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EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC 640MB Review
November 12, 2007 |
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Summary: With 112 stream processors and supercharged 8800 GTX clock speeds, EVGA's e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC is the fastest GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB on the planet right now. But how does it perform against the GeForce 8800 GT and 8800 GTX? Find out in today's review!
 EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC 640MB Review | Page:: ( 1 / 18 )
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Other media outlets came to the same conclusion we did on the GeForce 8800 GT and the public overwhelmingly felt the same way as well: the GeForce 8800 GT sold out at all retail outlets online within hours of the GPU’s release. To this day GeForce 8800 GT cards are still very difficult to find in stock; as soon as a shipment of cards arrives it sells out almost instantly.
With the instant popularity of the GeForce 8800 GT, the question remains – why continue to offer the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB at all?
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It turns out that NVIDIA and their board partners had one additional trick up their sleeve for the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB. Rather than sticking with the original GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB specifications, which call for 96 stream processors running at 1.2GHz and a 500MHz graphics core, a second, more powerful GPU has been concocted that equips newer GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards with 112 stream processors – just like the GeForce 8800 GT.
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These newer generation GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards also ship with higher speeds than the original 8800 GTS. Both BFG and EVGA have announced cards built around this enhanced 8800 GTS GPU and they’re both clocked at speeds considerably higher than the original GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB specifications called for. The EVGA card is clocked significantly faster than the BFG board though, sporting 1.35GHz stream processors versus 1.2GHz on the BFG, as well as 1.8GHz memory (the memory on the BFG card is clocked at just 1.7GHz), so we were eager to see how it performed. If you want the fastest GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB card in the world, EVGA’s e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC is the obvious choice. Let’s take a closer look at the card…
| Board analysis | Page:: ( 2 / 18 )
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At first glance, EVGA’s e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC looks like nothing special, in fact it looks tamer than EVGA’s previous flagship GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB offering, the e-GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB KO w/ACS3 cooling. While the KO board has a menacing black ACS3 cooler covering the entire top of the board, as well as an additional heatsink directly underneath the GPU on the other side of the card, the faster e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC gets by with NVIDIA’s stock heatsink/fan cooling unit for the GeForce 8800 GTS. Physically, the board is basically a dead ringer for NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB reference board design.
If you didn’t look directly at the EVGA sticker on the back of the SSC card, you’d assume the e-GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB KO ACS3 was the faster board. EVGA really doesn’t do anything special to differentiate their e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC board from other GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards on the market from this perspective.
Fortunately it’s the inside that really counts when it comes to performance. Here, the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC is in a class of its own.
As we mentioned previously, as of right now the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC is the fastest GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB card in the world. EVGA clocks the board’s graphics core at 576MHz, that’s 1MHz higher than the 8800 GTX. Meanwhile the stream processors run at 1.35GHz, and the board’s memory at 900MHz (1.8GHz effective), these speeds are the same as the GeForce 8800 GTX.
The e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC distinguishes itself from other GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards with its higher clock speeds and additional stream processors. This gives the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC a performance edge over other GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards, and therefore allows it to compete more favorably with the GeForce 8800 GT in performance (the GeForce 8800 GT still boasts the highest clocks of any GeForce GPU short of an Ultra). Obviously since it’s still based on NVIDIA’s G80 GPU, the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC will consume more power than the GeForce 8800 GT, and the board obviously relies on NVIDIA’s dual-slot cooling whereas the GeForce 8800 GT is equipped with a single-slot cooler. In the minds of HTPC users, these features will always give the GeForce 8800 GT an advantage over the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC (especially since G80 doesn’t support HDCP over dual-link DVI), but with its wider memory interface, the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC should outperform the GeForce 8800 GT in situations with high levels of AA/AF, especially as you increase the screen resolution. Under these situations memory bandwidth plays a greater role in the graphics card’s performance.
We’ll see exactly how the situation plays itself out in our performance benchmarks later in this article.
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SLI
With its unique configuration of stream processors, we asked NVIDIA what would happen if you combined EVGA’s e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC with a conventional GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB card with 96 stream processors. According to NVIDIA “In the case of using 1 96 SP board with 1 112 SP board in SLI configuration, the 112 SP board will still run with 112 SPs enabled, but given most apps use an AFR mode for SLI scaling, the real world SLI performance you will see in most cases will be similar to the performance of 2 96 SP boards.”
