards to come out so that i can start planning my next compy. i was also considering using some older hardware (like a Socket 939 board w/ an Athlon FX-60) in order to keep costs down.

basically, it boils down to this: that article is relevent to those that are planning to upgrade to Vista down the road but are still willing to spend a bit of money to get a board that will perform very well in a DX9 environment as well as being fully DX10 compatible. not even a QuadSLi setup with current gen cards is going to meet those requirements.

it may not be relevent to someone such as yourself, but it is relevent to others. and since these forums were founded to help out others, and not just ourselves, the article is just fine without you trying to dismiss it as "irrelevent".

and yes, the Quad-core processors might be some of the most heavily anticipated and the most heavily hyped hardware, but that's not what this thread is about. ;)