DH Review: Nvidia 8800 GTX SLI

***Zardon*** · Jan 23, 2007, 02:13 PM

Read The Review Here
___________________

While many other sites published rushed reviews on 8800 SLI to get the hits, we were testing and reporting various bugs with companies to give you the definitive review of Nvidia's 8800 solution in SLI.

Over 2 months in the making, with testing on a Vapochill overclocked Quad Core CPU @ 4GHZ with a selection of 8800 SLI solutions from Foxconn, Asus and XFX. Not only are we testing at the highest resolution with all the eye candy on full but we have over half a gigabyte of downloadable High Definition content for you to look at. If your internet connection can handle it.

Judas · Jan 23, 2007, 02:55 PM

my gaud....

nasty board issues..

As for the PS/2... they really should have had those tested, even if PS/2 ports are appearing to no longer be supplied on even the budget machines and prebuilts (most, if not all are already shipping without PS/2, Serial, and parrelle ports at all)

Lelisevis · Jan 23, 2007, 02:55 PM

Incredible review guys. Welldone. Going to read it all again in a bit before posting anymore comments. Makes me glad I opted for a 590 board for my later exploits with Sli

pr0digal jenius · Jan 23, 2007, 04:19 PM

I still think SLi is way mroe of a headache then it's worth

and, well, this review re-enforced my stand on straying from Intel chipsets

Judas · Jan 23, 2007, 04:33 PM

imo, dealing with SLI or Crossfire (where crossfire is just as much of a pain) is, even today, still a big freaking pain in the ass, your not guaranteed to obtain the performance of the 2 cards at all. Plus incapabilities, slowdowns or worse, corruption and or complete crashes or errors.

***Zardon*** · Jan 23, 2007, 05:04 PM

I always found SLI to be a great solution to be perfectly honest and ive owned several (wasnt so impressed with crossfire personally but that was more a driver/software complaint), however the mobo chipset stuart reviewed has some massive issues.

pr0digal jenius · Jan 23, 2007, 05:22 PM

oh, i have no doubt that sli works incredibly well, i suppose I should validate it by saying it has some issues for what i personally would want it for...which isn't limited for gaming...the performance increase is nothign to scoff at, it just, in many cases, isn't worth the additional cost to me.

..but yea..that board yall had seems to be nothing much beyond worthless

Erroneus · Jan 23, 2007, 05:54 PM

After all the problems I've been having with Nvidia chipset boards in the past, I decided never to do Nvidia chipsets again and looks like it was a wise choice.

No way in hell I'm paying to be a Beta tester for Nvidia again.

REGENERATION · Jan 23, 2007, 06:26 PM

Just wanted to jump by and say great work on this review. Many other reviews are misleading and ignoring these kind of issues; the public has the right to know. It is great to see that not everyone is biased, scared to lose Nvidia's press support, and sacrificing their own readers just to get some more hits. Great work for this deeply and fully detailed review.

***Zardon*** · Jan 23, 2007, 06:47 PM

Well I don't think the review could really be classed as an attack on nvidia, after all, all three SLI solutions got our heavenly hardware gold award which is a rating of 95%+ - we also gave the XFX 8800 card in single setup a gold award in a prior review - the 8800 hardware is simply untouchable right now.

We just have concerns with the motherboards we received and the original state of drivers and support at release date - something that very few sites seemed to document...... This somewhat delayed our article, however we feel to release a review on the hardware when we originally received it would have been quite unethical. we would rather delay it as long as we needed to give a more accurate analysis. I think we have pissed off both major players over the last year or so as we tend to just say it as it is, rather than play any PR games. If anyone cuts us off, thats fine because we certainly wont be ignoring issues we find to appease any company, we will wait and just buy the samples (which we have done before). We are here for you guys, no one else.

Ill let stu handle the questions on the review, thanks.

Lelisevis · Jan 23, 2007, 06:52 PM

Is there really that much difference between my 590 Sli and the 680i motherboards? I mean they both have two X16 PCI-e Lanes. I guess im typing this more as a question because I just don't know? Would be nice to chuck 2 of those GTX's in and compare them side to side.

mainman · Jan 23, 2007, 06:59 PM

How in hell could they ever release a chipset is this state? I mean, do they even test these things before releasing them?

