Firingsquad 8800GT 256mb review

[schneiderguy]

Link

Performance of the 8800 parts still goes to crap whenever the framebuffer fills up. See the Oblivion bench at 1600*1200 with 4x AA. 256mb 3850 gets 32 fps, 256mb 8800gt gets 6 fps, 512mb 8800gt gets 42 fps. Same thing happens with Bioshock, and Crysis to a slightly lesser extent.

They still give the card a 90%, however I don't see how you would justify this score with the horrid performance when there is a high amount of vram usage.

 

[CaptainCoors]

Looking at Call of Duty 4 with AA - its as fast or faster down the entire chart than the 3870. Same with a couple other games used.

That review looked pretty impressive for people running resolutions under 1600*1200 with minimal AA. If the 3870 becomes available and drops down to this price level, that's another story.

Edit: Now that I count closer, its more than a couple. I count 5/10 benchmarks with AA on where it equals or is faster than the 3870/3850 down the line.

 

[zeroburrito]

basically its the best bang for buck out of them all. better than the 3870 in high and low resolutions also. obviously some sort of issue with oblivion as the 256 3850 scores well above it with the same vram. by the time it makes a serious difference is when the fps are already borderline unplayable. conclusion: get the 8800gt 256!

 

[zeroburrito]

oops.

 

[chizow]

Best bang for the buck only if it retails for close to its MSRP. Even the tested XXX version's $229 is going to start pushing pretty close to the inflated prices of the 512MB GT. In the end, best to wait probably for prices to settle and go with the 512MB version if you want a GT. Some of those 0 FPS benchmarks are kinda scary at pretty realistic/playable resolutions on other cards with more VRAM.

As for some of those results, they're somewhat expected but still surprising nonetheless. I don't recall the 320MB GTS failing to even run some of those AA tests like the 256MB GT did. The titles where the 256MB doesn't really surprise though....games with lots of large high-detail textures and sprawling game environments. I'd expect the 256MB part to fail badly at a game like LOTRO too since its already shown problems with cards with less than 512MB of VRAM at high resolutions or AA.

 

[Aiden]

Originally posted by: chizow
Best bang for the buck only if it retails for close to its MSRP. Even the tested XXX version's $229 is going to start pushing pretty close to the inflated prices of the 512MB GT. In the end, best to wait probably for prices to settle and go with the 512MB version if you want a GT. Some of those 0 FPS benchmarks are kinda scary at pretty realistic/playable resolutions on other cards with more VRAM.

As for some of those results, they're somewhat expected but still surprising nonetheless. I don't recall the 320MB GTS failing to even run some of those AA tests like the 256MB GT did. The titles where the 256MB doesn't really surprise though....games with lots of large high-detail textures and sprawling game environments. I'd expect the 256MB part to fail badly at a game like LOTRO too since its already shown problems with cards with less than 512MB of VRAM at high resolutions or AA.

The msrp makes no sense on these cards. why would people consider buying this card when you can get a 3870 512mb or a 3850 512mb for the same price or cheaper. For the price of these cards, your better off getting a different card if you want to use any kind of aa/af or anythign about 1280x1024 resolution.

nvidia is really screwing the consumer over with its inflated msrp prices, which are in turn inflating prices even more due to low supply. it almost seems like they could care less about the mainstream mid-range market and have basically told amd/ati its theirs for the taking if they want it. this kind of crap almost makes me want to purchase an ATI card, due to nvidias crappy business attitude.

 

[zeroburrito]

um aiden..this card is FASTER than the 3850 512 and the 3870 512. even higher resolution with aa/af. did you not even check the link? the 3870 is over msrp too. there is absolutely NO reason to get any of the ati's over the 8800gt 256(unless you're a bull).

 

[taltamir]

Come on people you are deluding yourself if you manage to convince yourself that the 3870 is faster then this card... The only times it is faster is on a few games at 1920x1200 resolution with all things on max... And if you have a 24 inch monitor and want max AA then you better just go ahead and but a 512MB GT anyways rather then skimp on the video card after splurging on the monitor.

