Maximum PC

So im planning on getting an 8800gt and was wondering one thing. Do you guys think i will see noticeable performance difference between 650Mhz and 700Mhz or 670Mhz and 700mhz. Thanks!


Rift

I'd personally say buy the cheaper, normally clocked version and then overclock it yourself. The differences aren't going to be huge, no. Maybe 5-10 frames per second on a good overclock.

From what I've seen, manufacturers like EVGA, which is the company I recommend you go with for video cards, are using the stock coolers on their overclocked parts. So this means you'd have little heat induced problems with moderate overclocks to match the higher priced cards.

Damn that was fast! =) Alright that makes sense, so depending on the card if i got a stock 600mhz 8800gt i could potentially OC it around 50mhz depending on how willing the card is? Also what do you think about XFX? EVGA was def my first choice but iv heard good things in the past about XFX as well. I'm also coming from a BFG 7800gtx atm.

XFX isn't too bad either. I've not owned one of their cards for some years now. EVGA I've had dealings with on different levels and their customer service, should you need it, is top notch. I've bought EVGA exclusively for the last 3 years now and have never been disappointed.

qSoooooooooo i got the 8800 GT 512 superclocked for 280 with free shipping! i couldn't find the stock clocked card anywhere and the price was not a huge difference that i just went with this card. I do have one questions if i need to get an after market cooler are there any recommendations or is the Zalman VF1000 pretty much the best?

Rift

You dont have to buy a New cooler, if you don't want to. You can buy a slot fan instead. It will suck all the hot air out.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835114024
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811999154

Hey thats not a bad idea didn't think about that at all, thanks for the pointer!

your welcome, that's what i'm here for. I wouldn't want to screw around modifying a nice graphics card.

Either that, or use Rivatuner to crank that fan up full blast, like I did... That has some effect.
It might sound like a Dustbuster, as I said, but at least it's better than a total replacement of the cooler...

If you do decide on a cooler, the Accelero S1 seems to be a favorite. It's anywahere from $19-$24.

If you had a fan, that'll cost an extra $4-$8 (twin fan module)

The S1 idle/load for me is 38C/48C (ambient room temp 24C)

Wow thats an intense cooler, and the fan option is nice. Altho they don't show the GT noise lvls the ones for the HD card are pretty nice.

Thats a nice slot cooler - one fan blowing in air while the other acts as an exhaust.

What I have on mine is the Vantec slot cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835888112

I removed the pci slot cover directly underneath it so it can pull air from outside.

so far this setup keeps my 8800gt at 48c on idle and 60c on load.

Which do you think is better guys? A slot fan or a slot exhaust?

Well, seeing as tho I have a nice, roomy case, and cranked all the fans to full blast, GPU stock fan, CPU stock fan, case fans, PSU fan etc... I was able to keep my 8800GT at around 44c - 46c idle, and maybe 60 -75c load. Probably the best I've seen yet, of course, that all depends on how accurate Speedfan happens to be...

Just got my 8800 GT SC and dayum its a night and day difference from the 7800 gtx. One thing i don't like about it tho is that the new bios that is supposed to fix the fan issue dose but its not aggressive enough it doesn't ramp up the fan high enough sometimes. I got myself rivatuner and set the fan to about 60% and im getting 46c idle and i can barley hear the fan going. Once i start going higher like 70+ you can def start to hear a difference tho. I also did some OCing and manage to get the core to 720core 2040memory and with these settings i get about 66-68c on full load. Gonna mess with it some more later tonight and see what else i can get out of it. So far this is an amazing price to performance card, and with the step up ill be able to upgrade when the new series card comes out if i want too assuming it comes out within the 3 months.


Rift

Iv been messing around alot with this card and it just occurred to me, im curious is there a general rule for over clocking the shader? Iv been slowly increasing the mem and core and ruining tests to see the temp and how stable the card run, riva tunner has the shader and core linked but im curious if theres a benefit to overclocking them separately?


Rift

slot exhaust. the slot fan just moves the hot air to another area in the case.
The exhaust sucks hot air and blows it out of the case.

I was originally gonna consider a slot fan/exhaust combo myself, but now that I have a nice case with fans cranked full blast, I'm starting to think one of those are unnecessary... The airflow must be better in that case than I originally thought...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835103017

What does sucking case air out do, and how does it help the card? It's a patch fix for a bad scenario. Shouldn't have a hot case. Fix the case fan situation, cabling, placement, and then this slot cooler does nothing. It just moves the same temp air out that the card sucks in.

The cards are sold to the masses with different clocks, not us forum goers. We know that same 600Mhz card can do 640Mhz for free. Pay attention to XFX though. They pick good cores and put good memory on their boards. If you see a 625Mhz model in stock, buy it and play away. It's not for the added 25Mhz, but for the hardware on that specific series of cards. That free overclocking just goes a tad further. XFX has these types of special cards in each run...and the geeks fighting for them make them hard to get in their mitts.

Green is reference, just like everyone else. Black has some perks, and within these black boards lies the good board. This is the YDQ4, noted also with the larger fan. (Not sure if the trend is really set, but there's AlphaDog, Ultra Dog, and the Yapping dog. UT's and YD's are more often wearing black. Just an observation.)

Just figured id add this for anyone who cares my final clocks on the card were 740/1750/950 i left the ram alone because overclocking it didn't do much and iv read around that pushing it past 2ghz will cause damage in the long run, the interface apparently can't handle it long term. Anyways these clocks have been atitool artifact tested and iv played games without a hitch as well. I see some fps gains here and there so im still debating if its even worth it to put the extra pressure on the card.


Rift