XFX GeForce 8800 GTS XXX 320 MB Video Card
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Fraps with Medieval II: Total War

Creative Assembly’s turn-based/real-time strategy hybrid features a graphics engine that the programmers rebuilt from the ground up.  In addition to higher quality graphics, the engine includes the ability to render different uniforms and facial expressions on individual units, greatly increasing the demands on the video card, especially in the middle of a fierce combat. 
To see how well the 8800 GTS handles these demands, I loaded a quick battle (Turks versus Papacy in the jungle, if you’re curious) and ran the combat for about five minutes, making sure to zoom down into large conflict areas whenever possible to get the greatest effect.  I had to change Antialiasing – Transparency to Multisampling to keep things running smoothly.  Here’s what I came up with:

  • Minimum frame rate: 15 fps
  • Maximum frame rate: 26.54 fps
  • Average frame rate: 59 fps
At 27 frames per second, the 8800 GTS XXX creates a very playable experience, especially offline, where you don’t need to worry about lag.  Sure, you won’t be at the absolute highest quality possible, but to be honest, I can’t really tell the difference when lowering the antialiasing transparency quality.  

Fraps with Battlefield 2142

EA’s most recent addition to the Battlefield universe is all about online gaming – and that means a high frame rate to avoid someone fragging you because you couldn’t react to fast enough.  Running the Belgrade map, I came up with the following results:
  • Minimum frame rate: 24 fps
  • Maximum frame rate: 73 fps
  • Average frame rate: 46.92 fps
Although XFX’s card scored lower than the Foxconn 8800 GTS I tested last month, the difference is minimal and probably due to the higher quality settings I used in the NVIDIA Control Panel.  Overall though, the average frame rate is so high that it doesn’t really matter – the 8800 GPUs will give you the highest quality image possible from Battlefield 2142 without slowing you down at all.

A view of the back of the card, with all of the circuits there to power your gaming dreams.


Conclusions

The GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB XXX from XFX has capabilities comparable to its higher-RAM big brothers at a price that puts it within consideration range for budget-minded consumers.  More importantly, since the GPU supports DirectX 10 and Windows Vista and costs less than buying two 7900-series cards for an SLI configuration at a better rate of performance, this card is now a smart buy for gamers looking to get the most bang for their buck.  If you’re looking for the best of the best, you still want an 8800 GTX, but it’s clear from looking at this card’s abilities that sometimes, less really is more.



Highs
Guaranteed higher performance out of the box than stock cards of the same chipset; Loss of RAM does not equal loss of performance; Makes the 8800 series an attractive choice to budget gamers for the first time.

Lows
Included game is a bit out of date; Package does not include DVI-to-analog converter.

Final verdict
A strong buy – this card compromises on price without compromising quality.

95%

Mar 14, 2007

Review by Eric Hanson.

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