My 8800 GTS vs 7900 GTX comparison (28 games tested, new settings added!)

[Shamrock]

BFG, may be my lowly 3200+ CPU bottlenecking

 

[Cookie Monster]

BFG would you mind becnhmarking with 16xAA etc?

Or the highest playable settings you can use? therefore one benchmark your using 16xAA with TRSSAA while another is 8xQ CSAA.

I think it will behelpful because many dont realise that 16xAA is similiar to 4xAA in terms of performance hit.

 

[Acanthus]

Great testing BFG, im thinking CPU limited on some of those tests showing negative gains, im sure theres lots of room for future optomization too.

I still want a 65nm G80

But i really am waiting for the 80nm 8900 series (its pretty much inevitable).

 

[BFG10K]

BFG would you mind becnhmarking with 16xAA etc? Or the highest playable settings you can use?

If I have time I'll add a "best playable" column for the G80 and I'll benchmark the settings I actually use in gaming.

 

[josh6079]

Of the games tested, were their any distracting graphical rendering errors?

 

[RussianSensation]

Nice benches but overall I think GTS is a very disappointing card for its $400 price. In a lot of tests like COD2 and FEAR it barely outperforms X1950XT. The $299 320mb version of GTS sounds like it would be a far better value for the consumer. Normally a $400 next gen card close to doubles the performance. The GTX version is outstanding though.

 

[Sureshot324]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Nice benches but overall I think GTS is a very disappointing card for its $400 price. In a lot of tests like COD2 and FEAR it barely outperforms X1950XT. The $299 320mb version of GTS sounds like it would be a far better value for the consumer. Normally a $400 next gen card close to doubles the performance. The GTX version is outstanding though.

They can charge what they want since it's the only dx10 card.

 

[imported_RedStar]

"They can charge what they want since it's the only dx10 card. "
Bah you say

1st ..the direct X 10 card did not hit the 1000$ cdn price point that a certain card did last year when it was released.

2nd... there are no direct x 10 games for another few months yet.
So, these 8800 cards are competing against cards like the previous mainstream powerhouses.

the 7900gt was released for 430$ cdn... the 8800 gts just a touch more for a ton more performance.

Sure there is a price premium as they came in over MSRP for 2 reasons common to most launches. ...people want them and there was limited supply.

edit: look at the gtx price now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143075
540$ !! This -20$ is what the gts is in cdn dollars argh
370$ for an evga 8800 gts!! grrr!!

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Extraction Point's code was tweaked, giving it more FPS...at I get more with my 7900GT roughly 8-10fps more

I'm not seeing that - benchmark runs are identical while actual gameplay is much harder on the GPU than the original Fear.

Its the fact the maps are much larger and seem to have more dynamic lighting. In levels that are similar sized I think you could get better performance than original FEAR

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Nice benches but overall I think GTS is a very disappointing card for its $400 price. In a lot of tests like COD2 and FEAR it barely outperforms X1950XT. The $299 320mb version of GTS sounds like it would be a far better value for the consumer. Normally a $400 next gen card close to doubles the performance. The GTX version is outstanding though.

They're just capitalizing on the lack of competition. A 7800gt was also barely faster than a x850xt pe when it launched, but for $400 it sure sold well. Except in this case I think NV crippled the gts too much compared to the gtx. Not even an OC'd gts can match a stock gtx in majority of the benches I've seen.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

BFG would you mind becnhmarking with 16xAA etc? Or the highest playable settings you can use?

If I have time I'll add a "best playable" column for the G80 and I'll benchmark the settings I actually use in gaming.

Thanks!

Cant wait for the results. Hope you got time

 

[n7]

Nice review, especially seeing all those old skool games

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: munky
NV crippled the gts too much compared to the gtx. Not even an OC'd gts can match a stock gtx in majority of the benches I've seen.

Yup. My guess is that TSMC's 90nm process is as mature as can be, so the majority of chips are hitting similar target speed. NV had to differentiate GTX from GTS to sell, since everybody overclocking GTS to GTX level for the same performance isn't the most desirable scenario for their profit. Of course if there was an alternative from AMD, the situation could have been different. Kinda similar to Intel's 4MB L2 CPUs vs 2MB L2 CPUs.

 

[MichaelD]

Great job, BFG10K. :thumbsup:

That was a lot of work, I'm sure. Your review is helping me make up my mind whether to purchase a 8800GTS or not.

Being that I don't game above 1280x1024, a GTX would be overkill, but I'd like to be able to play Oblivion with everything maxxed, including AA and my 7900GTO doesn't quite cut it for that.

Still thinking about the upgrade.

 

[gregor7777]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
I hope you find it interesting.

Click.

Nice work, love the old game comparisons also.

 

[BFG10K]

Of the games tested, were their any distracting graphical rendering errors?

Call of Duty 2 has randomly flashing black lightning during the Hill 400 mission (and possibly other missions too).

Cookie Monster, I have added new scores using new AA modes. I hope you find them interesting. :thumbsup:

 

[potato28]

No Oblivion test? Aw... Other than that, it's good you tested older games too

 

[BFG10K]

Sorry, I don't have Oblivion.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Of the games tested, were their any distracting graphical rendering errors?

Call of Duty 2 has randomly flashing black lightning during the Hill 400 mission (and possibly other missions too).

Cookie Monster, I have added new scores using new AA modes. I hope you find them interesting. :thumbsup:

Thanks! reading it now.

edit - this is why im just impressed. Able to play most (new/old) games at high res using 8xQ/16xAF. (adding in TRAA for D3D games).

Then we have the 8800GTX able to handle even higher AA.

BFG if you still play doom3/quake4 you should check out the 3mood mod. Newer version of the mod enables better performance and IQ using MSAA/CSAA with the G80.

 

[BFG10K]

I have updated the games that were affected by driver issues in the first round of testing (see the update at the bottom of the original post).

I have also right justified everything which should make things easier to read.

I cannot add any new games to the list at this time, though I may add some new settings for existing games.

 

[Cookie Monster]

xS modes?

 

[BFG10K]

LOL, I knew you'd ask for those. Good stuff buddy. :thumbsup:

I'm still testing them but if I do put something up it'll be quite limited because 8xS doesn't currently function in OpenGL.

 

[MBrown]

Originally posted by: Shamrock
Extraction Point's code was tweaked, giving it more FPS...at I get more with my 7900GT roughly 8-10fps more

Not me. My performance is less with Extraction Point. I run my rig (see sig) 1680x1050 and it does that at 50fps.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
xS modes?

I was gonna say....it's BFG, wtf?

 

[Gstanfor]

Have some patience, I'm certain BFG will provide XS results soon. People are unwilling to wait for anything nowadays.