Nvidia kills 8800GTS 320MB, relaunches 640MB
We knew that Nvidia was planning to kill the 8800GTS 320MB in order to make room for the 65nm die-shrink that the world has come to know as G92.
But it turns out that you cannot order 320MB versions any more either, since it is being pronounced as an EOL (End of Life) product.
Next in line to go through a change is the 8800GTS 640MB, which is being tweaked up in order to live through the 512MB and 256MB versions of G92.
Nvidia decided to raise the specs by another 16 scalar shader units, so the 8800GTS will now feature 112 scalar shaders, 16 less than 8800GTX/Ultra. Clockspeeds remain the same, as do thermal and other specs.
But there are a lot of miffed Nvidia partners, crying foul over the situation. Imagine the surprise of AIBs that have thousands of printed retail boxes with old specs.
If Nvidia ever says that they're thinking about greening the Planet and all other environmental chit-chat manufacturers like to use these days, ask them about how many trees they killed with just this sudden announcement.. µ
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Oh yes let's blame Nvidia for destroying the rain forests now as if we're not aware you hate them enough already.
When are these scheduled to ship!

I went with a 8600GT to support DirectX10 development and I can barely sustain 30fps at medium detail 1280x1024 no AA, that is on a Core 2 Duo with 2 gig of ram.

At the time I couldn't justify £140 or so for the GTS, but after buying it I can't really justify the £80 for the GT.

You get a whole 10fps for anything DX10, and NVIDIA were kind enough to remove a query about the performance on the developer forums.

Obviously the 8xxx series is a flop where DX10 is concerned, much like the FX range.

blah blah blah! 



wibble wibble!
Just do what every one else does, slap a sticker on the box that says, "bonus free extra 16 scalar shader unit inside." Very simple and saves some more trees.
I've had an Inno3D 8800GTS 320MB card for a couple of months and have not been able to access anything like reasonable frame rates despite 2GB RAM & an E6600 (~7fps in Halo). There have been Inq articles on driver issues with the 8800GTS, but I'm getting bored of having to reinstall XP to "completely ensure" that the old drivers have gone.

I've now returned my card under warranty and I'll be considering my options. Is ATI any better?
+

Advertise the new specs,
put a Blaze Orange sticker on the outside of the box explaining the new performance increase.... and all is good!
Man what a bunch of babies...just make a sticker and put it on. They can always go to ATi if they really don't want to change something on their box...
OEMs can print up stickers, they've done it before. The sticker can say:

"This card is slightly better than the piece of crap we were going to sell you last month."

G92 will be a significant improvement over current cards. The only people who might be upset are those that just bought their 8800 GTS, or the DOA 8600 series.

Speaking of 8600--and 2600--those cards should legally not be called DX10 cards, because they can't run any DX10 game at reasonable FPS. They are DX9 cards with superficial DX10 "support", to perhaps push Vista's Aero dump truck along a little better.

Nvidia and ATI have both not yet released a suitable mainstream DX10 card. Perhaps G92 will be something suitable for moderate human beings that do not wish to spend an extra $300 on cooling products and a power supply.

The gamers that were conned into buying the refurbished 7900s and X1950s masquerading as 8600s and 2600s are going to need new cards to actually play a DX10 game without ripping their eyes out.

Face it kids, Nvidia and ATI are a duopoly and they've got you pwned. You're on a six-month planned obsolescence cycle. Such greed will eventually kill PC gaming.
8800GTS 320 was the first decent card in the lineup. Anything 8600 and lower wasn't worth buying if you wanted to play modern games...

For the person having problems with an 8800GTS, try the beta drivers. Perhaps your card is faulty, because my 8800GTS 320 flies, and I'm using Vista (32bit OEM).

So... nvidia is making a move that is gonna result in better, cheaper cards for customers? But is gonna cost the marketers a little bit extra money?

Screw the partners, nVidia is doing a service to consumers here. I am happy.

As for trees... I doubt that they have such huge stockpiles of empty boxes... OR that they have absolutely no spare chips of the old kind to last for a few more weeks of productions before the transition to G92 is complete...
yes but will I be able to go SLI with the new card and the one I already have ?!!!#?#!#
You mention Halo, and XP. That would mean you're playing the original Halo that came out way back when last century almost.
If you can't get at least 100fps for that game with a Core 2 Duo and a 8800GTS, you have serious configuration issues that have nothing to do with the video card itself.
I have a Core 2 Duo with 2GB of DDR2 and an 8800GTS/320, and I get 100 fps in Battlefield 2 and 2142 - which are much heavier games than Halo was.
On the other hand, I don't run P2P programs, nor do I use Outlook or any IM client, and my process list is at a minimum at all times.
For Heaven's sake, 7 fps under Halo is impossible with your configuration.
My 8800 gts 320mb also moves,I have had it for a while now and all the new games like airborne and bioshock runs very good. As for those boxes recycle them and put on a sticker that says "recycled paper"
Just put a sticker on it!

Hypomathematically of course.

That way when the homeless smelly hippy comes into complain about the number of trees wasted, the shop keep can say "Sorry smelly homeless hippy, there is a sticker on this box, so now the Koalas can live in their trees and eat their drugs."

I got my eye on you.