New Nvidia 8800GT is out - looks like amazing VFM.

[#1]

It looks like Nvidia have just released a real beauty of a videocard, the 8800GT. It costs less than the current 8800GTS cards and, on the whole, seems to outperform them, coming in just below the very expensive 8800GTX in Crysis benchmarks!
It may be too early to tell for sure just yet, but for around £160 (cheaper overseas but as usual we Brits pay more) it seems like a very strong choice.
Read more about it here (page2 of the review compares it to the GTS cards' specifications, benchmarks appear later in the review): http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/29/geforce_8800_gt/
Hmph, now that they're offering a card like that for that price it looks like I'll be upgrading to PCI-E sooner than I thought (and there was I was looking forward to an AGP x1950!).

[#2]

:::Druel::: Hmm, i think i might just have room for this.
My current card ( ABIT Radeon GX9600) is 256MB and games like TM2 are starting to slow down and jump abit.
This DOES look like a very good investment, thanks for the info

[#3]

I am waiting for the next generation of ATI cards to come out (Nov 19th ?) with DX10.1 support and reported to be cheaper and probably with a lower power demand.
However the initial guessed results indicate it could be significantly slower (10% or 20% depending on which report you read.)
The one thing which worries me about the present 8800GT models are the very high operating temperatures with single slot cooling.

[#4]

yes that is a worry. i tend to sit alot of expensive gear around my card - don't want heat to damage it because the fan cannot cool it down enough

[#5]

But given the low cost of the card I won't wince too much at the thought of spending a bit extra on some aftermarket cooling... and it's an absolute beast for the money.

[#6]

and void the warranty

[#7]

...granted. There's always a flip side.

[#8]

They do appear to be warmer than the other 8800 cards. I notice XFX have an "Alpha Dog XXX" version running at 670/1950 (compared to the standard 8800GT speeds of 600/1800) using what appears to be the same single-slot cooling solution as the standard card. I don't think the extra heat poses a risk to the card or other devices though, providing the PC case is reasonably ventilated of course.
That said, if I had one I'd be tempted to upgrade the cooler, especially if I intended to overclock the card. The Arctic Cooling Silencer I fitted on my 6800GT some three years ago has served me very well.
(In the unfortunate event of the card developing a fault after upgrading the heatsink, I believe some people have simply re-fitted the original cooler before returning the card and have had their card replaced without issue. It's probably not worth trying if the fault is a result of damage caused during the heatsink upgrade, though!)

[#9]

...apparently EVGA still honours its warranty even if an aftermarket cooler has been fitted, providing the card wasn't physicaly damaged during the fitting process.

[#10]

just seen this http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_hr_03gt.html now that gives me hope once they bring out the HR-03 GT in 4 to 6 weeks (latest reported dates in other forums)

[#11]

It doesn't mention the specification of the fan they mounted to the cooler in their test but it certainly seems to do the job - HR-03 GT load temps that are lower than the stock cooler's idle temps - very nice.
Having a double-sided heasink is a nifty idea too. It looks like the cooler can be mounted either as shown in the picture, or reversed with the heatpipes passing around the edge of the card and the fins positioned at the back of the card, behind the GPU.

[#12]

If you believe the Inquirer we now know why these cards run so hot http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/11/11/nvidia-mystery-thermal-analysis