REGENERATION · Jan 23, 2007, 07:07 PM

The G80 is really great – I fully agree on it. But not everyone is providing the full angles like you did it in this review. Personally, I think they rushed out with their G80 because of the competition with ATI/AMD and it caused some minor issues, but annoying issues (Software for example). Next time they should take it easy and make their product into a fully-ready product before they are launching it to the open market.

However, I’m aware to the fact that some reviewers are a bit scared to lose Nvidia’s support, and some reviewers are interested in improving their Pricegrabber/Dealtime revenues and trying to avoid mentioning these small negative views. When I read your G80 SLI review, I felt the honesty, professionalism and dedication; So I had to tell you my positive feedback about it.

***Veridian3*** · Jan 23, 2007, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lelisevis

Is there really that much difference between my 590 Sli and the 680i motherboards? I mean they both have two X16 PCI-e Lanes. I guess im typing this more as a question because I just don't know? Would be nice to chuck 2 of those GTX's in and compare them side to side.

Off the top of my head, not sure if the 590 does quad core (dont think it does), and the memory settings are much better on the 680, easy support for 1000+mhz memory. Also the 680i in theory supports 1333mhz fsb.

However if you had DDR2-800, 2x8800gtx's and a core2 duo you could do a nice comparison, yes.

***Veridian3*** · Jan 23, 2007, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by REGENERATION

The G80 is really great – I fully agree on it. But not everyone is providing the full angles like you did it in this review. Personally, I think they rushed out with their G80 because of the competition with ATI/AMD and it caused some minor issues, but annoying issues (Software for example). Next time they should take it easy and make their product into a fully-ready product before they are launching it to the open market.

However, I’m aware to the fact that some reviewers are a bit scared to lose Nvidia’s support, and some reviewers are interested in improving their Pricegrabber/Dealtime revenues and trying to avoid mentioning these small negative views. When I read your G80 SLI review, I felt the honesty, professionalism and dedication; So I had to tell you my positive feedback about it.

Thx

SFOSOK · Jan 23, 2007, 07:33 PM

It was an awesome review but there was one thing I did not like about the charts.

From chart to chart more than one variable was being changed. Like lets say OC of the CPU and goin from 6AA to 16AA. I was not able to see the impact of 16AA without the OC nor the OC at 6AA.

The pictures look amazing and I'm very glad to have it included in the review and even though the vids are 100mb, it is the users choice to watch them.

***Veridian3*** · Jan 23, 2007, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFOSOK

From chart to chart more than one variable was being changed. Like lets say OC of the CPU and goin from 6AA to 16AA. I was not able to see the impact of 16AA without the OC nor the OC at 6AA.

That is true, but there are a number of reviews out there where the impacts of changing one setting can be seen. This review was meant to be a little bit different from the norm and therefore useful in its own way.

For example you might not get an answer to what the 6xAa v 16xAA hit is however you know that if you buy 2x8800GTX it peforms well at stock now however will pair up really well with an 4ghz quad core in the future.

SFOSOK · Jan 23, 2007, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veridian3

That is true, but there are a number of reviews out there where the impacts of changing one setting can be seen. This review was meant to be a little bit different from the norm and therefore useful in its own way.

For example you might not get an answer to what the 6xAa v 16xAA hit is however you know that if you buy 2x8800GTX it peforms well at stock now however will pair up really well with an 4ghz quad core in the future.

good point

Lelisevis · Jan 23, 2007, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veridian3

Off the top of my head, not sure if the 590 does quad core (dont think it does), and the memory settings are much better on the 680, easy support for 1000+mhz memory. Also the 680i in theory supports 1333mhz fsb.

However if you had DDR2-800, 2x8800gtx's and a core2 duo you could do a nice comparison, yes.

Ah right though I must admit most of those things are quite minor and im sure could be added with updated bios options, sorry it's my fault but I should have pointed out I have the AMD AM2 version which will in the future support the new quadcore AM2. Next time I reboot i'll check out the memory settings. Oh and if you want to send out a pair of GTX's i'll happily try them and return them for you or I could just send you my rig but it weighs as much as a baby Rhino LOL.

