Which Brand 8800 GT 512 MB?

[Kolath]

Hello all,

With a whole plethora of 8800 GT cards available, which brand do you recommend and why? Does anyone have a link to a reputable site that does a roundup of the cards and benchmarks them? I will probably replace the stock cooler with a Zalman or an Accero1.

An advice would be awesome! Thanks!

[Brolloks]

99% of the GT cards have the same design which resembles the nVidia blueprint, it is really the warranty or customer services and price off course that distinguish the suppliers.

My top 2 suppliers would have to be eVGA (step-up and life time modding warranty), XFX (2 owner life time modding warranty), you might pay a bit more but it is worth while

[Djs87]

I 2nd Evga. It would take something serious to void their warranty. They allow you to pull off the HS and apply TIM on it, and overclock them w/o voiding the warranty.

[grayg]

http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2752

Comes equiped with a Zalman cooler already plus use of better parts on the board itself.

I recently got a XpertVision/Palit 8800GT, also has some nice extras with better stuff used on the board but the Gigabyte is superior though.

[Jas]

+1 for EVGA or XFX

[Brolloks]

There is no cooling on any of the RAM chips except for the little bit of air blowing over that, I would not call that a very thermodynamically effective design

http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2752

Comes equiped with a Zalman cooler already plus use of better parts on the board itself.

I recently got a XpertVision/Palit 8800GT, also has some nice extras with better stuff used on the board but the Gigabyte is superior though.

[Shiggity]

I 2nd Evga. It would take something serious to void their warranty. They allow you to pull off the HS and apply TIM on it, and overclock them w/o voiding the warranty.

Now I wish I got an EVGA :bang head

[Kolath]

Can you put a 3rd party cooler on the EVGA board without voiding the warranty? Something like this: http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=289&code=013

Edit: Though I suppose if they do allow you to take it off, they'd never know the difference if it died under 3rd party solution.

[Sentential]

I figure ill go ahead and post this and reference it to other people who have similar questions, here's a breakdown of the different major manufacturers:

Asus
Pro: lots of freebies (games etc)
Con: horrible customer support

BFG
Pro:Pre-overclocked
Con: Poor quality control, their "overclock" is a gimick that all cards can do by default.

eVGA
Pro: Best/largest manufactuerer, liberal RMA policies, Stepup program allows you to get full MSRP as store credit towards new card within 90 days of purchase
Con: LOTS of dud cards in terms of overclocking espeically on their vanilla cards. They are what I consider "bottom of the barrel wholesale" vender unless you pay for a specialty card.

Gigabyte
Pro: Usually comes with an aftermarket heatsink of some shape or description
Con: Typically more expensive than other manufactuerers


Palit
Pro: Typically have some non-cooler based gimick either better PWM, more memory etc
Con: they use non reference boards that typically are difficult to voltmod

PNY
Pro: Usually first to market and cheap
Con: Typically other mfgr's reject cards (rebrands) so overclocking is mixed but typically their RAM clocks better than other mfgrs.

XFX
Pro: Arguebly the best warrenty period since it extends to to whomever you sell your card to used on ebay etc
Con: Questionable quality control on some cards, typically poor overclocking across the board; ie "you get what you pay for"

[ratbuddy]

Can you put a 3rd party cooler on the EVGA board without voiding the warranty? Something like this: http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=289&code=013

Edit: Though I suppose if they do allow you to take it off, they'd never know the difference if it died under 3rd party solution.

I wanted to make darn sure before I monkey with mine, so I just called. They sorta laughed and said 'Of course you can change the cooler! Just change it back before you RMA or step up the card!'

The only problem you might have is if you use something permanent to mount RAMsinks. I've heard of warranty being denied because someone used AS adhesive and couldn't get the sinks off/tore off a memory chip removing them.

Apparently as long as it's nothing permanent, your warranty is fine :beer:

[PhysX]

99% of the GT cards have the same design which resembles the nVidia blueprint, it is really the warranty or customer services and price off course that distinguish the suppliers.

