Thoughts, awards, where2buy, right2reply
Our technical technical evaluation of what makes GeForce 8800 GTX tick suggests that it has the capability to simply outmuscle any other graphics card currently available whilst painting lovely-looking pixels to boot. The scalar architecture and split clock domains work well in a very efficient design that'll really come to the fore with games which are truly shader-heavy. For example, we cannot wait to see how it performs with Crytek's upcoming and much-delayed Crysis.
GeForce 8800 GTX is good, real good, and ASUS' implementation, the EN8800GTX, keeps to the reference design. Therefore it's already a winner in the high-end graphics-card market thanks to the underlying G80 technology. ASUS' 3-year warranty and reasonable bundle helps to distinguish its effort from other partners and immediate availability is a bonus. Our research indicates this SKU will sell for around £480 at a host of etailers, so it's not cheap, but technology leadership rarely is.
The summary is straightforward for once. If you want the absolute fastest graphics card available, right now, the GeForce 8800 GTX is it. ASUS' effort is a decent, if uninspiring, implementation of G80 and we can recommend it to the enthusiast who wants the fastest graphics card in town. Hell, add another for SLI fun and you'll need to invest in a QWXGA display just to stress the rendering power with present titles.
Is this unreserved buying advice, then? The answer is no. The near-£500 puts it out of the reach for most readers. They'll be comforted in knowing that a 'lesser' G80 card is to be launched real soon. The GeForce 8800 GTS takes most of the goodness present in the GTX SKU but runs at lower frequencies and utilises a narrower memory bus width. The keener pricing, however, at around £349 inc. VAT, will broaden G80's appeal, but that's another article for another day.
If you want the fastest graphics card in town it will have to be a G80-based card. ASUS' implementation is as good as any. Recommended.
HEXUS Awards
The ASUS EN8800GTX is awarded the HEXUS Gaming Recommended and Extreme Recommended gongs with due respect to its G80 architecture and almost obligatory inclusion in any very high-end PC.
ASUS EN8800GTX
ASUS EN8800GTX
HEXUS Where2Buy
At the time of publication, you can purchase this graphics card from Scan.co.uk for £481.69. Please note that all of SCAN's GeForce 8800 GTX cards are free of the technical issues we reported on earlier.HEXUS Right2Reply
At HEXUS.net, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any of ASUS's representatives choose to do so, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.HEXUS.links
The ASUS GeForce 8800 GTX technical evaluation makes up only one-quarter of our G80 coverage today. Please head on over to the links below for more in-depth coverage.HEXUS' comprehensive, in-depth GeForce 8800 GTX analysis
SCAN 3XS Triad 'G80' PC review
XFX GeForce 8800 GTX retail graphics card review
You may also be interested in some of the latest hardware used in reviewing the GeForce 8800 GTX.
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core CPU review
Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-PC8888 DDR2 RAM review
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W G80-approved PSU
