If you’re looking to give your PC a bit of a jolt in the 3D accelerator department because you can only play Crysis on “Looks like arse” mode, don’t buy anything just yet.
NVIDIA’s just released the 8800GT, which is essentially a refresh of G80, the main chip that powers the current range of GTX and GTS cards. The new hardware in the 8800GT, dubbed “G92″, comes complete with a die shrink to 65nm, which means less heat and faster clocks. In fact, the GPU and RAM run faster than the top-of-the-line GTX.
Early benchmarks show the card coming very close to the performance of the GTX, which is pretty impressive for a refresh. Price-wise, 8800GT cards will be cheaper than the GTS (and about 1/3 the cost of a GTX), making the card even more tempting a purchase. Over in the US, cards are retailing for about $US 200-250.
There’s nothing on the Oz market just yet, but give it a few weeks and they should start appearing.
UPDATE: Scratch that, a few eagle-eyed readers have spotted stock in the following places:
PLE
Aus PC Market
Going rate seems to be $350-400, which reeks of that awesome kind of madness.
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT: The Only Card That Matters [AnandTech]
Bjorn Bednarek
October 30, 2007 at 12:11 PM
I was literally 1 day away from going and picking up my 8800GTS 320mb card. That would have been a terrible move and I’m now first in line to grab a 8800GT when they hit our shores. It really does feel like that sweet spot which used to be held by the GF4200ti or maybe the ATI 9600XT, only this time, this mid range card is rivaling the top end offerings. Amazing stuff. I love living in the future.
Report PermalinkPhaelix
October 30, 2007 at 12:37 PM
Aus PC Market already lists the 8800GT as in stock:
http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_image_products.php?inputcategory_id=1588
I’m going to be waiting to see what kind of price tag MSY pulls out, but it looks like we won’t be waiting too long.
Report PermalinkDuskbringer
October 30, 2007 at 1:22 PM
Cheers for the timely advice.
Report PermalinkI’ve been looking at getting a new card since Bioshock refused to play nice on my system.
bw81
October 30, 2007 at 1:23 PM
http://www.ple.com.au/snapshot.php?inventory_id=30711
They’ve got one listed here for Australia.
Report PermalinkGraham
June 28, 2008 at 1:42 PM
74 years young and know nil about vid cards.
My Navidia Ge Force tm 7600GS 3 D PCI Express Graphics card does not cope well will flght sim FX. frequenlty shutting down. What card should I looka getting to solve the problem.
Any help appreciated
Graham
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