Nvidia 8800 series [Archive]

rabb1t

11-08-2006, 05:27 PM

Actually the pricing is extremely reasonable. The 7800 GTX debued at that same $650 price range, but rapidly spiked up as high as $750 due to supply and demand. It didn't drop back down to the $600 range until about 6 months or more post launch.

Just a quick note from the launch party - a single 8800 GTX outperforms dual cards. I think the world record was with dual 7900 GTXs. But the fact that a single GTX beats the poo outa dual 7900s is just crazy. I have a slide somewhere that shows it's framerate is way beyond the 7900 GTX. So yeah, getting like double the power for the same price at launch as the last gen, me please!

I'm extremely surprised to see the prices held firm at the ~$500 for the GTS and ~$650 for the GTX. That is incredibly good news.

Back from the event now. Props to Ryun for the link since the regular NewEgg searches aren't showing the cards. Put my order in and it looks like "Bill me later" likes me enough to let me get a GPU. Now I just have to go find a card with a high enough limit to get the new case I'd need. I got a confirmation that all GTXs will be 10.5", which is just a hair too big for my current case I believe.

Report on the launch thing later. I need to get some lunchies in my tummy, mess around with the 53 pics I took. Decypher my notes, etc. I'd guess it will be a minimum of 1 hour, maybe as much as a couple.

Some quick stuff...

Check out Nvidia's main page - http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html - That girlie is being rendered in real time (well not there she isn't) and that little shot really doesn't do the card justice as it was running her whole body in realtime. This is a real person, not a made up one like the previous Nvidia girls. I'll get her name later. :)

There were some demos (the girl is one) which I can't seem to find links to, but I can say that no screenshot will do it justice. The level of detail on the fog/smoke is just incredible and the different texture renderings (these are not maps anymore, these are rendered real time) just blow everything now outa the water.

I don't think the girl in that vid was running on Vista with DX10, but a couple of the demos were. Hopefully the shots came out ok. We'll see. Off I go. :D

rabb1t

11-08-2006, 06:35 PM

Oh! Found links for some short vids of a few of the demos they showed. Remember, these are vids of the GPU running in real time!

http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce8.html

The "smoke in a box" is the one that still gets me. WOW!

The one to the left of that one is "cascades", which is using the new on GPU physics. The guy at the demo booth for this said the CPU is running almost totally idle. The GPU is doing all the work. Thus, games coded similarly would have almost no load on them so it wouldn't matter what you had!

Note in the vid of Adrianne Curry (the girlie) the subtle reflection and hair rendering. There are like a zillion hairs! (They showed it in wireframe and it's like each strand had it's own rendering line!)

They didn't show that gnome one at the event. I'm betting that's from oooh what's it called... um... um... Project Offset, that's it.

Got all my shots, gonna put it into the format now. Shouldn't be too much longer. :)

Fozzik

11-08-2006, 06:54 PM

The 8800 GTS looks like it could be a great deal if it does end up at the $450 price point before too long. The performance is about like a 7950GX2, but it's consistant accross the board. Neato.

The 8800GTX is insane. It's scary to think the R600 is going to be faster. Video processing just makes leaps with each generation that are extremely fun to watch.

I wish it was time to upgrade my machine, instead of my wife's. hehe :D She's likely going to be getting the 8800GTS. Lucky girl.

rabb1t

11-08-2006, 07:32 PM

Uploading as we speak. Should be ready to go in a few minutes. Some of the pics look really great I think (I'll see in a few min).

As to upgrading; I'm so not even going to think about how I just sunk myself into nearly $1k more debt for the card and case. /cry /cry

In a few minutes, my review will be up over at my site here (http://www.rabb1t.com/series8.html).

Foz, feel free to edit in some thumbnail links in here if ya like. :)
(Though with my site doing that masking thing it may be a pain to get the url.)

Loopy

11-08-2006, 07:34 PM

oooo... oooo... I know where my tax returns are going this year ;)

Fozzik

11-08-2006, 07:41 PM

Just ordered my wife's new machine (it was her turn). All I was really waiting on was the video card, so I figured I jump before the stock gets low and prices go up.

She is going to be driving around in:

Core 2 Duo E6600
Intel P965 mobo (asus)
2GB Patriot DDR2-667
XFX 8800GTS (640MB)
X-Fi ExtremeMusic
250GB 16MB cache WD Hard drive
Dell 2407wfp monitor.

Almost makes me ill. I told her she would have to let me dial in all the settings in her games so the card was put to good use. :D

Apostle

11-08-2006, 10:40 PM

Our school (where I work) is a Dell shop, so our employees have a Dell rep for purchasing parts and such (at a sometimes lower price). I got an email from him today saying that monitor was probably going on sale tomorrow. I dunno if that is across the board or what, but it may be worth it to wait at least a day or two to see. (the 2407 WFP)

Lyeth

11-08-2006, 10:45 PM

It's scary to think the R600 is going to be faster.

