Customer Reviews

PNY XLR8 GeForce 8800 GT 512MB PCIe SLI-Ready Graphics Card VCG88512GXPB

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The 8800GT series of graphics cards are well-known for being a great price/performance buy, so I'll just say a few words about the PNY version in particular.

Pros: This is the 512MB version of the card, which does squeeze out a bit more speed and also makes it more future-proof. I believe it has a 3 year parts+labor warranty, plus 2 years parts only which is fair (but not topnotch).

Cons: Most important, it runs EXTREMELY hot. In my case it idles at 65 Celcius and reaches about 95 Celcius at load. Although these chips are designed to handle a lot of heat, I must imagine that this will lower the life expectancy of the card in general. Part of the issue with the heat problem is that many of the 8800GT cards that use the nVidia reference design have a fault in the firmware that causes the fan to run only at 29% and it does not ramp up as temperature increases. This can be overcome with a program such as Rivatuner, but I was disappointed that PNY didn't release a fixed firmware for a known issue. The card also comes with somewhat limited accessories (HDTV breakout box, 2 DVI-VGA adapters, molex to PCI-E adapter, manual).

I ordered this card back in early December and got it the day after X-Mas. Let me tell you, this card ROCKS! Bioshock, HL2:Ep2, Portal, Guitar Hero 3 are all running at 1920x1080 in all their smooth glory. (I have my PC hooked up to my 52" LCD tv.)

The only drawback is that it makes my computer run 10 degrees hotter, and I'm worried that it's going to make my power supply die out. OH YEAH... and this thing is REALLY long. So, make sure that your case can hold the thing. I had to move a couple of cables around to make this card fit in my micro atx case.

Otherwise, I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this card. If you wait, you will find it direct from Amazon at $249. There's no sense in paying $500 for the other 8800 models; you might as well just buy a PS3!!!

I pick this up as a upgrade from my nvidia 6800 and all I can say is wow. I know I am upgrading from two chip generations ago but it is still amazing the level of visuals. I have a Pentium 4 3.0GHz and 3 gigs of ram and this just pushed my system over the edge. Bioshock at max res and max settings, The Orange Box Maxed. I have not tried Crysis but there is not a game in my catalog that this card does not make amazing. Team Fortress II on max and getting over 30fps is great. I did not know what I was missing.

This card is amazing. Of course I went from a 7300GS to this, so there really isn't a comparison when going from a low end card. One warning to potential buyers. Make sure you have adequate cooling for this card. You will see through numerous reviews that this card runs very hot. Mine actually elevated my Case temperature high enough to set off CPU overheating alerts. I had to revamp my case cooling to accomodate this card. After that though, everything works flawlessly. Just makesure you have a case with ample cooling capablilty. Grid Racing looks amazing!!!

First, some background to set the stage. I am very fortunate in that I working in an R&D lab that has cutting edge computer equipment. My office workstation is a dual quad-core Intel box with two Dell 2407 monitors driven by a nVidia Quadro FX 4600. Using glxgears with both monitors at 1920 x 1200, I have a fps of 22,000 ... the Quadro FX 4600 is an awesome beast. I cannot be expected to come home and work on a machine much slower than the one that I have in the office, but my pockets are not as deep. My home machine is a dual Opteron 285 box with a Samsung 245BW and a Dell 2007WFP. I bought a nVidia Quadro FX 1500, which is a nice card, but my glxgears fps were around 15,000 and videos (wmv and flv) would often pixelate.

The 8800 GT has received rave reviews and with the moderate price, I thought that I would give it a try. I also purchased a Danger Den water block for the card since my home system is water cooled. The GPU temperature prior to the water block installation was 76 C in a room with ambient temperatures of 17.4 C. With the water block, the temperature decreased to 34 C.

The 8800 GT has impressed me. The screen colors are more vivid and sharp. My glxgear fps increased to 17,000 and changing desktops is a mere snap now. More importantly, flv movies look great!

Pros: sharp and vivid screen colors, very fast video response, single slot card with cooler, attractive appearance, great nVidia linux drivers.

Cons: I cannot think of a single con. I wish that the card was a little faster, but then when are we ever really satisfied?

Recommendation: If you want a great performer at a good price, then you definitely want to consider this card.

What a great look, richer looking colors than my old 1950 pro. This thing is very quiet and doesn't get too hot to be in my Dell 530. In fact it is idling at 35C and rarely reaches 50C (Core Temp) under load. This is with an Antec PS though, not stock PS. Anyway, this thing has a good amount of power and the price was right at $160 after MIR.

This is a mean video card, seriously the best one out on the market. Outperforms the 8800GTX which is $100+ more than this one.

Crysis: All on High
CoD4: All on High
Hellgate London: All on Max (80-100 FPS)
Tabula Rasa: Max Settings (80-100 FPS)

This is the best card out right now for the money, do yourself a favor and buy one of these!!

I was looking for a new video card to run UT3. I have a dual core AMD 2.5 w/2 gig of ram.

Just speaking of price, there is a 256mb version, a 512 version and then one with more memory than 512mb. The card that has more than 512mb sells for arounf 400 dollars right now,, and that is a little too much for my taste.. It is a video card, not a computer system.

Install was very easy, please read the complete instructions and not just the quick install, the quick install instructions leave out the need to plug the card into 2 dc power sources from your computer powersupply.

Over all, UT3 is ran at full detail, no lags or anything. Thank you PNY for this card.

Back in August I was sold on Folding@Home project and started donating CPU time and electricity. My machine was running 24x7 and everything went smooth. I escalated position in the donor scale very quickly thanks to the processing capabilities of an NVIDIA 9800GX2 and a quad core CPU. A month passed by and I was surprised by the increase in my power bill. I still wanted to contribute, but I did not like the idea of spending a little fortune in utility services. I stopped folding in my Gaming machine and started looking for a solution.

My second PC has a nice 2.6GHz dual core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 40GB hard disk, on-board video and 500W power supply. This machine is my Internet/download station and it would became perfect for folding at home PC after upgrading it with a new GPU.

To succeed I need a GPU (NVIDIA/ATI) that would give the most Folging@Home points for the power. After a little research I discovered that the cheapest and really powerful to use was a NVIDIA 8800GT. It has the G92 core, it uses only one 6 pin PCIe power and in Amazon this XLR8 had the best price around. ATI solutions are great video cards, but are not optimized for F@H number crunching.

Right now I'm running a couple of F@H clients, an NVIDIA GPU and a single tread CPU one. My contribution to this great project is still high,but my electricity bill was reduced.

I would recommend this card for game play such as flight sim.

The fan is loud, if you don't mind the fan being loud...go for it.