Edit: checked the Ram thing and your right, it's DDR800

BWX · Jan 24, 2007, 04:28 AM

I read that page first.. [COLOR="Red"]"The 680i based motherboards"[/COLOR]

All I can say is, I will never buy one of those mobos. It would be 10 times the nightmare for a single person with limited amount of money to spend on testing these things. For example only having one brand of DDR2 mem to test with. I cannot afford to be a guinea pig, when I go Intel soon (for the first time in my life), it won't be with those boards- even if it is only a dual core CPU and one single 8800GTX.

When you say:

Quote:

We've completed our tests with the board, working round the issues however upon completing the tests we were ecstatic to remove the board and move back to the complete stability of other products.

Which mobos would those be? Those are the ones I will be looking at.

***Veridian3*** · Jan 24, 2007, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BWX

Which mobos would those be? Those are the ones I will be looking at.

Intel D975XBX2, it doesnt do SLI (does crossfire) however its a great board, i'll be doing a review of it soon however having used an early sample for a number of months now i already know it inside out.

BWX · Jan 24, 2007, 09:03 AM

Cool.. I don't do SLI either.. For me I would rather just get the fastest single card available. I'll look out for that review.

bug77 · Jan 25, 2007, 07:45 AM

Nicely done. But it really shows that SLId 8800s are for people who need 1920 res AND full AA. Not very many I'd guess... Long live my 7900GS.

Datagg · Jan 28, 2007, 08:48 AM

Veridian3,

I would love to hear your opinions, or perhaps a review on my MoBo..Its a Gigabyte GA-M59SLI-S5. You do such great reviews, I would love to here your opinion on this Mobo and how it works with my New 8800GTS and my new X2 5200 on its way early next week.

Thank you

BWX · Jan 29, 2007, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bug77

Nicely done. But it really shows that SLId 8800s are for people who need 1920 res AND full AA. Not very many I'd guess... Long live my 7900GS.

I dunno about that. I have an OC'd 7900GTX and it is too slow for GTR2 (in game- at night, in the rain, behind a field of cars) with AA and AF with in game GFX setting on max, but some only on high. That was only at 1400 x 1050. I can see where even with me current CPU and ram/mobo combo that I could use a faster card.

Jan 23, 2007, 02:13 PM	#1
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,267 Rep Power: 3150	DH Review: Nvidia 8800 GTX SLI Read The Review Here ___________________ While many other sites published rushed reviews on 8800 SLI to get the hits, we were testing and reporting various bugs with companies to give you the definitive review of Nvidia's 8800 solution in SLI. Over 2 months in the making, with testing on a Vapochill overclocked Quad Core CPU @ 4GHZ with a selection of 8800 SLI solutions from Foxconn, Asus and XFX. Not only are we testing at the highest resolution with all the eye candy on full but we have over half a gigabyte of downloadable High Definition content for you to look at. If your internet connection can handle it.

Jan 23, 2007, 02:55 PM	#3
Lelisevis Howlin at the moon Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Sunderland, UK Posts: 1,655 Rep Power: 62 System Specs	Incredible review guys. Welldone. Going to read it all again in a bit before posting anymore comments. Makes me glad I opted for a 590 board for my later exploits with Sli __________________ Im not dead

Jan 23, 2007, 05:54 PM	#8
Erroneus Loving my Windows 7 Ent. Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 12,921 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	After all the problems I've been having with Nvidia chipset boards in the past, I decided never to do Nvidia chipsets again and looks like it was a wise choice. No way in hell I'm paying to be a Beta tester for Nvidia again. __________________

Jan 23, 2007, 06:52 PM	#11
Lelisevis Howlin at the moon Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Sunderland, UK Posts: 1,655 Rep Power: 62 System Specs	Is there really that much difference between my 590 Sli and the 680i motherboards? I mean they both have two X16 PCI-e Lanes. I guess im typing this more as a question because I just don't know? Would be nice to chuck 2 of those GTX's in and compare them side to side. __________________ Im not dead

Jan 23, 2007, 06:59 PM	#12
mainman Mr. Nobody Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: OmniPresent Nightwatcher Posts: 5,939 Rep Power: 53	How in hell could they ever release a chipset is this state? I mean, do they even test these things before releasing them? __________________

Jan 23, 2007, 04:19 PM	#4
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,672 Rep Power: 0	I still think SLi is way mroe of a headache then it's worth and, well, this review re-enforced my stand on straying from Intel chipsets

Jan 23, 2007, 05:04 PM	#6
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,267 Rep Power: 3150	I always found SLI to be a great solution to be perfectly honest and ive owned several (wasnt so impressed with crossfire personally but that was more a driver/software complaint), however the mobo chipset stuart reviewed has some massive issues.