Are we pretty sure of this? This would make me feel better about not being able to afford to upgrade now. :p

Ryun

11-08-2006, 11:27 PM

:(

I want the MSI G80 cards to come out.

Apostle

11-09-2006, 12:19 AM

so what is the difference between the "EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX", and the "XFX GeForce 8800 GTX". Newegg shows both at the same price so Im a bit confuseddddeed. (especially since the listed stats seem to be the same). I gotta be missing something. Hmm I see another one.. BFG. I guess its different manufacturing companies? (looks like slightly different looks to the same card).

rabb1t

11-09-2006, 12:30 AM

Are we pretty sure of this? This would make me feel better about not being able to afford to upgrade now. :p

No no no. Get thee to the DX10 thread. *boot* :p

so what is the difference between the "EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX", and the "XFX GeForce 8800 GTX". ... Hmm I see another one.. BFG. I guess its different manufacturing companies?

When it doubt check the specs. Often different manufacturers will rev the ram to different speeds.

However, in this case, no they are the exact same in specs, thus the only difference is the manufacturer and as such the coverage and whatever gimmies you get. (And of course the obvious different paint job.)

Giftmacher

11-09-2006, 05:40 AM

The cascading water and smoke in a box impress me the most. Absolutely stunning stuff. Glad you took pics of the demos as well though rabbit those dinky little movies don't give much detail away. Hmmm so tempting to buy these cards now (I've the cash for two systems saved up :D) but I'm still gonna hold out for Vista. Besides which, I get to feel virtuous for buying later when the prices settle down a bit :D

Gift.

Fozzik

11-09-2006, 07:15 AM

I actually got her the monitor a couple months ago...so no way to take advantage of sales now (it was on sale when I bought it).

I forgot to mention I got her the PC Power and Cooling 610w power supply. :D There's no way she's going to appreciate this machine to its fullest. I think maybe I'll give her mine and take the new parts. :twisted:

Yes, it is 100% a guarantee that the R600 is going to be faster than the 8800GTX. I'll eat my hat if it's not. Doesn't matter though...both are substantially faster than what's out right now, and both will really flex their muscles as games get more shader heavy.

I'd expect a refresh of some sort out of Nvidia around the time the R600 ships, so the race will probably stay close to neck and neck. The big question is whether ATI will start moving to better (and quieter) cooling solutions, and maybe improve their drivers (ease of use) now that they are AMD.

rabb1t

11-09-2006, 02:31 PM

Don't forget that there are also 'motherboard pairings' to consider.

I'd expect a refresh of some sort out of Nvidia around the time the R600 ships

If that is their DX10 line I doubt that would happen. The rest of the Nvidia line (mid-range and entry-level) are coming around Feb, so I doubt we'll see any half-generational step until probably Summer of '07.

They just wouldn't have the time and resources. I'm betting part of the reason they even delayed the mid and entry parts for the series 8 was due to needing more time to engineer them. While holding them back till Vista's launch makes sense, most of the peeps who would buy those kinds of cards probably aren't going to move to Vista and a DX10 card until around holiday season '07 or later anyways.

darkarius

11-09-2006, 07:35 PM

Don't forget that there are also 'motherboard pairings' to consider.

If that is their DX10 line I doubt that would happen. The rest of the Nvidia line (mid-range and entry-level) are coming around Feb, so I doubt we'll see any half-generational step until probably Summer of '07.

They just wouldn't have the time and resources. I'm betting part of the reason they even delayed the mid and entry parts for the series 8 was due to needing more time to engineer them. While holding them back till Vista's launch makes sense, most of the peeps who would buy those kinds of cards probably aren't going to move to Vista and a DX10 card until around holiday season '07 or later anyways.

The video's are impressive I am going to wait until the R600 comes out though( MOBO dedication ), I am glad I listened to you guys seeing that the 8800GTX in most cases doubles even the 1950 cards in crossfire. So I will wait until it is released and then but the first one immediately:D , then I will get the second one when it drops down to the 300.00 price point( maybe sooner if that don't happen within 6 to 8 months of the first release.

Tylith

11-09-2006, 07:38 PM

So, Should I put the new 8800 in my system? I'm building mine in december. My system will be $1500 would it be worth it to spend $500 of it on just the GPU? or should I hold off?

rabb1t

11-09-2006, 09:56 PM

I’d say it would totally be worth it. However, if you are capped at a low resolution by your monitor (say 1280x1024 or less), you would only need a GTS.

If you want to start your own thread for it I'm sure Foz and I and others could spec you out various builds with or without various things (such as more powerful GPUs, with or without monitor, etc.)

