Foxconn 8800GTS - even the "younger sister" of GeForce 8800GTX beats yesterday's flagships
Preface
This review is not typical of what you have seen so far on this site. It happens that it's high time we refreshed the list of games with which we test video cards, and these days there has been announced NVIDIA's new-generation video processor called G80. That is why we decided to radically change the list of games just now. Along with the numerous "shooters", we'll also introduce you to the results of tests in games like Need For Speed Most Wanted and Carbon, Oblivion, and Titan Quest. We have also changed the look and feel of of the graphs. Today's video card in question has also puzzled us in some points. But - all in good time.
Foxconn 8800GTS
You have already got the idea of the architecture and the very first results of tests for NVIDIA's new flagship G80 in the review «NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX: new 3D leader with support for DirectX 10». But today's tests are devoted to the "younger sister" of 8800GTX which is called GeForce 8800GTS. We are not going deep into the architecture of the video processor, but rather concentrate on the practical points – how topical this novelty is, or if it makes sense migrating to it right now, what its performance is compared to the top-end video cards of the previous generation. That is interesting simply because the price for novelties at the start will be higher than for the recent flagships, but is the performance worth the price? Especially because DirectX 10 games are still missing. We will sort all that out today, but for now let's look at the exterior of Foxconn 8800GTS.
It's not been the first time Foxconn has come up with attractive setting of the package for its video cards. The geometric shapes has been replaced with astronomy themes, and the umbrella with eyes is something worth looking at. It does look stylish, eye-catching and is easy to remember in terms of brand-awareness. Apart from the standard labels on the front side of the box, we see the notice of a nice bonus in the video card's package bundle – a USB joystick and two licensed programs - RestoreIT 7, and VirtualDrivePro 10. We also found the following items in the package bundle of Foxconn 8800GTS:
- User's manual
- DVI/D-SUB adapters - 2 pcs
- power supply adapter
- TV/HDTV-out adapter
The reverse side of the box traditionally lists the major technologies supported by the video card, and the system requirements. Of all these, perhaps this will be of most interest:
That is, for GeForce 8800GTS a PSU 350W which provides 20A current over the 12V line would suffice. It sounds inspiring but only if your PSU does produce the "honest" 350W.
At first glance, we see that Foxconn 8800GTS is a precise replica of the reference design. The powerful cooling system takes up two standard slots and covers almost the whole surface of the PCB. That is better seen on the photo below.
The sticker on the cooler pleases the eye with astronomy themes and the Foxconn label. All the remaining is hidden under the radiator of the cooling system.
The radiator is made following the quite traditional scheme. The aluminum base with a copper insert that adjoins the GPU and with heat pipes which make distant part of the radiator fins "work". Remarkably, although only one heat pipe is visible, they are three in fact. The other two are positioned in the plane of the radiator's foot and run from the GPU to the cooling fins in the bottom part. The well thought-out cooling system allowed to install quite a quiet and thus an almost noiseless cooler. However, the cooler's job is not only about cooling the video processor and the memory. That is well seen on the photo below.
Here you can see the radiator's foot from the reverse side. We intentionally decided not to unstick the thermal washers so that to accentuate the components requiring extra cooling. As you can see, apart from heat rejection off the memory chips the aluminum radiator is meant to cool the power components of the video card's power supply system, as well as the chip in charge of the image display (contains RAMDAC and TMDS-transmitters).
With the cooler removed, Foxconn 8800GTS looks less impressive than in assembly. That is due to the huge size of the G80 video processor. The general impression is enhanced also by the protective frame. We will not see the chip itself - it is closed by the metal lid of the heat spreader. The wiring of PCB 8800GTS looks very similar to that of the PCB in 8800GTX. The positioning of video memory chips follows an imaginary square, there is an NVIO display chip positioned between the GPU and the output connectors. But there are some differences. There is only one V-Link connector to merge video cards into SLI, the memory system is simplified as compared to 8800GTX, and the PCB itself is somehow shorter. As you know, the memory bus width in GeForce 8800GTS is somehow less than in 8800GTX – 320 bit instead of 384. So the two video memory chips in the bottom right part are missing, although there is space for them. Is that a "bookmark" for future products?
There it is - G80 , in all its glory. The video chip was manufactured on the 37th week of this year, is of the second revision, contains letters G80 and numbers 100 in the marking. It is hard to say if that is an attribute of the 8800GTS chip or simply a technology marking. The distinction of the video processor from 8800GTX is in that 8800GTS has the number of pipelines reduced to 96 with the operating frequency somehow reduced and being 500 MHz. In fact, there is nothing of a surprise in the release of 8800GTS. Clearly, the chip yield for a monster like G80 will not be 100%. Therefore, the reduction in the number of pipelines and frequencies of the chips not qualified for GTX allows reusing them as "vice-flagships" thus raising the production profitability.
For comparison, we bring in a photo of G71 and G80 in the same scale. As you can see, the dimensions of the substrate have gone up substantially. But what to do then? The increased width of the bus requires increase in the number of GPU pins, and they have to be positioned somewhere.
There is quite a number of fine components on the reverse side of the PCB, which only higher-end Radeon models could boast before.
The overall memory capacity on Foxconn 8800GTS is 640 MB and is assembled of ten Samsung chips. The access time is 1.25 ns, which is equivalent to the nominal frequency 1600 MHz DDR. That is the frequency the memory runs by default.
So, we have sorted out with the exterior and interior of Foxconn 8800GTS. Now it's time we looked at it in action.
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