So basically the EVGA card would run with all 112 stream processors enabled, but it would perform closely to a conventional GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB SLI setup.
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Packaging and Accessories
EVGA ships the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC with a pretty nice bundle. Inside the box you’ll find a copy of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars on DVD-ROM. Quake Wars just came out last month (you can read our review here), so this is a really new game. Also included in the box is a driver CD, manual, power adapter, S-Video cable, component video cable, and two DVI adapters.
| Test Systems | Page:: ( 3 / 18 )
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System Setup
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800
EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard
2GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
ForceWare 169.04
300GB Western Digital Caviar SE
Windows Vista 64-bit
Benchmarks
Company of Heroes 1.71 (running DX9)
F.E.A.R. 1.08
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Call of Duty 4 Demo
Half-Life 2 Episode Two
Lost Planet DX9
World in Conflict
Unreal Tournament 3 Demo
Crysis Demo
Notes
With the release of AMD’s RV670 merely days away, we’re focusing on the performance of NVIDIA’s GeForce cards in this article. Once RV670 launches you can rest assured we’ll have benchmarks with AMD’s full Radeon HD lineup compared against the latest GeForce cards.
| F.E.A.R. Performance | Page:: ( 4 / 18 )
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| F.E.A.R. Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | GeForce 8800 Ultra | 51 | 242 | | GeForce 8800 GTX | 48 | 216 | | GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB | 32 | 142 | | GeForce 8800 GT | 35 | 170 | | EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC | 38 | 176 | |
| Company Of Heroes DX9 | Page:: ( 5 / 18 )
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| Company of Heroes Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | GeForce 8800 Ultra | 58.8 | 294 | | GeForce 8800 GTX | 54.1 | 250.2 | | GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB | 39.1 | 171 | | GeForce 8800 GT | 46.6 | 209.4 | | EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC | 45.5 | 192 | |
| Oblivion | Page:: ( 6 / 18 )
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| World In Conflict | Page:: ( 7 / 18 )
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| HL2 Episode 2 | Page:: ( 8 / 18 )
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| UT3 4xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 9 / 18 )
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| Enemy Territory: Quake Wars | Page:: ( 10 / 18 )
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| Lost Planet DX9 | Page:: ( 11 / 18 )
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| Call Of Duty 4 | Page:: ( 12 / 18 )
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| Call of Duty 4 Performance 1600x1200x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | GeForce 8800 Ultra | 45 | 98 | | GeForce 8800 GTX | 41 | 91 | | GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB | 33 | 65 | | GeForce 8800 GT | 37 | 75 | | EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC | 38 | 80 | |
| BioShock DX9 4xAA/16xAF | Page:: ( 13 / 18 )
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| Crysis DX9 0xAA/0xAF | Page:: ( 14 / 18 )
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Crysis – Direct3D
| Crysis Performance 1280x1024x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | GeForce 8800 Ultra | 27.3 | 54 | | GeForce 8800 GTX | 27.4 | 49 | | GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB | 13.3 | 34.4 | | GeForce 8800 GT | 19.8 | 44 | | EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC | 20.1 | 43.3 | |
| Crysis DX9 2xAA/8xAF | Page:: ( 15 / 18 )
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Crysis – Direct3D
| Crysis Performance 1280x1024x32 | | Card | Min FPS | Max FPS | | GeForce 8800 Ultra | 16.8 | 45.3 | | GeForce 8800 GTX | 23.7 | 40.5 | | GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB | 17.2 | 29 | | GeForce 8800 GT | 18.2 | 34.2 | | EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC | 19 | 35.6 | |
| 16xCSAA/Overclocking | Page:: ( 16 / 18 )
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| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 17 / 18 )
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Pros
112 Stream Processors: Unlike conventional GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards which ship with 96 stream processors, the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC is equipped with 112 stream processors, just like the GeForce 8800 GT. This significantly increases the board’s fill rate, making it much more competitive with the 8800 GT. In fact the EVGA card outperformed the GeForce 8800 GT in the bulk of our tests.
Supercharged Clock Speeds: EVGA overclocks their e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC from the factory, running the stream processors at 1.35GHz, memory at 1.8GHz, and the graphics core at 576MHz. These speeds are comparable to NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GTX GPU, giving the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC added punch over conventional GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards. In fact, the card is clocked higher than BFG’s GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB EE OC, which also has 112 stream processors.