(Do start it in a different thread though. I want to try and keep this one as pure to 8 series discussion as possible.) :D

(Ah poop. Just noticed I made this 8800 specific. It was supposed to be for all of the series 8 *sigh* )

xeldar

11-10-2006, 11:00 AM

Ok, this is mostly related to the new 8800s. I was planning building a new computer in December, but after reading through some posts here, I was wondering how much a difference one more month would really make. I've never bought a video card while it was brand new before, but it seems from what I've read that prices probably won't drop for 6 months? So would it be better for me to just build my computer now and grab a 8800GTX?

Ryun

11-10-2006, 11:45 AM

Prices will probably go up within a month, so it's your call.

rabb1t

11-10-2006, 03:10 PM

As Ryun points out, prices over the next month are more likely to increase if anything. You are talking between mid-November and mid-December, that is really the height of Xmas shopping. Also, you are looking at a brand new product, which means it will be a little shorter on supply, which may again more likely increase price if anything.

Now, in like February when ATi's DX10s come out, and there is competition, then we'll likely see a bit of a price drop. But without competition, there is really no reason for them to drop the prices.

In terms of hardware, absolutely nothing will change on the hardware. Software may get optimized a touch though. But a hardware change won't come for about 6 to 8 months when they tweak tings for that half-generational step. Although, with this generation that step may be more towards the 8+ month point since we are already looking at completely redesigned architecture already. (Thus there is a reduced chance they would tweak as quickly as the previous generations did which just build on existing architecture over and over and over again.)

Anything within the first 6 months of release really falls into the 'early adopter' category. If you are within that category it really doesn't matter when you hop on board during that window. If you want to wait post-release of something, wait more than 6 months. :)

PS - There was one at the Lan party / Launch thing which had been modified with the Antec red fans. Looked like 'rrrrr' all aggressive and stuff. Kinda nifty. Silly me though used the last shot on the camera and took the pic with the flash on. :rolleyes: They also have green fans. Not sure how easy it would be to modify though what with the tri-cool switches on the case there.

dmodert66

11-12-2006, 12:37 AM

I'm using an 8800GTX (EVGA) atm.. Absolutly amazing card. So far I've really only played Dark Messiah (completely maxed - 60FPS (probably better, but I am using the eval version of fraps..so it caps there I guess) I'm amazed that it can play games like this at that speed. I'm going to try out the Gothic 3 Demo and Oblivion in the next 2 days...I'll update ya guys on performance :)
Rest of my specs :
E6600 (2.4Ghz), 8800GTX, 2GB Patriot DDR2 800 (4-4-4-12), 1 74GB WD Raptor (10k), 2 x 250GB WD (16mb), Coolermaster Pretorian Case, Enermax 535W PSU (36A on the 12 Volt Rails (dual))...

Gargen

11-12-2006, 12:47 AM

(completely maxed - 60FPS (probably better, but I am using the eval version of fraps..so it caps there I guess)

It's more likely that your monitor is running at 60Hz and V-Sync is on. V-sync keeps your computer from making frames faster than they can be displayed (which prevents tearing). What that really means is it never dips below 60 fps... which is all that really matters.

Julianr

11-13-2006, 04:46 AM

While looking around trying to make a decision on gts or gtx i stumbled upon this site, which has a couple of videos that they have on the nvidia site, but you can download them at better quality.

http://graphics.cs.uiuc.edu/svn/kcrane/web/project_fluid.html

Giftmacher

11-13-2006, 05:29 AM

Nice! Water looks a bit viscous though... :p

Gift.

Julianr

11-13-2006, 09:14 AM

lol, in my continued search for more info (isnt that the most fun part!) I've found this "priceless" advert on youtube for nvidia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBKSLS2XDbk

rabb1t

11-13-2006, 04:57 PM

Zahrim

11-14-2006, 11:06 AM

I’d say it would totally be worth it. However, if you are capped at a low resolution by your monitor (say 1280x1024 or less), you would only need a GTS.

*sigh* )

hmmm, maybe I will settle for the GTS and bring my new PC build down in price a bit. I have a 19" LCD and perhaps the GTX is just wasted money....I can always go SLi 8800 GTS in the future and still be very happy...or upgrade the single GTS out for a 8900 when they ship. hmmmm

rabb1t

11-16-2006, 05:08 PM

Looks like we have some peeps with too much money. Higher end Intel Core 2 Duo scores are showing up with 8800 GTX in SLI. Scores seem to be in the 15-23,000 range. :eek: Those are probably OCed though. The more likely true scores are the ones around 12-18,000 range.

/cry
/cry
I feel so weak in the 8,200 range.

Fozzik

11-16-2006, 08:56 PM

Still almost double what my computer does at 4600. :p

*hugs PC*

It has been working great, and I'm really happy with it. will probably be more than a year before I upgrade in any significant way...but then again I've never really been one to live on the bleeding edge. I like to get a solid and great-performing machine, and stick with it for quite a while. Less gray hair that way.

