Sparkle and Gigabyte cards, the review

The GeForce 8800 GTS 512 MB strays physically from the smaller 8800 GT first and foremost with regards its dual-slot cooling system. A bigger heatsink/fan duo was indeed necessary to maintain the quiet level of performance found on the GeForce 8800 (even if there are obviously a few variations between models). The heatsink has a copper base on top of which are placed three heat pipes that spread heat over the entire aluminium fins. The first one is cleverly placed as it forces the fans’ air flow to pass closer to the base. The latter is still radial and signed by Delta but differs compared to the one found on the previous GeForce 8800 GTS and GTX (which is a good sign). It’s slightly smaller (a diameter of 7 cm instead of 7.5 cm), has more blades (which traditionally optimize the air flow in slow regime), is less powerful (4.1 W instead of 5.8 W maximum) and is slightly inclined in order to send the air flow closer to the base. Even though temperatures may exceed 100°C there are no such thing as small improvements.

By the way, the PCB used here is the one from the GeForce 7900, which allows savings on production and development costs.

In regards to outputs, as with the 8800 GT, the two DVI-I output must be dual-linked (to manage 30” monitors and their 2560*1600 resolution) and HDCP (cryptographic norm that is becoming more and more inescapable)

The card reviewed was signed by Sparkle. Aside from a sticker on the cooling system and the fan, it’s bundled with a DVI-> VGA Adapter, a Molex-> PCI Express 6 pin adapter, a cable for TV and an another one for HDTV. Software wise, only the traditional driver CD is given. It’s clear that this bundle is a little poor and Sparkle will have to compete in the price war in order to gain recognition.

On the other hand, the Gigabyte card we received is carving its own path. Aside from a blue and shorter PCB (19.8 cm against 23 cm for the reference design, which should make all the difference in certain casings) thanks to a simplified power supply stage, Gigabyte replaced the original and impressive cooling system with a more modest Zalman VF700 AlCu which is an aluminium and copper hybrid. Apart from a little weight-loss, it also allows the card to occupy only one slot at the back of the case although the size of the cooling system still prevents the usage of a card next to this 8800 GTS 512 MB. The only down sides are the heat that is no longer rejected directly outside the case and the RAM (still Qimonda 1 GHz) that no longer has a heatsink, although it’s still being cooled by the fan’s air flow.

We note as well that this card doesn’t support Triple-SLI, which is exclusively for the 8800 GTX and Ultra (you have to admit that without it, those two cards no longer have anything in their favour on paper)

Test Setup:

• Asus P5K3 Deluxe
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3 GHz)
• Kingston 2 x 1024 MB in DDR-3 800 5-5-5-15-21
• Hitachi T7K250 250 GB
• Optical Drive DVD Asus 12x
• Tagan U15 Easycon 530 W

• Windows XP Pro
• ForceWare 169.06
• Catalyst 7.11

For this review, we spread the results for each game on three different charts, each chart corresponding to a resolution (with or without antialiasing) and thus to a type or flat screen.