XPC Forum

Shader wrote:[First review]Galaxy GeForce 8800GT 256MB (@Expreview.com)

Constantine wrote:la hd3850 conteaza producatorul ?
..ca am renuntat la 8800gt vazand ca nu-i nici o sansa sa gasesc ceva(max 9 mil) pana cel devreme 17 dec,
iar acum vad ca nici 3850 nu-i mai usor de gasit
prin urmare ar fi vreo diferenta notabila intre HIS si ASUS (altele nu am vazut pe la noi)

multumesc

TechPowerUp wrote:"NVIDIA is ready for its next-generation GPU launch. According to sources at graphics card makers, the company plans to launch its GeForce 9 series GPU in February 2008. The first chip to roll out in the GeForce 9 family will be the D9E, a high-end product that adopts 65nm manufacturing. The new product will also support DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1. In addition to the D9E, NVIDIA will release a mid-range GeForce 9 family 55nm GPU named D9P in June 2008."

AMD has recently notified its partners of plans to drop the price of its Radeon HD 3850 and 3870 GPUs by around US$20, according to sources at graphics card makers.

The original official Radeon HD 3850 (RV670 Pro) and 3870 (RV670 XT) prices were US$179 and US$219. After the reduction, the new prices will be set between US$159-179 and US$199-219, respectively.

In response to AMD's plans, Nvidia also notified its partners that it will consider following up with price reductions of its own, causing several makers to delay mass orders to prevent themselves from absorbing the price damage, according to the sources.

AMD and Nvidia were invited to comment on this report but had not responded by the time of publication.

Shader wrote:Pai stai ca nu inteleg. Ei cu 8800GT neOC (banuiesc, altfel ar fi precizat) scot Min. 22 Med. 40 si Max. 64 iar tu ai scos tot cu 8800GT dar OC Min. 18 Med. 33 iar Max. 62. De aici eu vad ca tu ai scos mai slab ca ei sau ei mai bine ca tine.

Final Words

We're impressed. Usually HTPCers have to make a tremendous tradeoff when picking a graphics card, more often than not they're stuck with a pretty fast, but still mid-range GPU. With the 8800 GT, we have a GPU that's basically as fast as an 8800 GTX and with Sparkle's card we have such a beast without a fan.

The card gets hot, but as we've seen, it can easily be used inside a case alongside a very warm CPU. A well ventilated chassis will obviously help and we're not sure what the high temperatures will do to the longevity of the GPU (overclocking the graphics card is obviously not recommended), but that's what warranties are for (it looks like Sparkle provides a one-year warranty on its cards, ouch).

The only thing Sparkle's 8800 GT is missing is HDMI output, but we figure most HTPC users are accustomed to dealing with using DVI only at this point. We do commend Sparkle for making sure that its first 8800 GT would be passively cooled, if more companies would take this approach we might actually see some better product differentiation in the market. Sparkle's website also indicates a 256MB version in the works.

Pricing isn't bad either, although we're skeptical until we actually see these things ship. Given how quickly the other 8800 GTs have sold out, if you see this thing at $319 and are interested, we suggest moving quickly.

13500 cu Sapphire 3870 HD in 3dmark 2005, amd x2 4600+, 2gb ddr 400 memorie, 320 hdd, vista 23 bit, catalyst 7.11