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BFG Tech's Watercooled 8800GTX reviewed

bit-tech.net — I'm glad that someone has finally got round to reviewing this card - the cooling performance is absolutely awesome! Load temperature with the card heavily overclocked were lower than the idle temperatures using the default 8800 GTX cooler at stock speeds. Woah!

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bigz 1 year 246 days ago, made popular 1 year 245 days ago

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jman8888, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11i NEED THAT CARD....
- mazza558, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2If anyone has a really high-end card, and wants to see what kind of graphics their card is capable of, have a look at X3's Rolling Demo, with a benchmark feature. I envy someone who can run this demo at more than 60 fps, 1280x1024, all settings maxed.
- t0mmmmmmm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I NEED TWO OF THESE....
- NiGHTSChao, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4***** you, I'd go with Quad-SLI
  X'D
  
  or when the ATI Radeon R600 comes out, then Quad-Crossfire
Forumposter, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I wish I had this card ;D , mine fails very badly in comparison.
foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3In the Oblivion tests,
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/01/03/bfgtech_geforce_8800_gtx_watercooled/4.html
How did they get Anti-Aliasing AND High Dynamic Range on?
It doesnt let me. I have a eVGA 8800GTX too.

My specs are the same as the test setup except for the processor which is a e6600 OCed to the speed of the x6800.
But I get only about 44FPS at 1280x1024.
This is with only HDR on, not AA.
Thanks.

EDIT: From their article here, http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2006/03/31/elder_scrolls_oblivion/2.html
"Straight from the off, you'll spot a couple of things. The first, and possibly biggest issue, is that you cannot run HDR and Anti-Aliasing together, regardless of your hardware. No NVIDIA card, no ATI card on the market will do AA+HDR in this game. Which you pick, therefore, will depend on whether you can handle the frame rate impact of HDR or whether or not your card is man enough to handle a high resolution. We believe that it's better to have HDR in this game rather than AA, even at relatively low resolutions."
How did they get AA and HDR working????
- h4mx0r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You can probably force it on via Nvidia Control Panel. I'd usually just let the game use whatever it comes with, but for some hardware/hardcore geeks, they just force everything on if possible.
- MiDri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3ATI can do it, from what I have read about the AA and HDR thing is that it is a flaw in DirectX's implementation/certification system and that is why ATI's drivers that allow for both are not certified. Read up on the chuck driver (I am not sure if they have made one sense 6.8 or so)
  
  @h4mx0r -- Not sure how it works on nvidia drivers, but on ati you can't force HDR and if directx HDR is turned on aa is forced off in hardware.
  
  [edit]
  HL2 can use AA and HDR because valve does not use DirectX for the HDR effect...
- pathy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not having a 8800 I can't confirm, however...
  
  Originaly, the reason that HDR + AA wasn't avaliable in Oblivion was a limitation of the hardware, and a poor implementation of HDR, in my opinion atleast.
  
  The ATi X1x00 series COULD use HDR + AA, but it was required that ATi update their drivers. (Atleast I believe, this is all from memory.)
  
  The GeForce 8800s are now built in a way that they can operate FP HDR as well as AA at the same time, and thus it is possible for them to be enabled.
  
  Now, as a small suggested... Have you tried enabling the AA via the control panel, and disabling the application from controling the AA levels?
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So if I use the control panel to change AA to 8x, while enabling HDR through the game?
  The article says that nVidia and ATI cards cannot do both.
  "
  The GeForce 8800s are now built in a way that they can operate FP HDR as well as AA at the same time, and thus it is possible for them to be enabled.
  
  Now, as a small suggested... Have you tried enabling the AA via the control panel, and disabling the application from controling the AA levels?"
  
  I am gonna try that now, but you said that the 8800 allows it to be enabled, but I tried in-game and it didnt allow. Its sensible that they wouldnt allow both so they could claim that their game runs better at max
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Damn edit time. The benchmarks show you can do 8x AA, but the control panel only shows 4x AA. (Latest 8800 Drivers)
- Stevethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2WTF? Anyone with a 8800GTX forces AA to oblivion, I do too for one. 16xQuality AA is spectacular and it makes immense changes to the quality of the initial image. I can play my game, Max, 1280x1024, 16xQ AA, 16x AF, only I don't, since I have installed some pretty system taxing mods, so I decrease my AA to a "petty" 4x. I thought it is natural for everyone to have AA in this game if they have given such big bucks, nevermind. Forceware's control panel is your friend.
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Stevethegreat
  How did you get 16xQ AA? nVidia control panel limits me to 2xQ AA or 4x AA
- Stevethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Download nTune it will most probably help
  http://www.nvidia.com/object/ntune_5.05.18.00.html
  
  nHancer is also a great alternative
  http://www.nhancer.com/
ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2This card alone costs more than the Xbox 360. Considering that it can do pretty much the same types of graphics, why bother? I'll wait until it costs at most HALF as much as a game console.
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Same type of graphics? Are you ***** kidding me?
  The 8800 series can do way more than the 360. The only reason consoles generally look nicer is because all consoles use more or less the exact same hardware, allowing more specialization of software to fit the hardware needs. PC games needed to be coded to fit all 1,000,000,000+ combinations of hardware. Consoles are usually 1, maybe 2 combinations.
- goat2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+88800 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> xbox 360 in every way shape and form.
  
  it rapes it, pretty much same types of graphics my ass
- treyd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"The world doesn't move to the beat of just one drum. And the 8800's drum is a whole hell of lot louder."
- ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1It doesn't matter what it can TECHNICALLY do. The fact is, there are no PC games now (or in the near future) that can't be done on the Xbox 360 up to the same quality. All of the most graphics-intensive games that will need this card are being ported to the 360 for this reason (Alan Wake, Crysis, etc).
  