My top 2 suppliers would have to be eVGA (step-up and life time modding warranty), XFX (2 owner life time modding warranty), you might pay a bit more but it is worth while


i vote for them too, i would have got an evga if they had it, but al lthe had was the xfx :D its awesome, and super fast.

[jason4207]

That Gigabyte board is interesting, and I think I read somewhere that you can increase the voltage w/ software, or a jumper or something. Just grab some RAM sinks, and your golden. You also might want to put some sinks on the MOSFETS, and any other hot component if they don't have them already. RAM sinks are cheaper than a whole new cooling solution.

I'm still an eVGA fanboy b/c of their warranty, but I have to admit the option to adjust voltage w/o a volt mod is very interesting. Check into that before making a buying decision, though, b/c I'm not 100%.

[Brolloks]

I wanted to make darn sure before I monkey with mine, so I just called. They sorta laughed and said 'Of course you can change the cooler! Just change it back before you RMA or step up the card!'

The only problem you might have is if you use something permanent to mount RAMsinks. I've heard of warranty being denied because someone used AS adhesive and couldn't get the sinks off/tore off a memory chip removing them.

Apparently as long as it's nothing permanent, your warranty is fine :beer:


The person who uses AS adhesives on RAM sinks without dilluting it with AS5 hands should be glued together !:bang head

Anyway also any hard mods using a solder will void EVGA's or any other manufacturer's warranty for that matter.

[Rattle]

I have a couple PNY's that overclock like crazy and I am very happy with.

[Shiggity]

I have a couple PNY's that overclock like crazy and I am very happy with.

Yeah I have a PNY 8800GT and it overclocks pretty well.

730 core
1825 shader
950 memory

20% overclock on core/shader
5% overclock on memory

Could possibly go higher, but it's fine atm for what I do. That's with stock cooling and no mods done.

[Kolath]

Sentential, thank you for the run-down!

I think I'm going to go with the EVGA because of the warranty.

Now... I just need to figure out whether to go E8400 or Q6600 or wait for Q9450 CPU... the last big remaining question on my build...

[Sentential]

Sentential, thank you for the run-down!

I think I'm going to go with the EVGA because of the warranty.

Now... I just need to figure out whether to go E8400 or Q6600 or wait for Q9450 CPU... the last big remaining question on my build...

If you go with eVGA be careful which one you buy, remember all their non superclocked cards are going to be sub-par at overclocking since evga tends to get bottom of the barrel stock from nvidia.

[ratbuddy]

If you go with eVGA be careful which one you buy, remember all their non superclocked cards are going to be sub-par at overclocking since evga tends to get bottom of the barrel stock from nvidia.

Got references on this, or pure FUD?

[Brolloks]

If you go with eVGA be careful which one you buy, remember all their non superclocked cards are going to be sub-par at overclocking since evga tends to get bottom of the barrel stock from nvidia.


Not sure where you get that from but that is not true IMO, I have had a lot of vanilla cards from EVGA and they all OC to well above the top of the range cards.

[Sentential]

Got references on this, or pure FUD?

Personal experiences and from friends. Lets take your card for example is 684 the real maximum of your GT on stock cooling? My BFG did 760 and I had a eVGA SC that did 740, both were prebinned. The last 2 non superclocked card I got from evga that were 8800gts did 612 and 621 respectively when my peers got 640-660+

Not sure where you get that from but that is not true IMO, I have had a lot of vanilla cards from EVGA and they all OC to well above the top of the range cards.

If you compare your overclock versus a "pre-binned" there is a pretty significant difference even when accounting for pre-volt modded cards. A evga vanilla card rarely clocks as well as a SSC or whatever they call it now. You can give me one example of where a vanilla card clocks as good as an SSC and I can list atleast 10 others that do not.

So I repeat what I said before, whenever you buy a videocard from a company that offers pre-binned cards, aka overclocked, NEVER buy the vanilla since 9 times out of 10 they are the reject bins from the higher end models.

