Gainward BLISS 8800GTS 1024 Mb

Recently, we've often come up against the issue of lack of onboard memory in video cards for modern games, and this issue has proved to be most topical for Windows Vista. This issue primarily relates to powerful video cards since it comes up mainly when FSAA is enabled, which will be a hard nut to crack for weak video cards. Recently, we tested ASUS GeForce 8800GT 1Gb with 1024 MB of video memory, but that didn't give any gain to it. The cause of that is a relatively weak graphic processor which was unable to boost the video card in the modes where 1024 MB is in demand. Today's video card in question - Gainward BLISS 8800GTS 1024 Mb - equipped with a more powerful GPU and runs at higher clock speeds, is quite a different thing. The task of our today's review is just to find out how "different" it is. OK then. Off we go!

The face of Gainward video cards is some strange-looking girl against a gloomy Marcian landscape with which there is something "wrong". All this picture is crowned with the label "Goes Like Hell". Apart from images and labels, the box displays the key specifications of the video card and bonus items of the package bundle. There is also a label regarding the factory overclocking, and no details at all.

On the reverse side of the box, there is information customary for NVIDIA video cards, and nothing remarkable.

The package bundle of the video card is rich:

• power supply adapter for PCI-Express video cards;
• S-Video/Component out adapter;
• S-Video > RCA adapter;
• DVI -> D-Sub adapter;
• DVI -> HDMI adapter;
• Game Tomb Raider Anniversary;
• CD with software for DVD;
• drivers CD;
• brief installation guide.

The front side of the video card is covered with a black plastic housing with vent holes, with a fan in the center.

The video card is closed from behind as well - this time it is a metal plate that serves like a radiator for additional memory chips.

Upon dismantling the cooling system, it becomes clear that we've got a video card by Palit. We already reviewed a video card based on almost the same PCB, with the difference in that it was green and offered twice as few memory chips. Note that to provide better cooling to the components of the power supply subsystem, the developers installed a separate radiator positioned to the right in the tailing part of the video card.

The new product by Gainward has its additional memory chips positioned on the reverse side of the board. There are 16 memory chips on board Gainward BLISS 8800GTS, eight per each side, which makes the capacity 1024 MB altogether. We note the fact that the developers could have followed a different way through installation of the customary eight chips but of twice as much capacity. That is the way ASUS did with its EN8800GT 1Gb.

The memory chips are made by Samsung and offer 0.8 ns access time, which is equivalent to the effective clock speed 2400 MHz. The same chips are also used in GeForce 9800GTX, but unlike it our chips failed to run at 2400 MHz. That is not the video memory chips to blame for, but the video card or perhaps its design. That hasn't made the video card worse, but the unrevealed capability is somehow annoying.

The cooling system is made up of three parts, without the radiator on the power supply subsystem components. The video memory chips on the front side of the video card are cooled by an aluminum plate, and the graphic processor - with a radiator made up of an aluminum part, two heat pipes and a copper insert.

Heat from the copper insert that contacts directly the graphic chip is distributed over the aluminum plates with two heat pipes.

The plates are blown with a fan, but not all is as smooth about that as we wished. It is well seen on the photo that almost the whole area of plates under the fan is a dead-end, that is, it can't be blown throughout. The shortcoming is in that not only hot air but dust will stagnate in there. We will certainly verify how that affected the efficiency of the cooling system.

Lastly, there is a photo of the flaw on the reverse side of the PCB. The plate that covers the reverse side of the video card sagged the PCB down and damaged the track at the point of the screw fastening. That wouldn't have happened if the manufacturer had put a washer like that under the caps of all the screws.

Efficiency of the cooling system and overclocking

We tested the efficiency of the cooling system using the game Oblivion at the maximum settings, and Riva Tuner which we used to take the readings. We got the following results:

The graphic processor warmed up to 63 C, and the cooling system remained really quiet, so our comprehension about the efficiency of the cooling system has not come true. But if there were no dead space under the fan, the efficiency of the cooling system would be better. For comparison, we bring in GeForce 8800GTS 512 with a standard cooling system which allowed the graphic chip heat up to 71 C. Now regarding the overclocking. In our review of the related video card Palit 8800GT Sonic we complained just about that indicator because the video card overclocked worse than its "colleagues". It would be reasonable to assume that Gainward BLISS 8800GTS as well built on a PCB of a similar design nor demonstrates outstanding success at overclocking. But that proved wrong and the new product by Gainward overclocked much better than any of GeForce 8800GTS 512 or 8800GT which took part in that review. For instance, from the nominal 729/1836 MHz for the graphic processor and 2106 MHz for the video memory the new product was able to cope with 800/2050 MHz and 2050 MHz for the graphic processor and the video memory, respectively. We note that the new product is factory-overclocked since the frequencies recommended by NVIDIA are 650/1625 MHz for the GPU and 1944 MHz for the video memory. We only have to guess whether the specimen of the previously tested Palit video card was faulty or the new product by Gainward proved really successful.

Benchmarking and conclusions

Since the major distinction of Gainward BLISS 8800GTS is the amount of video memory, we tested it in only the most popular tests. You can take a look at the results of the remaining tests for related video cards in our previous review. We ran tests of Gainward BLISS 8800GTS using the following test configuration:

As contenders to the new product we selected GeForce 9800GTX since it is based on the same G92 graphic chip with 128 universal processors. We also took GeForce 8800GT 512 MB to see the worth of 1024 MB video memory of the new product. And, to make it all right, we used Radeon HD3870.

We used the following driver versions:

• ForceWare 169.21 (Windows XP/169.25; Windows Vista) - for Gainward BLISS 8800GTS and GeForce 8800GT;
• ForceWare 174.74 - for GeForce 9800GTX;
• Catalyst 8.3 - for Radeon HD3870.

Traditionally, we are examining the test results starting with 3DMark tests which were run under Windows XP.

At 3DMark 05, Gainward BLISS 8800GTS 1024 Mb ranked second lagging a bit behind Radeon HD3870, and at 3DMark 06 the new product by Gainward ranked first leaving all the rivals behind. Not bad indeed. However, it is hard to make any judgments regarding video cards without running gaming tests. Since we are going to find out the advantage of 1024 MB video memory, we selected the matching tests. OK, off we go.

At Crysis, the new product by Gainward in most cases runs faster than its rivals, which is certainly due to the 1024 MB of video memory. At 1024x768, where the video memory capacity is not really important, GeForce 9800GTX takes a lead due to the new drivers. However, as the resolutions go up and so do loads upon the video memory, the new product by Gainward takes a lead.

At Call of Juarez, Gainward BLISS 8800GTS goes on par with the more expensive GeForce 9800GTX. Note that the new drivers have made the 512 MB GeForce 9800GTX really fast, and the issue of video memory lack is a thing of the past. The example with GeForce 8800GT demonstrates how GeForce video cards behave with lack of video memory when used with old drivers.

That is quite sufficient to describe the "pros" of the new product since 512 MB of video memory is normally enough for games played under Windows XP.

Final Words

In general, the new product by Gainward has left positive impressions. Unfortunately, there were unpleasant surprises (you can't call the flaw at the point of fastening the cooling system it somehow differently), but that is not a fact that all specimens of this model suffer from that. The major advantage of Gainward BLISS 8800GTS is 1024 MB of video memory which allow the new product to be always afloat at demanding games powered by Windows Vista. Most users will find the quiet and efficient cooling system used by engineers at Gainward a no less important advantage. The good overclocking capability of the new product will certainly appeal to overclocking fanciers, although it depends on a particular specimen.