EVGA warranty/support: EVGA backs their card’s up with one of the best warranties in the business. As you probably know, EVGA’s cards are backed by a lifetime warranty, this means you’re covered if something happens to your card 1 year from now, or 5 years from now. Say for instance a fan fails, with EVGA’s lifetime warranty, you’re covered.
The warranty is quite extensive as well, covering everything except physical damage to the card. This means you can’t void your card’s warranty by overclocking or by mounting a third-party cooler on the card (provided the board or GPU isn’t physically damaged in the process). EVGA also has a history of providing great support to their end users, they actively monitor their forums, and provide a toll-free 24/7 tech support line if you run into problems.
Step up: EVGA’s Step-up program allows EVGA customers to trade-in their existing EVGA graphics card for the latest and greatest model available, as long as the upgrade occurs within 90 days of the initial card purchase. EVGA customers simply pay the difference between the two cards to complete the transaction.
This allows prospective EVGA owners to purchase a faster graphics card if the original doesn’t meet their needs (say for instance, your bonus at work comes in and you decide to Step-Up to an EVGA 8800 GTX), or upgrade if NVIDIA introduces newer technology. The only downside to Step-Up is that you can only use it once, so you should use it wisely.
Game bundle: The e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC ships with a copy of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars inside the box. Quake Wars was just recently released and earned an 83% score in our review last month. This is a nice bonus EVGA includes with all of their SSC cards.
Price in relation to GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB: In relation to other GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB graphics cards, EVGA’s e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC is priced very competitively. The GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB now carries an MSRP of $350, which is $50 less than its MSRP one month ago. Meanwhile the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC sells for an MSRP of $400, that’s just $50 more than a bone stock GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB.
Considering that the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC includes the additional stream processors as well as the faster clock speeds, plus a free copy of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, EVGA’s $400 MSRP for the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC is very competitive! The game alone sells for $50 at retail right now.
Among the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB cards on the market right now, the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC is clearly the best value. Newegg currently sells the card for $389.99 with a $30 mail-in rebate knocking the price down to just $359.99.
Cons
Price in relation to GeForce 8800 GT: With GeForce 8800 GT cards selling anywhere from $250-$300 and delivering performance levels that are similar to the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC, you can argue that the 8800 GT is a better overall value, particularly if you need the GT’s more robust video processor or value its power efficiency.
Faster G92 cards on the way?: Rumor has it that NVIDIA plans to release G92 variants that are faster than the GeForce 8800 GT in the coming weeks. If these rumors are true, G80 cards like the GeForce 8800 GTX and EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC won’t remain on top of NVIDIA’s graphics lineup much longer.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 18 / 18 )
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 would likely outrun the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC. Considering that the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB starts at $250 – roughly $150 less than the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC – it’s clearly the better overall value if you’re on a budget.<br>
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Clearly this isn’t EVGA’s fault, by clocking the board as high as they did (GTX speeds) they’ve done all they can to make the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC into a contender. The problem is they have to walk a fine line where the board needs to best the 8800 GT without coming too close to the performance of the 8800 GTX.<br>
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Based on our performance benchmarks it looks like they’ve accomplished that mission admirably, but with the SSC’s $400 price tag and faster G92 cards rumored to be on the way shortly, we have to wonder if it was all worth it.<br>
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Fortunately this is where EVGA’s excellent Step Up program comes in. If a faster G92 card is released by NVIDIA in the next 3 months, e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC card owners always have the option of trading up to the faster card thanks to EVGA’s Step Up program. Think of it as a down payment on a shiny new GeForce 8900. Step Up is yet another reason why we’re big fans of EVGA’s graphics cards.<br>
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When you combine the strong performance of the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC card with EVGA Step Up and the card’s free copy of Quake Wars, you can see that EVGA has put together an excellent package for right around $400. For another $100 though, you could combine two EVGA GeForce 8800 GT cards together for SLI and have a graphics setup that would whip the e-GeForce 8800 GTS SSC…<br>
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Now do you see why we’re so conflicted?<br>
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<table width=100%><tr><td align=right><span class=small>© Copyright 2003 FS Media, Inc.</span></td></tr></table>
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