Gigabyte 8800GT Turbo Edition - is it really worth it?

uacn8

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 3, 2007
Messages
100
Dear HD Enthusiasts,

I'm looking forward to get Gigabyte 8800GT Turbo Edition UD2, overclocked by factory settings (700 / 1840 ).

Could you please take a look on this card:

http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=347752952im6.jpg

What revision it might be? Newer or older? While browsing through the net I saw only zalman - type cooling; this one seems to be way different. Do you think that the card might be very noisy?

I can get this card for about 260$. Worth it or not really? :)

I deeply appreciate any kind of feedback, and I am sorry for my english, I'm still trying to improve it.

best wishes,

Paul
 
Go for it;)! The cooling system is excellent and nearly silent! Also it has Samsung memory instead of Quimonda in reference design cards.
 
$260? No way, that's way too expensive. You can get a GTS for that much money. Unless you're in a foreign country where hardware is more expensive, in that case you'd know its value better than us.
 
I just got my gts 512 for 194 after rebate with a free copy of the witcher.

260$ for a gt is WAY too much.
 
I have that card, it's a Rev.2 8800GT "TurboForce".

The old revision used a part Al, part Cu heatsink. The new one is pure Cu as seen in the picture. In addition to a different heatsink, two things changed with the Rev.2 card:

1.They reduced the memory clock. It's now only 920 MHz, down from 950 on the Rev.1. This was because alot of the Rev.1 cards were failing due to memory errors. Shader clock is increased from 1675 on Rev.1 to 1715 MHz on Rev.2, however.

2. While early cards are rumoured to have dynamic fan control, current TurboForce cards do *not*. The fan runs at 100% all the time and it's impossible to change this.

Pro:
+The GPU overclock does help. If you can find it for about the same price as regular GT's, I'd say go for it.
+The PCB is significantly shorter than a regular GT.
+Power consumption is supposed to be lower because of the redesigned PCB. It's also supposed to use higher quality components, allthough the frequent memory failures of Rev.1 cards makes this statement carry a little less weight.
+Temps are lower than the regular GT - I've heard people saying their GT's w/stock coolers run at close to 100C - crazy!
+The card comes with NWN2 - great game, allthough I had already bought a copy... :p

Con:
-While the fan isn't extremely loud, the fact that it doesn't slow down in 2D mode is extremely annoying. It's quieter than a regular GT in games, but much louder in 2D mode, drowning out the noise of all other fans in my system. If you're building a silent PC; go for a different card like the passively cooled Radeon 3870 or even a regular GT - at least they shut up in 2D mode...
-2-slot cooling system vs single-slot on the regular GT
-Pathetic 20 MHz memory overclock over stock.
-If you can't find it for the same price as a regular GT, it's really not worth it.
 
^I have that card. It has the following clocks:

memory - 920 Mhz

core - 700 Mhz

shaders - 1715 Mhz.

But it has Qimonda memory, not Samsung.
 
Any 8800 GT that costs more than an 8800 GTS 512MB is an absolutely horrible buy. Period. End of thread.

8800 GTS 512MBs are regularly $220 and below after rebate anymore, and at that range you have more or less your pick of brands. Zero reason to buy an 8800 GT if you're willing to pay that much.

At this point, unless you can't swing ~$250 out the door, with ~$30-50 coming back to you eventually, you shouldn't even look at anything less than the 8800 GTS 512MB.
 
The one thing about this that most of the GT's and GTS's dont address.... it actually includes the circuit for SPDIF/HDMI audio passthru. To allow hookup to your HDTV with just the HDMI cable.

Every reference board has the ciruit in the PCBoard but most of the OEMs just refuse to populate the $2 worth of parts to make it function..... very annoying. :eek::rolleyes::p
 
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