ATTN anyone thinking of getting 8800GTS/X

[skimike]

I've recommended 8800GTS cards to a few people recently.

That recommendation is invalidated by the release of the 65nm 8800GT.

The 8800GT is cheaper and faster than the 8800GTS and is nearly as fast as the 8800GTX. Please see the following reviews:

New Nvidia GeForce 8800GT Surprises | Tom's Hardware

AnandTech: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT: The Only Card That Matters

The only "problem" with the 8800GT is that it dumps heat into the case instead of venting out the back like the dual-slot 8800GTS/X/Ultras. It's not really a problem with a decently ventilated case.

[Diablo]

Yeah for about $270 US on Newegg thats alot of bang for your buck.

[Mark]

Another problem: according to HardOCP, the 8800GTS is getting a bump up in stream processors to the same level of the 8800GT.

[skimike]

Originally Posted by Mark

Another problem: according to HardOCP, the 8800GTS is getting a bump up in stream processors to the same level of the 8800GT.

I read that in either an anandtech or tomshardware article, as well. Unfortunately, the GTS isn't being refab'd at 65nm - it'll still be spun as a G80 GPU versus a G92. I'm not quite sure why NVIDIA is making the move to change the 8800GTS as it'll get weird when people try to SLI an old 8800GTS with a new 8800GTS and, presumably, the performance of the 8800GTS will approximate the new G92-based 8800GT but, due to its 90nm fab, it'll be a lot more expensive. And if the performance of the new 8800GTS exceeds the 8800GTX but is less expensive, then they have invalidated the 8800GTX and bite into their own profits. But if the performance of the new 8800GTS is less than the 8800GTX and the performance of the new 8800GT is almost as good as the 8800GTX (and it's damn close), then there won't be a market for the 8800GTS due to its higher cost. It's just a weird move.

The G92 has a few features which make it more appealing to me than the pair of 8800GTX cards I have right now. Not to mention the power savings over my GTX cards would put another $1K - $2k back into my pocket each year in electricity costs. If NVIDIA's SLI boards were PCIe 2.0 compliant, I would definitely swap my cards out. Damn NVIDIA and their SLI stranglehold. They should get out of the motherboard/chipset market and just focus on discreet graphics and open SLI to Intel.

[Mark]

That would just promote the monopoly Intel and nVidia have over their respective markets already, and as good little enthusiasts we don't really want that, do we?

Other than that, yes, I agree the 8800GT entices me more than the 8800GTS does. I'd much rather have a next-generation midrange part already, though. My 7600GT's getting a little long in the tooth. Can't run the Far Cry engine with both HDR and AA enabled, either, and I definitely want that. With a custom system.cfg file from my Far Cry install dropped in the Aion directory, I could (theoretically) make Aion look a little better than it would if I stuck to the in-game settings.