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Which 8800GT?

A

APIOQM

n00b
Joined
Jan 5, 2008
Messages
35
I am sure you guys have seen millions of these threads, but I hope this one differs a bit. Ok so this is the story, I got a BFG 8800GT OC2, I had to RMA because my one was defective. So now I am sitting here with 300$ CAD in my hands an I don't know what to do with it. The first thing I wanted to do was to get the really cheap eVGA 8800GT 512 600mhz, for just 240$ and put a thermaltake DuOrb on it and overclock it to 700MHz GPU. You see my goal is to get a card that stays cool and I can over clock it to some extent. I assume the only way of achieving this goal is by not having Nvidias stock cooler. So Thats what set me on the track of getting an after market cooler. I was worried about voiding warranty's so I looked at some other options. I found the GIGABYTE GV-NX88T512HP GeForce 8800GT which seemed perfect, it had a nice cool cooler on it and came pre over clocked to 700. But then I came across that 10 page thread on these forums which made me think that wasn't such a good idea. That made me rather angry because I have the Ultra Durable Gigabyte mobo, so it would have been perfect. So now I am stuck, I have no clue what to do. You guys know what I want from above, can you please help me find something that suits my needs. Maybe the GIGABYTE GV-NX88T512HP GeForce 8800GT is trust able? I don't know :( :confused:

EDIT: Theres also that 600MHz ASUS card with the special cooling, I don't know...
 
The warranty is not void with EVGA if you use a 3rd party cooler, as long as you keep the original if you ever needed to RMA.
 
You don't need to buy a pre overclocked card to get a good overclock. I am pretty sure the only difference between a pre overclocked and a reference card is the bios, and maybe better memory chips.

Anyways, you can get a reference 8800GT that comes stock clocked at 600 mHz core, and clock it to 670 no problem in most systems. And the EVGA and XFX don't void your warranty for a 3rd party cooler as long as you keep the original one and assemble the card if you RMA.

Another thing that I personally don't buy into this pre overclocked crap is the price. Your paying 20,30,$40 more for what? A string of BIOS code that sais "this card is xxx mHz" ? It's marketting hype, means nothing, the reference cards are the cheapest and overclock atleast to pre overclocked speeds.
 
So I think I'm going to get the Gigabyte one, because it suits all my needs perfectly, and Direct Canada just went out of stock, so they will be back with a fresh batch of up to date cards. It seems the people who are having problems with the memory are first buyers, I find everyone who has been getting them recently is happy.

And about what Lucky said, this card is vary cheap, only 260 CAD, compared to the eVGA SC which is 270... its a special.
 
I would try and go for one with the newer fan that can actually cool the card well and is not obnoxiously loud.
 
APIOQM said:
So I think I'm going to get the Gigabyte one, because it suits all my needs perfectly, and Direct Canada just went out of stock, so they will be back with a fresh batch of up to date cards. It seems the people who are having problems with the memory are first buyers, I find everyone who has been getting them recently is happy.

And about what Lucky said, this card is vary cheap, only 260 CAD, compared to the eVGA SC which is 270... its a special.
Click to expand...

Good pick, that Gigabyte has a nice HSF, the reference ones are crap. I was about to recommend a Zalman VF900 or S1 but that Gigabyte should be more than sufficient.
 
nissanztt90 said:
I would try and go for one with the newer fan that can actually cool the card well and is not obnoxiously loud.
Click to expand...
This one comes with a Zalman fan:

14-125-081-05.jpg


Also, do you guys recommend I get some memory sinks along with the card?
 
it may not be needed as it looks as though that fan blows downward toward the card through the fins and across the card, correct me if im wrong.

Though if you plan on pushing the memory clock it may be a good idea
 
Memory sinks aren't required, but they do work to keep it a couple C cooler, it's really up to you. Some will say you need RAM sinks if you overclock, I personally haven't seen the memory get any hotter with an overclock, but the vcore does get hotter.

I have my XFX 8800GT with the Zalman VF900 mounted without using the ram sinks. I still have the ram sinks but I haven't put them on because I don't need them,and they are very hard to take off, and if you pull hard enuogh you can rip the memory chip right off the card.

I still haven't used the stock cooler, first thing I did when i got it out of the box is take it apart and put on my VF900. So I still may put on the stock cooler just to see for myself how bad it is.
 
For 6$ I will buy them, and only put them on if I need to, as you mentioned.
 
Yeah i realized afterwards the gigabyte model had the better fan, also i would do the ram sinks kit, only cause you should have enough for the mosfets, which is probably a good idea to have a heatsink on.
 
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