  Or, to put it simply:
  
  This graphics card has been out for a few months now. Name ONE PC game that has better graphics than Gears of War.
- selectodude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2ilyag: Unreal Tournament 2007
- sbbath, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1lol crysis is coming out for the PC and UT2007 and GoW use the same engine so of course they are the same
- edzieba, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3360 can render at 1280x720, and maybe 1920x1080 if you push it and turn down the detail. The 8800GTX runs at 1920x1200 no problem, and with a little AA reduction runs at 2560 x 1600. Blows the 360 (and PS3) out of the water.
- mitrovarr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The 8800 is great if you prefer computer games to console games. Most people care much more about getting the game genres they want, the right kind of controller, etc. than they do about relatively minor graphical differences. Certain gametypes are just better on the computer; FPS games, RTS games, MMORPGs, simulations, and American RPGs. If you want to play those kinds of games, the Xbox360 doesn't have much to offer you. Of course, it's got it's own genres; third-person games, sports games, fighting games, and a few others. If you play those, the computer isn't exactly an ideal platform.
  
  If you were just comparing graphics, then yes, GOW is probably the best looking game of any kind right now, but outside of that one case, PC games generally look better than console games. A lot of why GOW looks good has more to do with the artistic sense than the technical capabilities of the 360.
- ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1selectodude:
  
  Gears of War runs on the same engine as Unreal Tournament 2007, so neither one looks better than the other. Nice try, though.
  
  Anyone else?
- goat2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3sure, it runs on the same engine. but on the xbox360 the graphics are stuck at that preset. so ut2007 looks better. just because the games use the same engine doesnt mean they have the same graphics. thusly, you lose.
Catchpen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8..Wait til it cost half the price and people will buy 2 for SLI config and be wwwaaaayy ahead of the 360's graphics
baxtermaddux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If the sky and space and infinite galaxies are really just detailed illusions being created by God's computer servers, then this is the Video card he would use to run that computer
tigger1039, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I can't wait till I have two of them. Get like 500fps on BF2142 :D (not really but ya know)
- Barlo_Mung, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3500fps? I know you were joking but once you get above the refresh rate of your display, what's the point?
musntSurfatWork, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ATI will answer soon the the call of the 8800 with its 'R600" and the price war will begin again, and games will finally start to come coded in DirectX10, and those who bought the initial 8800 now, well, all I can say is thank you for breaking the ice in the market. But I'm personally not one to blow a wad on 1 device anymore, knowing what is coming 3 months from now. But you know what they say, one can wait forever! So true,
- MiDri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Don't jinx ATI! No one speak of the R600 before it comes out!
Anders, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2At a cool $780, I think I think I will get one. ( http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=326057 )

/sarcasm
Buffalo2007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0No doubt 8800 is great. Dell is planning to put this card in their XPS 710 black ice. But how loud is the regular card compare to water cooled one. This is one I'd be interested to know. I don't want to put something very loud on my living room because I'm tired of building loud computers for myself. I don't think I can do better insualtion then dell unless it's water cooled.
- bigz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1well, the default 8800gtx cooler makes "some noise" and I'm pretty sure the waterblock makes "no noise" ;)
uncle_jesse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I own this, but can't even run it because they don't support Vista!
digitallysick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1no vista support? wtf for 800 bux it better do a whole lot
stockjones, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Jesus I like to game, but some of you are just insane to spend that kind of money on a video card. I guess in sense you are paying for victory.
Lane, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1i have bit tech and their urge to change settings EVEN on the over clocking section of the review so you really cant see the difference over clocking was good for in a standard number. if you dont have the game to play around with how the hell should you know what differences the settings make Geeze...
SniperSlap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Linux drivers yet?
- mitrovarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yep. You can get them right off the Nvidia website. I doubt the packages available through the various distributions are ready yet, though.
  
  It's still a little bit tricky to get it working, because (at least in my case) the distribution wouldn't even run X before I got the proper drivers, but once they were installed, everything seems to be working great. Some things need a bit of extra tweaking (getting Beryl working was an ordeal) but so far everything I've wanted to use has worked. Performance seems to be great so far.
007bond, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0musnt surf at work is waiting 3 months for the r600 to come out, why? so He can buy it for $600, or buy the 8800 for half? Oh by the way buddy, its now 9 months since you posted that, so seems like a waste of time to me. Then what are you going to do when you here rumors for the r1000 or 9800 gtx, going to wait a "few" months again? u will wait your whole life that way, while I am having fun!!!
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BFG Tech's Watercooled 8800GTX reviewed

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