If you want a vanilla on the cheap buy from a company that does not prebin. The greatest example of this would be PNY which is why in cases of people who want a better shot at a higher clocking card I suggest people go with them first *unless* they want gaurnteed clocks in which I suggest they go for a specialty card from somone like XFX, BFG or eVGA.

[jason4207]

Personal experiences and from friends. Lets take your card for example is 684 the real maximum of your GT on stock cooling? My BFG did 760 and I had a eVGA SC that did 740, both were prebinned. The last 2 non superclocked card I got from evga that were 8800gts did 612 and 621 respectively when my peers got 640-660+



If you compare your overclock versus a "pre-binned" there is a pretty significant difference even when accounting for pre-volt modded cards. A evga vanilla card rarely clocks as well as a SSC or whatever they call it now. You can give me one example of where a vanilla card clocks as good as an SSC and I can list atleast 10 others that do not.

So I repeat what I said before, whenever you buy a videocard from a company that offers pre-binned cards, aka overclocked, NEVER buy the vanilla since 9 times out of 10 they are the reject bins from the higher end models.

If you want a vanilla on the cheap buy from a company that does not prebin. The greatest example of this would be PNY which is why in cases of people who want a better shot at a higher clocking card I suggest people go with them first *unless* they want gaurnteed clocks in which I suggest they go for a specialty card from somone like XFX, BFG or eVGA.

Statistically you may be right, but my experience has been different. My GTS-320 SC OC'd like crap, but both my vanilla GT and GTS-512 have OC'd admirably.

[Rattle]

my worse clocking cards were pre overclocked BFG and XFX's

my pny vanilla cards do 800/2000/2200 in there sleep with MUCH room to spare.

I had 2 8800gtx from eVGA and they topped out the same as did my PNY 8800gtx.

[PhysX]

my worse clocking cards were pre overclocked BFG and XFX's

my pny vanilla cards do 800/2000/2200 in there sleep with MUCH room to spare.

I had 2 8800gtx from eVGA and they topped out the same as did my PNY 8800gtx.

as an overclick you should stay away from those:) i have my xfx 8800gt alpha dog at speeds beyond the pre-overclocked "xxx" card.

[i686]

hi'
I have seen quite a few, but then stop on a gainward golden sample ...
certified oc, with expert tools from gainward, meaning that you may run in it standard 600/1800, or 650/1900(2x950)/1625(shaders), and it's the only one I saw with a two slots, serious cooling, heat pipe ... and less than 300$

I use it since a few days, so far so good, a real great deal, might be the best 8800GT on the market ;)

i686

[ocicide]

Something else i figured would be good to add to this thread is card sizes, for anyone w/ size constraints, here is a card comparison:

I saw the pic on {H} forum, i cant remember what card is in the middle, top is refrence, and bottom is Gigabyte.

http://www.ocscottie.com/new/uploads/3sizes.jpg

[ratbuddy]

Personal experiences and from friends. Lets take your card for example is 684 the real maximum of your GT on stock cooling? My BFG did 760 and I had a eVGA SC that did 740, both were prebinned. The last 2 non superclocked card I got from evga that were 8800gts did 612 and 621 respectively when my peers got 640-660+

684 is by no means the max clock. It's just what I happened to put the sliders on. Not gonna hunt for max till I get a better flowing case (or step up to GX2 or GTS) :beer:

[walle]

I would suggest going for the least expensive one strapping on an Accelero S1 cooler and call it a day.

[vt420]

the ECS comes with an S1 factory installed and also comes with the add-on fans for not really any more money than any other gt

Jeff

[diaz]

evga or bfg... had good experience with both.

-D

[Colton H]

I believe I read somewhere that EVGA's heatsinks are pretty top of the line aren't they? I also Agree on going with Evga, Overclocks nicely, + Warranty and Stepup= Win imho.

[WildMonkey]

They are all the same damn card.
Get the cheapest.
Unless you want to "step-up" in the next 3 months, then buy an eVGA.