EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS KO ACS3 Edition 320MB
EVGA e-GeForce 8800 Ultra Superclocked 768MB

VSync is disabled.

Test results: performance comparison

We used the following test applications:

• Splinter Cell Chaos Theory v.1.04 (Ubisoft) - DirectX 9.0, shaders 3.0 (with/without HDR), maximum settings.
  
  
• Call Of Juarez (Techland/Ubisoft) - DirectX 9.0, shaders 3.0 (HDR), demo (demo Tests were run with maximum quality. The batch file is included.
  
  
• World In Conflict (beta) (Sierra/Massive Ent.), DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0, (the benchmark is started inside the game), all settings were set to maximum (MS Windows Vista).
  
  
• PREY 1.01 (3D Realms Entertainment / Human Head Studios / 2K Games) - OpenGL, shaders 2.x, demo003 (40MB!). Tests were run with maximum quality. The batch file is included.
  
  
• 3DMark05 1.20 (FutureMark) - DirectX 9.0, multitexturing, trilinear filtering.
  
  
• Serious Sam II 1.068 (Croteam/2K Games) - DirectX 9.0, shaders 3.0 (with/without HDR), batch file to start the test. It's the standard demo0002 that comes with the game. Tests settings - maximum.
  
  We express our thanks to our reader, Vozniuk Valery AKA Px, for his batch file to run this game.
  
  
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1.003 (GSC Game World/THQ) - DirectX 9.0, demo. You should unpack the files into the game folder with savegames (Documents and settings). When the game starts up, load ixbt3, open the console and start the demo: demo_play ixbt3. Test settings - maximum (DYNAMIC LIGHTS are ENABLED).
  
  
• Company Of Heroes (Relic Entertainment/THQ) - DirectX 9.0, shaders 2.0, startup batch file. When you start the game, you should go to options, choose the graphics section, and press the test button. Tests were run with maximum quality.
  
  
• 3DMark06 1.02 (FutureMark) - DirectX 9.0c, multitexturing, trilinear test settings.
  
  

Graphics cards' performance

If you have a decent understanding of 3D graphics, you may draw your own conclusions for the diagrams below. However, if you are interested in our comments on test results, you may read them after each test. Anything that is important to beginners and those who are new to the world of video cards will be explained in detail in the comments.

First of all, you should look through our reference materials on modern graphics cards and their GPUs. Be sure to note the operating frequencies, support for modern technologies (shaders), as well as the pipeline architecture.

ATI RADEON X1300-1600-1800-1900 Reference

NVIDIA GeForce 7300-7600-7800-7900 Reference

If you have just begun realizing how large the selection to choose a video card is, don't worry, our 3D Graphics section offers articles about 3D basics (you will still have to understand them - when you run a game and open its options, you'll see such notions as textures, lighting, etc) as well as reviews of new products. There are just two companies that manufacture graphics processors: ATI (the graphics department of AMD) and NVIDIA. So most of the information is divided into these two sections. We also publish monthly 3Digests that sum up all comparisons of graphics cards for various price segments. The February 2007 issue analyzed dependence of modern graphics cards on processors without antialiasing and anisotropic filtering. The March 2007 issue did the same with AA and AF.

Thirdly, have a look at the test results of our today's cards. We are not going to analyze each test in this article, primarily because for us it makes sense to draw a bottom line in the end of the article. We will, however, make sure that we make our readers aware of any special circumstances or extraordinary results.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

World In Conflict (beta), DX10, Vista

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (No HDR)

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (HDR)

Call Of Juarez

Company Of Heroes

Serious Sam II (No HDR)

Serious Sam II (HDR)

Prey

3DMark05: MARKS

3DMark06: SHADER 2.0 MARKS

3DMark06: SHADER 3.0 MARKS

Conclusions

The increased frequencies have a higher effect on compute-intensive applications (a lot of shaders), as shader unit frequency has been raised much higher than frequencies of other units (raster or texture units, etc). They result in a noticeable performance gain in such games as SCCT, CoJ, WiC.

Performance gains in games that use lots of textures and other traditional 3D technologies are adequate to the increase in GPU unit frequencies (raster units and texturing units).

EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS KO ACS3 Edition 320MB PCI-E is a very good product. It's probably the best graphics card, if the prices are on the level of similar products. Even though it's sometimes defeated by the RADEON HD 2900 XT, this card is much cooler. Besides, it's more efficient in the AA+AF mode. And don't forget that the cooler is very quiet, unlike the 2900 card in 3D mode. The card was stable, we had no gripes with its operation.

EVGA e-GeForce 8800 Ultra Superclocked 768MB PCI-E belongs to the group of the fastest single-GPU graphics cards for games (but not the fastest card). Its price will certainly be high, so the card will be affordable only to enthusiasts, its target audience. As the card differs from the reference design only in its increased frequencies, it possesses all pros and cons of the latter. Cons: length and width of the cooler at the end of the card may be a problem with some motherboards.

The above mentioned cards have no more bonuses. The bundles are quite unassuming. In my opinion, such products might have come with bonuses, for example, like ASUS or BFG products.

As always, the final choice is up to the reader. We can only inform you about products and their performance, but can't make a buying decision. In our opinion, that should solely be in the hands of the reader, and possibly their budget. ;)

And here is one more thing, we'll repeat it in each review. Having decided to choose a graphics card on your own, you should be aware that you change one of the key components of your system unit, which may require additional configuration for better performance or you may have to enable some functions to achieve higher quality. This is not an end product, it's just a component. So you should understand that you'll have to learn 3D graphics basics in order to get maximum performance from a new graphics card. And some graphics in general. If you don't want to deal with it, you shouldn't upgrade your computer on your own: you'd better buy ready PCs with preconfigured software and technical support from your system integrator, or game boxes, where no configuration is required, everything necessary is already configured in a game.

To find more information regarding the current graphics card market and the performance of various cards, feel free to read our monthly special 3Digest.

The following card gets the Original Design award for September:

1. EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS KO ACS3 Edition 320MB PCI-E

PSU was kindly provided by TAGAN

The Dell 3007WFP monitor was kindly provided by NVIDIA