8800GTS shootout - XFX 8800GTS XXX vs Gainward 8800GTS "Golden Sample"
Testing and Test Setup
Published: 5th March 2007 | Source: XFX | Price: |
To test these high-end nVidia cards I set a PC that gives as little of a bottleneck as possible.
The setup is:
CPU: Intel Core2Duo E6700 @ 3.33Ghz
Motherboard: abit IN9 32x max Motherboard
RAM: Mushkin XP2-6400 4-4-4-12
Sound: Creative Labs X-Fi fatal1ty FPS
HDD: OS - 160gb Hitachi Deskstar SATA II
HDD: Gaming - 2 x 40gb Hitachi Deskstars in RAID 0
Power: Silverstone Zeus 560w
Case: Silverstone TJ09
Cooling: Scythe Infinity
As I have previously tested both the stock 8800GTX (click) and the 8800GTS (click) I am going to do this review slightly differently from normal. Usually the reviews focus on Image Quality and game-play playable settings but instead I am going to focus on Frames Per Second at set resolutions.
I am still using a manual run-through of the games listed, exactly the same as in previous reviews, but doing it slightly differently to get some consistant numbers. Notice that for all games I ran through with 4 x AA and 8 x AF @ 1920 x 1200. For all of the 3Dmark benchmarks I did two runs. One run was with the stock settings that the free version of the benchmark comes with and one was with 4 x AA @ 1920 x 1200.
For installation I have installed the card as usual with the normal PCI-E power dongle. Checked that the card is seated correctly and powered on.
I am using a clean install of Windows XP Professional SP2 with all the latest patches.
Both cards are using the latest nVidia 97.92 Forceware drivers.
Overclocking was performed using Rivatuner on both cards.
Cards tested:

Gainward Bliss 8800GTS "Golden Sample". Core Speed: 550. Memory Speeds: 1760 (880). Stream processor clock 1200MHz.
XFX 8800GTS "XXX" Edition. Core Speed 550. Memory speed 1800 (900). Stream processor clock 1500MHz.
Most Recent Comments
Somewhere along the line I was wishing u`d take a screw-driver to those coolers, the pcbs look almost identical asif these guyz are working extremely close together. Like in the same building :p
I see many are already posing whether it`s better value to get a base card and do all the clocking uself. Meh.
Great review Kemp.
Somewhere along the line I was wishing u`d take a screw-driver to those coolers, the pcbs look almost identical asif these guyz are working extremely close together. Like in the same building :p
I see many are already posing whether it`s better value to get a base card and do all the clocking uself. Meh.
They're all the same as the reference boards i expect.
As for the clocking we can oc the core but not the stream processors:(
I took the 8800GTX apart in that review.
If your particularly interested I could take apart another GTS and post some pics?
And ye you can OC the core clocks/memory clocks but I haven't found a way of doing the stream processors yet
If I`m the only one looking for hardcore up-cooler shots, I wouldn`t bother, if I do some searching there bound to be something out there ;)



i use ATitool for my oc'ing and you can have it load the oc on startup and it tells the temp... i have mine running at 640/1000
havnt seen the temp go above 70*c yet cuz i got some insain air fed to my card at all times... two 80mm fans and a 120mm all blowing on it