Published in Reviews

The new EVGA 8800 GTS SSC with 112 Stream processors is fast

by on27 November 2007

Index

 

We tried a couple of newer DX 10 games and compared EVGA 8800 GTS SSC to cards that it will eventually compete against. We consider 8800GT to be the fiercest competitor, since the old 8800 GTS card with 96 Stream processors is just too slow to beat 8800 GTS SSC.

Testbed

 
Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Supplied by EVGA)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Supplied by Intel)

Memory:

OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18  (Supplied by OCZ)
        while testing CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V

PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black (Supplied by OCZ)

Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Supplied by Seagate)

 

CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Supplied by Artic Cooling)
 

Case Fans:
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 12 PWM
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 8 PWM 

OS Windows Vista 64

ATI Catalyst Control 7.11
ForceWare 169.12


Games

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In the selection of games that we chose for testing, World in Conflict is the game that showed the real face of EVGA 8800 GTS SSC card. On 1024x768 and Antialiasing off 8800 GT was the winner, but the rest of the resolutions with Antialiasing on have turned the tides in 8800 GTS SSC’s favor. The cause is most likely a lack of video memory, and we see that the old 8800 GTS version woke up from its slumber at 1600x1200, where its score is almost identical to 8800GT.

Image

In Company of Heroes we see a pretty even fight, until the highest resolution where 8800 GTS SSC unleashes its power. Still, it’s not radically better from what 8800GT offers. At 2048x1536, EVGA GTS SSC beats 8800GT by 8 percent and 8800GTS with 96 Stream processors by about 30 percent.

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It seems that Crysis has a taste for video memory, and 8800GT can’t handle Antialiasing. The speed of 8800 GTS SSC greatly contributed to this result. However, all the results are quite bad because 29FPS at 1024x768 is simply awful. Vista 64 drivers are not ready.

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At default resolution, 3DMark shows that 8800 GT performs well at standard gaming resolutions, and that 8800 GTS SSC only makes sense when opting for extra-high resolutions.

Conclusion

EVGA has a super-fast card to offer, and we can confirm that EVGA 8800 GTS SSC is currently the fastest 8800 GTS card. Core speed is just a bit higher than 8800 GTX and it runs at 576MHz with memory speed of 1900MHz, just as with 8800 GTX. This is a very fast 8800 GTS card based on G80 graphics chip and packing 112 Stream processors. Previous versions of 8800 GTS cards, also based on G80, had 96 Stream Processors, and the new generation did well to reestablish their good name.

However, is it worth it? Although 8800 GTS SSC beats the old 8800 GTS by a handful and scores great at high resolutions, 8800 GT is still a direct competitor. For almost €100 less, you can find a standard edition 8800 GT card, and at standard resolutions it will perform just as well as 8800 GTS with 112 Stream processors. We still don’t know how 8800 GTS based on G92 performs, but it will soon be here, and it will definitely beat 8800 GT.

If you want a good card that won’t fail you with newer games, then EVGA GTS SSC is here and it’s priced at around €380. With bundled Crysis, EVGA 8800 GTS, SSC is a good choice, and you probably won’t regret it because it outperforms 8800 GT cards.



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Last modified on 28 November 2007
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