I think I'm going to get the MSI 8800GT

xColdSteelx

Member
Nov 22, 2007
25
0
0
Well, I think I've narrowed down my choice of 8800GT to this one from Newegg. It is slightly overclocked and with the rebate it's just too good to pass up. I just wonder about that weird copper pipe cooler. Not sure if it's all show and no go or what. No big deal if it doesn't work too well. I can always crank up the fan speed with NVtune.

 

xColdSteelx

Member
Nov 22, 2007
25
0
0
Yeah, the gigabyte was actually my first choice but for about $50 less I think the MSI is a decent alternative.
 

toadeater

Senior member
Jul 16, 2007
488
0
0
Originally posted by: xColdSteelx
Yeah, the gigabyte was actually my first choice but for about $50 less I think the MSI is a decent alternative.

Gigabyte, MSI, Palit*, and ECS have all turned out to be good or great. The Asus with the custom cooling not so great. There is no longer any reason to buy a card with the stock cooler and put up with 90c temps. If you bought a card with the stock cooler and you are sitting there wondering why you are BSODing, I suggest you sue the **** out of Nvidia. :p

* Not sure if Palit has an RMA office in the US or not, but they are a good brand (Gainward).
 

xColdSteelx

Member
Nov 22, 2007
25
0
0
Originally posted by: toadeater
Originally posted by: xColdSteelx
Yeah, the gigabyte was actually my first choice but for about $50 less I think the MSI is a decent alternative.

Gigabyte, MSI, Palit*, and ECS have all turned out to be good or great. The Asus with the custom cooling not so great. There is no longer any reason to buy a card with the stock cooler and put up with 90c temps. If you bought a card with the stock cooler and you are sitting there wondering why you are BSODing, I suggest you sue the **** out of Nvidia. :p

* Not sure if Palit has an RMA office in the US or not, but they are a good brand (Gainward).

The MSI I linked to does not have a stock cooler setup. According to this review it's a Zalman VF1000 cooler.
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
0
Originally posted by: xColdSteelx
Originally posted by: toadeater
Originally posted by: xColdSteelx
Yeah, the gigabyte was actually my first choice but for about $50 less I think the MSI is a decent alternative.

Gigabyte, MSI, Palit*, and ECS have all turned out to be good or great. The Asus with the custom cooling not so great. There is no longer any reason to buy a card with the stock cooler and put up with 90c temps. If you bought a card with the stock cooler and you are sitting there wondering why you are BSODing, I suggest you sue the **** out of Nvidia. :p

* Not sure if Palit has an RMA office in the US or not, but they are a good brand (Gainward).

The MSI I linked to does not have a stock cooler setup. According to this review it's a Zalman VF1000 cooler.

Looks like a very nice 8800GT to me, and I've never had a problem with several MSI motherboards and graphics cards I've owned.

The cooler looks great- a good buy for sure.
 

Hans Gruber

Platinum Member
Dec 23, 2006
2,505
1,345
136
I ordered my MSI 8800gt before they went out of stock. After getting screwed by Dell with the original stock card they never had, I feel better now. It arrives Thursday.
 

will889

Golden Member
Sep 15, 2003
1,463
5
81
Looks like a very nice older 7900GTX cooling type setup -- the card looks great to me.
 

dingetje

Member
Nov 12, 2005
187
0
0
i would think heatsinks on the memory chips are nice to have.... do any of the 8800gt with nonstandard cooling solutions have that?
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
Originally posted by: xColdSteelx
The MSI I linked to does not have a stock cooler setup. According to this review it's a Zalman VF1000 cooler.

That's not the exact same cooler as the one in the Newegg pictures.

Originally posted by: will889
Looks like a very nice older 7900GTX cooling type setup -- the card looks great to me.

Exactly what I thought when I saw it. My 7900GTO runs nice and cool, and really quiet with one of those.

I own two of the "normal" MSI 8800GT cards (from Dell, mine shipped 3 weeks ago or so) and while they work fine, if I had to choose all over again I would have gotten... the ECS card. I'm looking at around $30/card to outfit mine with the Accelero coolers (not counting the turbo module) and the ECS card comes with them.
 

v8envy

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2002
2,720
0
0
My ECS 8800GT card arrived today. Unless UPS destroyed it I'll be playing with it as soon as I get home. You know I'll be posting my opinions as soon as I have some. =)

 

will889

Golden Member
Sep 15, 2003
1,463
5
81
Zap I have been eyeing that ECS card it has a nice passive cooler on and nice clocks and a standard return policy (no need to deal with ECS). Now the MSI also looks good so it's nice to see so many better cooling solutions now and even some of the ones the ones with reference heatsinks have slightly larger fans (eg Zolig and XFX models). Even though the Zolig only has a 3 year warranty it may be worth it as well because of all of the positive reviews about temps and quietness - which to me means that the fan ramping speeds (card bios related) and overall PCB/Cap/HSF implementation are good while still being a single slot solution.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
Originally posted by: v8envy
My ECS 8800GT card arrived today.

I'm jealous. I actually considered selling off one of my MSI cards and getting the ECS card for $200AR, but it sold out as I was considering.
 

xColdSteelx

Member
Nov 22, 2007
25
0
0
The MSI in back in stock at Newegg and is now $219, $199 with $20 rebate!

See original post for link to card.

 

frankie38

Senior member
Nov 23, 2004
677
0
0
I see that this card is a 2 slot design. I dont think I can fit it on my mobo. I have Asus matx mobo and every pci-e slot is occupado. that is even if I remove the 7600gt that is currently sitting in the pci-e16 slot there may not be enough space between the x16 slot and the x1 slot.

Has anyone had any luck with using this card on a matx mobo?
 

angry hampster

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2007
4,232
0
0
www.lexaphoto.com
Originally posted by: Zap


I own two of the "normal" MSI 8800GT cards (from Dell, mine shipped 3 weeks ago or so) and while they work fine, if I had to choose all over again I would have gotten... the ECS card. I'm looking at around $30/card to outfit mine with the Accelero coolers (not counting the turbo module) and the ECS card comes with them.

You can fit more than 1 card + accelero..and maybe turbo modules on your motherboard?
 

ManWithNoName

Senior member
Oct 19, 2007
396
0
0
Originally posted by: xColdSteelx

The MSI I linked to does not have a stock cooler setup. According to this review it's a Zalman VF1000 cooler.

The one pictured in NewEgg is using a different cooler as Zap said. One obvious diffrence is the VF1000 Review you linked to pictures the VRM are of the card with an elongated heatsink. The one on NewEgg has nothing.

Not trying to discourage you as the MSI 8800GT still looks like a good card for the price. Another good card for the price would be the Galaxy 8800GT which comes with a 3-phase power system and a heatpipe cooling design for $188 (after rebate) + $12.00 shipping.

http://www.ncixus.com/products...X/Galaxy%20Technology/
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
Originally posted by: angry hampster
You can fit more than 1 card + accelero..and maybe turbo modules on your motherboard?

Probably not. The two cards were for two different systems.