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Review: Inno3D GeForce 8800 GT 512MiB Overclock: the best one yet?

by Tarinder Sandhu on 30 November 2007, 09:56

Tags: GeForce 8800 GT Overclock, Inno3D

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Card appearance and thoughts



Inno3D distributes both reference and overclocked GeForce 8800 GT 512MiB cards.



The reference model operates at 600/1500/1800MHz frequencies for core, shader and memory, respectively. The cooler-looking Overclock version pushes those speeds up to 702/1674/2000MHz - a healthy performance boost for each performance-defining parameter.

We note, however, that those speeds are only available through a BIOS that's packaged in with the bundle. As it is, the card natively ships with 650/1500/1900MHz clocks and that's what most users will be content with.



Those clockspeed increases have been achieved by using the reference cooler, highlighting just how well the 65nm-based G92 GPU scales with little additional voltage. It's clear that NVIDIA was conservative in its core rating and has left the door open for its partners to indulge in special-edition models that offer significant performance boosts.

The single-slot-taking heatsink concurrently cools the 512MiB GDDR3 memory chips, too, and the fan noise is unobtrusive even when under 3D load. With an ambient temperature of 21°C the GPU idled at 57°C and rose to 81°C under load, we noted.

Architectural cost savings have been manifested via the 256-bit memory bus that plugs the memories to the GPU. That's no different here, of course.



The SLI finger hooks up two of these cards in multi-GPU mode, and the card-to-motherboard conduit has been upgraded to PCIe 2.0, doubling bandwidth on a x16 connector to 8GB/s in each direction.



Note the low profile of the card? The six-pin PCIe connector offers the 30W or so required above what's provided by the PCIe x16 slot.



Inno3D also markets iChiLL-branded cards that are shipped with gold-plated DVI connectors and customised cooling. This overclocked model does without that fanfare. The underlying architecture is sound enough not to require additional bells and whistles to sell it, frankly.

Both ports support dual-link DVI, as well as the pass-through of HDCP-protected content. The mini-DIN port is for video-out-only, we note.

Summary

Inno3D's GeForce 8800 GT 512MiB card lives up to its overclocked name thanks to healthy increases across the board (pun intended).