 

[aldamon]

Originally posted by: zeroburrito
um aiden..this card is FASTER than the 3850 512 and the 3870 512. even higher resolution with aa/af. did you not even check the link? the 3870 is over msrp too. there is absolutely NO reason to get any of the ati's over the 8800gt 256(unless you're a bull).

I have to think some people are blind and/or stubborn when it comes to these new ATI cards.

With the arrival of the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB, NVIDIA has an answer to AMD?s Radeon HD 3850 line. In fact, to call the 8800 GT 256MB an ?answer? is a bit of an understatement, as the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB clearly outclasses the Radeon HD 3850 256MB in performance, and in some cases outperforms the Radeon HD 3870 512MB!

 

[zeroburrito]

in almost all cases..check the reviews. there are a few out there.

 

[jonks]

Seems like an incredible bargain for the casual to frequent but not hardcore gamer. If you want high settings at 1600 or higher with 4xAA this isn't the right card (and my investment in its 512mb brother seems justified, whew!), but for 1280 there's nothing better for the money.

 

[tuteja1986]

Fear 1920x1200x32 4xAA 16xAF
XFX OC 8800GT 512 : 60
3870 512 : 54
XFX OC 8800GT 256MB : 52
8800GT 256MB : 46
3850 256MB : 45



Company of heroes 1920x1200x32 4xAA 16xAF
XFX OC 8800GT 512 : 86
3870 512 : 67.7
XFX OC 8800GT 256MB : 73.2
8800GT 256MB : 68.2
3850 256MB : 52.4


Oblivion HDR 1920x1200x32 4xAA 16xAF
XFX OC 8800GT 512 : 42.5
3870 512 : 37
XFX OC 8800GT 256MB : 5.9
8800GT 256MB : 5.2
3850 256MB : 32.2


HL 2 episode 2 1920x1200x32 4xAA 16xAF
XFX OC 8800GT 512 : 68.4
3870 512 : 48.8
XFX OC 8800GT 256MB : 57
8800GT 256MB : 51.2
3850 256MB : 39.3


Lost Planet DX9 1920x1200x32 2xAA 16xAF
XFX OC 8800GT 512 : 24.3
3870 512 : 19.3
XFX OC 8800GT 256MB : 16.1
8800GT 256MB : 14.6
3850 256MB : 12.1


Crysis Medium Quailty 1920x1200x32 2xAA 16xAF
XFX OC 8800GT 512 : 24.3
3870 512 : 16.5
XFX OC 8800GT 256MB : 5.1
8800GT 256MB : 4.9
3850 256MB : 1.5


Call of duty 4 1920x1200x32 4xAA 16xAF
XFX OC 8800GT 512 : 38.5
3870 512 : 33.1
XFX OC 8800GT 256MB : 32.6
8800GT 256MB : 28.5
3850 256MB : 28.3

If you can find 3870 for $210 below , than its a better deal than 8800GT 256MB. 3870 512MB are good overclockers and the extra ram helps in high res in newer game.

 

[zeroburrito]

anything around 40 fps and below is unplayable.. that is too much for the card. you're saying a 3870 for the same price is a better deal? why? so you can have 33 fps instead of 28 fps in call of duty? which is an mp game btw which you will want over 80! the 8800 beats it in every other cat expect the one where there is an obvious error as the 3850 with the same amount of vram performs 6x better.

sirjonk im a hardcore gamer with an athlon xp 3200+ socket a and a 6800 128mb =). online gamer of course, so i haven't had to upgrade. though call of duty will force me to as in mp no matter what i do the fps are pretty bad.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: zeroburrito
the 8800 (256) beats it in every other cat expect (sic) the one where there is an obvious error as the 3850 with the same amount of vram performs 6x better.

Obvious error? More likely a repeat of the GTS-320 frame buffer overflow problem. Most ppl put that one down to nvidia drivers handling the GTS based on the 640MB config. Again we have the earlier released card with twice the vRAM being the focus of the new drivers, and the later card struggling in situations where there is a frame buffer overflow.

 

[Arkaign]

Well, for the millions of folks with 1680x1050 or 1440x900 screens, the 256mb cards are no problem at all