Page 1 - Introduction

NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 series GPU'sThe "dawn" of a new era... the most programmable graphics cards to date.

• GeForce 8800 GTX 768 MB NVIDIA Reference (priceless)
• GeForce 8800 GTX 768 MB Sparkle Technology (599 USD)
• GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB BFG Technology (449 USD)

Project Codename G80 - building a Unified architecture.

Hey guys and girls, if the last videocard you bought was a GeForce 6600 or even something from the FX series, you've come a long way and congratulations for holding out. As you know much has and is changing in the technology sector. The crazy things we see lately are really something else. We moved from single graphics card solutions to SLI, Quad-SLI, Crossfire and nowadays hardware accelerated physics in games. Chances are high that a year and a half ago you had a single core processor in your PC. If you have bought a new CPU or PC in the past year, chances are quite good that you have a dual-core X2 AMD processor. The really lucky ones however were able to buy a Intel Conroe Core 2 Duo processor and are laughing their asses off due to price versus performance of that fantastic processor. And last but not least, just announced by Intel, are the first quad core processors. If that isn't enough change for you then think about Windows Vista and the imminent release of DirectX 10, which has written two words all over it: Unified Shader Technology and Shader Model 4.0 (Ed: that's more then two words isn't it?) (Hilbert: oh shut up .. I wanted to go for Unified and Shaders .. I got sidetracked man !). As stated, exciting times for sure as there are all kinds of new technology upon us and as a rule that means better performance, better quality and obviously more candy for the eyes.

In all that diversity of new hardware and software obviously the first generation DirectX 10 graphics cards are being released. And this is where we land at NVIDIA's Headquarters today. At the time of writing the introduction to this article I'm on a plane and on my way to NVIDIA as the technology they are releasing today is so complex that they have invited a hand full of journalists for a technology briefing on the two to be released DX10 compatible graphics cards today.

The specs leaked weeks ago and were pretty accurate and since we are on the topic of leaking information may I just throw my middle finger towards news-site Dailytech? I do not understand that a liaison news-site from Anandtech constantly is getting away with posting NDA material including performance results. DT, you guys show no respect to this industry, you guys are lower than the Inquirer for which I at least have some level of respect.

Back on topic, the two cards are as speculated the 640MB GeForce 8800 GTS and the big pappa graphics card called the GeForce 8800 GTX that comes with no less than 768MB memory. So how does the new and current GeForce product line shape up? Have a look:

• GeForce 8800 GTX - $599
• GeForce 8800 GTS - $449
• GeForce 7950 GT - $299
• GeForce 7900 GS - $199
• GeForce 7600 GT - $159
• GeForce 7600 GS - $129
• GeForce 7300 GPUs - <$99

What we'll do today is extensive. If you do not like or are not interested in high-level information regarding GPU mArchitecture I strongly suggest you skip the upcoming pages as we'll be tailoring to the geeks for sure about the new technology, features, DX10, obviously about the products, do a photo-shoot after which we'll put the new cards to the test with our standard benchmark suite. We'll also dive into a little CPU scaling with the new graphics cards and then finally, our Verdict.

So there's lots to do and lot's to say. Today we'll test no less than three G80 products, the NVIDIA Reference sample GeForce 8800 GTX, a Sparkle GeForce 8800 GTX and we'll also test a GeForce 8800 GTX as submitted by BFG Technology.

You better get comfy, next page please, let's get this party started and in advance let me apologize for the humble amount of 27 pages filled with information you are about to read (Ed: I don't forgive you. =P)!