8800 GTS slowdown query

[mikeo]

Hi

Currently thinking about buying an 8800 gts to replace my 7900 GS and have just become aware of some sort of "slowdown problem" on 8800 gts's.

Question... what's the story here, I've GOOGLEd it and am wondering how much of a "problem" this really is!?

Also... anyone out there with the:

EVGA GeForce 8800GTS KO ACS3 320MB

IE. the one with the uprated cooler.

and if so, what's your opinion of it.

 

[mikeo]

Thanks for that.

Looks like it's not "that" much of a problem then.

Now all I've got to do, is make the decision as to whether to buy the card, or not! Might make sense I suppose to wait until I get Bioshock and see how it runs on my current card. Though some people should have the demo up and running in the not to distant future.

Greenboi

There must be some sort of headroom on these cards if you can push a card that's already fairly aggressively overclocked, that high.

 

[mikeo]

Now just got to decide if it's the 320mb, or the 640mb card! Only got a 19in TFT, so common sense says the 320mb version. Though I'm wondering if anything in the next 12 months (average graphics card replacement timescale for me) that might benefit with the 640mb version? How long's a piece of string I suspect is the answer.

 

[mikeo]

Garyj881

Sensible advice. I'll see what people say about Bioshock first. I'm sure there must be loads of peeps out there with a 7900.

 

[mikeo]

O'well... made a decision at last. Decided my current card is struggling in Bioshock demo a bit and have decided on a:

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 640MB

Be interested to see what difference this makes.

 

[mikeo]

New card arrived lunchtime. Now installed. All 3dmark bench marks up at least 50%. And more importantly.... BIOSHOCK now plays like a dream. 1280x1024, high graphical setting and Vsync on and hardly ever drops below 60 FPS! The improvement over the 7900 GS (even though it was a heavily overclocked card from out of the box) is quite dramatic!!!

So to anyone thinking about upgrading to an 8800 gts, don't hesitate... it IS worth it.

Very happy man indeed.

Now all I need is for my retail copy of Bioshock to turn up.

PS. Card temps appear a bit lower than some are reporting as well. 48/50C idle and 68/72C under load (ATITOOL artifact scan for an hour).

 

[mikeo]

Greenboi

What are you using to check the GPU fan speed?

I seem to remember a utility that let you set it as a percentage for different temps. But I'm damned if I can remember what it was! I thought it was ATITOOL, but it isn't. I've looked at Ntune, Everest and Rivatuner and none of them are what I'm thinking about.