It does affect my geek ego a little bit on some level to know that my wife's PC gets double the scores that mine does...but I'm happy I was able to hook her up that way. :D

dmodert66

11-17-2006, 12:03 AM

They showed that at the launch party. It got a big laughs and 'ooohs' at the expensive/cool parts. :D

FYI that is the guy who is currently repeatedly beating the 3dMark records.

He got a single 8800 GTX into the like 17k range on '05 I think it was, beating out his old record in the 16k range with dual 7900 GTX.

- - - - -

WARNING - I may die of not surprise here; there aren't 'real' XP 64-bit (or Vista) drivers for the 8 series yet. I'm running faster, of course, but I may be gimped in comparison to what my sores should be (I'm seeing about 9k in 06 and 12.5k in 05.)

Bleeding edge yet again cuts XP 64-bit. *sigh*

Could also be your Processor...Your running a 4200X2? I know on my core 2 e6600 stock (2.4) I was getting around 9500 in 06. When I OC'd it a bit (2.9) my score went all the way up to 11000. In the next few days I'm going to increase the voltage and try and get her to about 3.5 and see what that does for my score.

dmodert66

11-17-2006, 12:04 AM

hmmm, maybe I will settle for the GTS and bring my new PC build down in price a bit. I have a 19" LCD and perhaps the GTX is just wasted money....I can always go SLi 8800 GTS in the future and still be very happy...or upgrade the single GTS out for a 8900 when they ship. hmmmm

I thought about going that route too (I'm currently only running 1440x900), but with the price difference being only $170 or so, I just couldn't justify it...

rabb1t

11-17-2006, 12:32 AM

Could also be your Processor...Your running a 4200X2?

Yeah, it looks like its due to the core. There are like 4 or so more X2 scores up there now, all right around in my range. (A 4600+ is higher, but I'm above the others.)

So it does look like it's either held back by the CPU, or the 3dMark program is giving a lot of marks for the CPU on it's own.

It's ok I guess. We slide around 10% here and there, ahead or behind, depending on what we have at any given time.

If AMD is still behind at the time I'm ready for my next core upgrade (probably in '08) I'll just go Intel. They are lookin pretty strong with that new Nvidia alliance. :D

Gargen

11-17-2006, 12:51 AM

They showed that at the launch party. It got a big laughs and 'ooohs' at the expensive/cool parts. :D

FYI that is the guy who is currently repeatedly beating the 3dMark records.

He got a single 8800 GTX into the like 17k range on '05 I think it was, beating out his old record in the 16k range with dual 7900 GTX.

- - - - -

WARNING - I may die of not surprise here; there aren't 'real' XP 64-bit (or Vista) drivers for the 8 series yet. I'm running faster, of course, but I may be gimped in comparison to what my sores should be (I'm seeing about 9k in 06 and 12.5k in 05.)

Bleeding edge yet again cuts XP 64-bit. *sigh*

Where are the fake ones? My 8800 GTX is sittin in the box waiting on drivers.

...and while we're on the subject of troubles with my 8800, those cards really are freakin huge. Lets just say I reluctantly got my first experience making structural modifications to a case.

dmodert66

11-17-2006, 01:01 AM

Where are the fake ones? My 8800 GTX is sittin in the box waiting on drivers.

...and while we're on the subject of troubles with my 8800, those cards really are freakin huge. Lets just say I reluctantly got my first experience making structural modifications to a case.

Actually, there ARE 64 bit drivers HIDDEN DEEP on the installation disc from EVGA. I'm not sure wich brand you got, but the EVGA Disc DOES indeed have the drivers...You just have to dig deep into the CD...

Gargen

11-17-2006, 01:05 AM

Actually, there ARE 64 bit drivers HIDDEN DEEP on the installation disc from EVGA. I'm not sure wich brand you got, but the EVGA Disc DOES indeed have the drivers...You just have to dig deep into the CD...

EVGA rocks!

... now I need to swap my video card for the 5th time in the past two days.

dmodert66

11-17-2006, 01:12 AM

EVGA rocks!

... now I need to swap my video card for the 5th time in the past two days.

Here is a little more info :
EVGA in-box CD *has* 64 bit drivers, but you have to manually hunt them down in the device installer wizard ... CD = EVGA_65_1 @ \Drivers\XP64

Drivers dated 10/16/2006.

Related Thread : http://www.evga.com/community/messageboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=21001

rabb1t

11-17-2006, 01:13 AM

Heh, yeah I was about to uninstall it, but I always check forums and the web in general before giving up. I only found out about the 64-bit drivers on the CD due to a post on the Evga site. Ya have to manually point the update thing to them but they seem to work ok.

Splinter Cell Double Agent doesn't run at all though. (But that's totally their fault. They have lots of bugs with that puppy. I'm really miffed since Splinter Cell was just fine.)