Benchmarking

Gainward BLISS PCX 8800GTS 512-DDT runs at reference speeds. The core runs at 650MHz, the memory at 970MHz and the Shaders run at 1625MHz. We’ve put this card up against reference 8800 GTS running at same speeds and MSI NX8800 GTS overclocked to 730MHz. We’ve been pleasantly surprised by Gainward 8800 GTS’s overclocking capabilities, and we incorporated our 800MHz overclock results in the tables below.

Testbed:


Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Supplied by EVGA)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Supplied by Intel)

Memory:

OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18  (Supplied by OCZ)
        while testing CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V

PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black ( Supplied by OCZ)

Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Supplied by Seagate)

CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Supplied by Artic Cooling)
 

Case Fans:
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 12 PWM
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 8 PWM

Futuremarks



Compared to Nvidia’s reference 8800 GTS card, Gainward 8800 GTS scores the same. Both cards run at default speeds, so it’s no surprise. We overclocked this card quickly, and didn’t lose much time over it. We overclocked the memory to 1000MHz, Shaders to 1800MHz and the core to 800MHz. At these speeds the card runs about 10% faster than reference card. MSI sells their card overclocked to 730MHz core, 1944MHz memory and 1825MHz Shader speed.


Gaming

At 1280x1024 with antialiasing and aniso filtering on, overclocked Gainward 8800 GTS card beat the reference one by 17 frames. That is 12%, whereas on the other resolutions the performance increase was 10%.

In Crysis we also got a couple of extra frames, and it accounts for 9%. This shows that overclocking an 8800 GTS can really help.





Of course, if you don’t overclock Gainward’s 8800 GTS you’ll end up with the same performance that the reference 8800 GTS will provide. Gainward hasn’t unleashed any overclocked versions of GTS, but we’re hoping that will change soon. It’s just a shame not to push this card to its full potential.

Conclusion

We tested our Gainward BLISS PCX 8800GTS 512-DDT card running at reference speeds (650MHz core, 970MHz memory and 1625MHz for Shaders). This is a standard 8800 GTS with a lot of overclocking potential. The 65nm G92 graphics chip is good enough to run at 800MHz, maybe even higher. It is cool and quiet during gaming, and that really matters.

At certain resolutions, overclocked 8800 GT cards can match 8800 GTS performance, but once you overclock an 8800 GTS there’s no way that a GT card can catch up. The price of a GTS starts at €280, whereas you can find an 8800 GT for €250. It’s hard to find cards costing this much, but we’ve found Gainward 8800 GTS for €319 here.

This is not the lowest priced GTS around, but its overclocking potential is good. If you’re impatient and want to make a fresh start in 2008 with a brand new card, then just reach out and grab yourself a Gainward because we heartily recommend it.