ECS GeForce 8800 GT Accelero S1 512MB
MSI GeForce 8600 GT Twin Turbo 256MB

Two Overclocked Solutions

Today we're going to examine the most interesting 8800 GT card in the market that is made by ECS/Elitegroup. Cooled passively, it allows for an optional fan. Besides, it's factory-overclocked.

The second product is a new card from MSI. It's based on the older GeForce 8600 GT, which is still quite popular, since NVIDIA hasn't launched anything new for this price range yet. This card features a custom cooler, and it has two BIOS versions with different frequencies.

Graphics Cards

ECS GeForce 8800 GT Accelero S1 512MB PCI-E
GPU: GeForce 8800 GT (G32) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 680/1730 MHz (nominal - 600/1500 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 1000 (2000) MHz (nominal - 900 (1800) MHz) Memory bus width: 256bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 112 Texture processors: 56 (28) ROPs: 16 Dimensions: 220x100x33 mm (the last number is maximum thickness of the card, it's 43 mm with fans). PCB color: blue RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors: 2xDVI (Dual-Link), TV-Out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).
MSI GeForce 8600 GT Twin Turbo 256MB PCI-E
GPU: GeForce 8600 GT (G84) Interface: PCI-Express x16 GPU frequencies (ROPs/Shaders): 580/1512 MHz (nominal - 540/1188 MHz) Memory frequencies (physical (effective)): 800 (1600) MHz (nominal - 700 (1400) MHz) Memory bus width: 128bit Vertex processors: - Pixel processors: - Unified processors: 32 Texture processors: 16 ROPs: 8 Dimensions: 190x100x33 mm (the last figure is the maximum thickness of a graphics card). PCB color: red RAMDACs/TDMS: integrated into GPU. Output connectors: 2xDVI (Dual-Link), TV-Out. VIVO: not available TV-out: integrated into GPU. Multi-GPU operation: SLI (Hardware).

MSI GeForce 8600 GT Twin Turbo 256MB PCI-E
The graphics card has 256 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM allocated in four chips on the front side of the PCB. Samsung memory chips (GDDR3). 1.1 ns memory access time, which corresponds to 900 (1800) MHz.
ECS GeForce 8800 GT Accelero S1 512MB PCI-E
The graphics card has 512 MB of GDDR3 SDRAM allocated in eight chips on the front side of the PCB. Samsung memory chips (GDDR3). 1.0 ns memory access time, which corresponds to 1000 (2000) MHz.

Comparison with the reference design, front view
MSI GeForce 8600 GT Twin Turbo 256MB PCI-E	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
ECS GeForce 8800 GT Accelero S1 512MB PCI-E	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

Comparison with the reference design, back view
MSI GeForce 8600 GT Twin Turbo 256MB PCI-E	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
ECS GeForce 8800 GT Accelero S1 512MB PCI-E	Reference card NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

The ECS product is of the reference design, but the card is manufactured by the company. Just like the MSI card, which has a unique design, so that a card can accommodate additional memory chips at the back of the PCB (for a 512 MB modification).

The cards have TV-Out with a unique jack. You will need a special bundled adapter to output video to a TV-set via S-Video or RCA. You can read about the TV-Out in more detail here.

Analog monitors with d-Sub (VGA) interface are connected with special DVI-to-d-Sub adapters. Maximum resolutions and frequencies:

• 240 Hz Max Refresh Rate
• 2048 x 1536 x 32bit x85Hz Max - analog interface
• 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz Max - digital interface (all DVIs with Dual-Link)