Jan 23, 2007, 05:22 PM	#7
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,672 Rep Power: 0	oh, i have no doubt that sli works incredibly well, i suppose I should validate it by saying it has some issues for what i personally would want it for...which isn't limited for gaming...the performance increase is nothign to scoff at, it just, in many cases, isn't worth the additional cost to me. ..but yea..that board yall had seems to be nothing much beyond worthless

Jan 23, 2007, 06:26 PM	#9
REGENERATION DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 59 Rep Power: 0	Just wanted to jump by and say great work on this review. Many other reviews are misleading and ignoring these kind of issues; the public has the right to know. It is great to see that not everyone is biased, scared to lose Nvidia's press support, and sacrificing their own readers just to get some more hits. Great work for this deeply and fully detailed review.

Jan 23, 2007, 06:47 PM	#10
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,267 Rep Power: 3150	Well I don't think the review could really be classed as an attack on nvidia, after all, all three SLI solutions got our heavenly hardware gold award which is a rating of 95%+ - we also gave the XFX 8800 card in single setup a gold award in a prior review - the 8800 hardware is simply untouchable right now. We just have concerns with the motherboards we received and the original state of drivers and support at release date - something that very few sites seemed to document...... This somewhat delayed our article, however we feel to release a review on the hardware when we originally received it would have been quite unethical. we would rather delay it as long as we needed to give a more accurate analysis. I think we have pissed off both major players over the last year or so as we tend to just say it as it is, rather than play any PR games. If anyone cuts us off, thats fine because we certainly wont be ignoring issues we find to appease any company, we will wait and just buy the samples (which we have done before). We are here for you guys, no one else. Ill let stu handle the questions on the review, thanks.

Jan 23, 2007, 07:07 PM	#13
REGENERATION DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 59 Rep Power: 0	The G80 is really great – I fully agree on it. But not everyone is providing the full angles like you did it in this review. Personally, I think they rushed out with their G80 because of the competition with ATI/AMD and it caused some minor issues, but annoying issues (Software for example). Next time they should take it easy and make their product into a fully-ready product before they are launching it to the open market. However, I’m aware to the fact that some reviewers are a bit scared to lose Nvidia’s support, and some reviewers are interested in improving their Pricegrabber/Dealtime revenues and trying to avoid mentioning these small negative views. When I read your G80 SLI review, I felt the honesty, professionalism and dedication; So I had to tell you my positive feedback about it.

Jan 23, 2007, 07:33 PM	#16
SFOSOK -Thread Ender- Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Riverside, CA (right next to the f*ckin train) Posts: 6,873 Rep Power: 48 System Specs	It was an awesome review but there was one thing I did not like about the charts. From chart to chart more than one variable was being changed. Like lets say OC of the CPU and goin from 6AA to 16AA. I was not able to see the impact of 16AA without the OC nor the OC at 6AA. The pictures look amazing and I'm very glad to have it included in the review and even though the vids are 100mb, it is the users choice to watch them. __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Jan 24, 2007, 09:03 AM	#22
BWX Spinal Tapped Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,573 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	Cool.. I don't do SLI either.. For me I would rather just get the fastest single card available. I'll look out for that review. __________________ One Big Ass Mistake America

Jan 25, 2007, 07:45 AM	#23
bug77 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: around Posts: 792 Rep Power: 0	Nicely done. But it really shows that SLId 8800s are for people who need 1920 res AND full AA. Not very many I'd guess... Long live my 7900GS.

Jan 28, 2007, 08:48 AM	#24
Datagg Back To ATI Join Date: May 2003 Location: Mesa,AZ Posts: 292 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Veridian3, I would love to hear your opinions, or perhaps a review on my MoBo..Its a Gigabyte GA-M59SLI-S5. You do such great reviews, I would love to here your opinion on this Mobo and how it works with my New 8800GTS and my new X2 5200 on its way early next week. Thank you __________________ --- i7-920 @3.8 CORSAIR XMS3 6GB(3 x 2GB) 2 4870 X2's CrossFireX VelociRaptor Asus P6T Deluxe Thermaltake toughpower 1200 Vista 64 Ultimate