 "Galaxy GeForce 8800 GTS")
Nvidia has been busy as off late. From launching their new G80 chipset based cards to the new 680i/motherboards, we have seen a lot of products emerging. The card reviewed here is the GeForce 8800 GTS, which is a scaled down version of the GeForce 8800 GTX. Unlike previous generations, the GeForce 8800 GTX was virtually a quantum leap in terms of performance, features and emerging technologies. Since the GTS is based on the same chipset, has this translated into a sizeable performance jump? Read on to find out.
Design
The card we received was the Galaxy Geforce 8800 GTS.
Physically the new card is about 1.5 to 2 inches smaller than the GTX and this is a much-needed welcome change. The GTX is a huge card and will not fit easily into most cases. Apart from the size reduction, the card due to its lowered specifications also requires less power. The card has just single PCIe power connector, compared to the two that the GTX has required. Nvidia is recommending a 400W Power supply unit, as the bare figure to drive this card, and we found nothing to dispute this fact. We ran the card with a standard Asus 450W power supply, and it ran along quite nicely without any hiccups such as the machine hanging or graphical glitches. In terms of appearance, the PCB has retained its beautiful black appearance and the HSF (Heatsink fan) is naturally smaller as compared to the 8800 GTX. The HSF does a great job, runs quietly and will not look out of place in a well-ventilated expensive case.
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Since the GeForce 8800 GTS is a scaled down version of the Flagship 8800 GTX it retains virtually all its features. It is also DirectX10 compliant, supports the new unified architecture, is Shader Model 4.0 ready and supports all the new anti-aliasing methods such HDR+ FSAA and FSAA 16X. For a more detailed read on the other new features that the 8800 GTS supports, please check our detailed review of the 8800 GTX.
Where the changes have occurred are the number of unified shaders the card supports which has been brought down from 128 to 96. The speed of the unified shaders too has been scaled back. The GTX runs its 128 SPs at a clockspeed of 1,350 MHz while the GTS runs its SPs at a clockspeed of 1200 MHz
There have been changes in the core speed too which has been reduced from the 575 MHz core for the GTX to 500 for the GTS. The amount of physical memory has been reduced to 640 MB from the 768 MB that the 8800 GTX possesses.
Specification Table
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