Geforce 8800 GTS proves faster than Radeon X1950XTX

AFTER we finished up with the bigger brother - the Geforce 8800 GTX - it was a time to move to the more affordable, smaller and slightly slower Geforce 8800 GTS.

The Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS is clocked at 500MHz core and 1600MHz DDR3 memory. This card is particularly interesting as it has 640MB of memory, an odd number. It also has 320 Mbit memory controller.

The card should cost $/€449 in retail and it has 96 Shaders clocked at 1200MHz. The total memory bandwidth is 64GB/s and the card has a texture fill-rate of 24 billion a second. The Geforce 8800 GTS can render 20 pixels per clock or have 20 ROPs (Raster Operations Units).

The WinFast PCX8800GTS 640B card is significantly shorter than its GTX brother but it also has dual-slot cooler, but smaller. The card has only one PCIe six-pin power connector, unlike the GTX which has two. It also has a single SLI bridge connector while the SLI has two.

Just like the GTX, the 8800 GTS fully supports unified architecture, Shader model 4.0 and DirectX 10. It works just well under DirectX 9 on Windows XP and, like its big bro, it supports HDR+ FSAA and FSAA 16X, 8X and 16X Aniso.

A GeForce 8800 GTS requires a minimum 400W power supply with 12V current rating of 26A. It is not as power greedy as its brother and can work with just 2x75W provided from a PCIe slot and a PCIe power connector, a total of 150W.

The chip used for the Geforce 8800 GTS is the same old G80 chip built by TSMC, at 90 nanometre with a few pipes disabled and lower-clocked. Also, the memory interface is altered and support 320-bit memory. It is not something that we're used to seeing. Even though the reference board can take up to twelve memory chips the GTS has 10 only. You get the 320-bit number from 10 pieces of 16Mx32 memory.

The GeForce 8800 GTS GPUs only support 320-bit (10 pieces of 16Mx32 memory) worth of memory width. The reason the location of the two unpopulated memory slots changes from graphics card to graphics card is manufacturing efficiencies. All GeForce 8800 GTS-based graphics cards have the same performance and functionality regardless of which 10 of the 12 slots of memory are populated.

Before we forget, GTS actually comes from Giga Texel Shader, an abbreviation used by Nvidia for Geforce 2 series back in 2000, almost six years ago. Temus fugit.

The card also supports HDCP, Pure Video HD, GigaThread, Lumenex and Quantum Effects. Lets keep for a second on this Quantum stuff as we are talking about physics now. G80 can do them in Shaders including visual effects such as smoke, fire, and explosions at faster frame rates than ever before.

The Leadtek Geforce 8800 GTS comes with two games, Spellforce 2 and Trackmania Nation TMN, along with a driver CD, a bonus software pack, including Adobe reader and Power DVD 6 ORB.

The package also includes a single DVI to VGA dongle, S-video to HDTV cable including S-video out and a single 2xMolex to six-pin power connectors. The driver CD also includes Vista drivers, and Leadtek has its own branded drivers on the CD.

We included the scores from faster and more expensive 8800 GTX for your reference and it is obvious that this card has to be faster than the 8800 GTS so we won't bother much about that.

On Leadtek 8800 GTS, 3Dmark03 is some 5000 faster than on ATI card but almost 5000 slower than the 7950 GX2 card as the two G71 chips really do well in this one. Gefoce 8800 GTX is also some 5000 faster than the GTS.

We are on the winning spree as we just got and additional GTS card so we might be able to pull out some SLI numbers out of these two cards. We strongly advise you to read this part as it has a few details more about the Geforce 8 series.

Benchmarketing
We used :
Foxconn C51XE M2aa Nforce 590 SLI motherboard
Sapphire AM2RD580 with SB600 board for Crossfire
Athlon FX 62 2800 MHz 90 nanometre Windsor core
2x1024 MB DDR2 Corsair CM2X1024-6400C3 memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 500GB SATA NCQ hard drive
Thermaltake Mini Typhoon Athlon 64/X2/FX cooler and Intel CPU's
OCZ 700W GameXstream power supply

Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Game3
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	19741	160.1	117.0	126.21
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 PCX 500/1200MHz	29758	259.2	210.9	180.3
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	30485	260.2	204.3	194.0
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	24088	194.1	154.0	157.4
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	CPU Score ?	CPU Test 1 ?	CPU Test 2
ATI X1950XT 650/2000 MHz	1419	156.5	25.5	64.8
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 PCX 500/1200MHz	1408	154.0	25.2	30.8
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	1494	162.3	27.2	30.8
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	1495	162.0	27.3	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Pixel Shader 2.0
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	5346.0	10005.9	67.7	219.7
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 PCX 500/1200MHz	8241.0	22433.9	88.1	405.6
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	6856.8	17649.5	122.6	566.5
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	5097.1	11872.0	96.7	421.6
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game1	Game2	Game2
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	12348	52.9	35.1	65.0
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 PCX 500/1200MHz	13633	52.4	42.3	73.1
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	15210	54.3	43.6	95.1
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	14212	54.2	43.1	78.8
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	CPU Score ?	CPU Test 1 ?	CPU Test 2
ATI X1950XT 650/2000 MHz	7312	3.4	7.0	64.8
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 PCX 500/1200MHz	7285	3.2	7.3	30.8
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	7550	3.4	7.5	30.8
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	7108	3.0	7.6	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Pixel Shader	VS/VS complex
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	6307.2	10209.2	456.6	147.9/61.9
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 PCX 500/1200MHz	9461.4	22748.1	637.7	129.8/94.3
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	6912.3	17580.1	566.3	139.8/108.7
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	5149.7	11867.6	387.8	124.1/96.8
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06	?	?
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	6283	?	?	?
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	8083	?	?
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	9814	?	?	?
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	8311	?	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	2457	19.281	21.669
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	3626	28.955	31.477
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	4530	37.872	37.624	?
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	3711	30.524	31.320	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	2722	26.317	28.118
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	3484	31.044	38.632
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	4656	44.543	48.586	?
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	3710	33.760	40.435	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	2153	0.679	1.093
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	2138	0.670	1.091	?
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	2124	0.669	1.079	?
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	2091	0.668	1.048	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	134.7	127.1	110.8	74.7
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	127.6	127.2	126.6	117.4
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	134.9	134.9	134.2	125.5
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	135.2	134.7	128.8	103.6
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	122.5	99.9	76.8	49.6
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	126.9	120.4	102.4	70.5
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	134.7	130.0	114.4	81.9
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	131.7	111.6	88.3	58.1
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XT 650/2000 MHz	150.7	147.1	140.0	119.4
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	174.8	172.8	169.7	155.4
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	187.3	183.4	179.4	167.8
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	183.1	179.3	172.2	142.0
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XT 650/2000 MHz	143.9	133.6	122.1	96.8
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	166.7	158.0	148.2	119.4
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	181.5	172.1	162.9	136.7
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	174.3	160.4	141.6	101.8
?	?	?	?	?
Half Life 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XT 650/2000 MHz	93.13	92.02	88.47	78.60
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	81.04	68.24	64.87	57.20
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	86.01	87.44	85.77	85.68
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	86.12	87.35	85.38	84.28
?	?	?	?	?
Far Cry High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	93.78	93.29	92.81	74.04
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	93.15	93.06	92.27	75.63
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	97.31	96.93	97.71	93.54
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	96.66	96.22	94.45	66.56
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XT 650/2000 MHz	138	105	82	57
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	138	135	107	77
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	144	139	125	95
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	139	128	102	70
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	105	79	57	38
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	117	95	68	44
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	131	107	80	53
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	113	80	57	34
?	?	?	?	?
Oblivion AA+Aniso+HDR	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	6xAA+8xAniso+HDR 36.12	6xAA+8xAniso+HDR 32.80	6xAA+8xAniso+HDR 30.89	4xAA+8xAniso+HDR 27.26
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	8sxAA+8xAniso+HDR 36.40	8sxAA+8xAniso+HDR 35.96	8sxAA+8xAniso+HDR 31.45	8sxAA+8xAniso+HDR 22.50
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	8xAA+8xAniso+HDR 38.92	8xAA+8xAniso+HDR 38.56	8xAA+8xAniso+HDR 38.35	8xAA+8xAniso+HDR 37.56
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	8xAA+8xAniso+HDR 38.75	8xAA+8xAniso+HDR 38.45	8xAA+8xAniso+HDR 37.53	8xAA+8xAniso+HDR 34.73
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XT 650/2000 MHz	156.4	154.0	142.7	109.1
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	0	0	0	0
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	162.6	161.6	162.3	156.1
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	162.8	161.5	157.2	128.6
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ATI X1950XTX 650/2000 MHz	140.5	120.2	99.1	70.9
Gainward BLISS 7950GX2 TDH 500/1200 MHz	150.4	128.3	106.9	77.3
Leadtek Winfast PX8800GTX TDH	162.2	160.5	150.9	119.1
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS	160.5	149.4	117.0	85.2

The Leadtek 8800 GTS can do twice as much and is faster than the 7950 GX2 in the Pixel shader 2.0 test.

The 8800 GTS is some 600 marks faster in 3Dmark05 than the 7950 GX2 and it is also 2000 faster than the X1950XTX. It is 250+ marks faster than 7950 GX2 in 3Dmark06 and the whole 2000 than X1950XTX. 8800 GTX is of course the leader.

It is slightly faster in Shader model 2.0 / 3.0 and HDR but not that much faster from 7950GX2 and much faster than X1950XTX.

In the lower two resolutions in Doom 3, the 8800 GTS wins but, in last two, slightly loses to the 7950 GX2. And the same happens with FSAA and Aniso on. ATI stays behind in the last two resolutions some seventeen per cent slower.

In Quake 4, the 8800 GTS wins in first three resolutions over 7950 GX2 and loses in the last and it wins significantly over ATI. GTS wins in two first resolutions and loses in last two to GX2 but always faster than X1950 XTX in Quake 4 FSAA and Aniso. In Half Life 2 Leadtek 8800 GTS is as fast as GTX even at 20x15 and much faster than Geforce 7950 GX2 at least at the largest resolution. In Far Cry it loses to ATI and 7950 GX2 at 20x15 by eight frames.

In Fear it stays on the top only at 10x7 and then it loses to 7950 GX2 but only by up to seven frames. In FEAR with FSAA and Aniso it again loses to 7950 GX2 at three top resolutions and from ATI at 20x15.

In Serious Sam 2 with and without FSAA and Aniso Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS wins over the competition and scores more than a 100 FPS even at 16x12 with FSAA and Aniso on.

Oblivion shows the real power of this card. It is 54 percent faster than two G71, Geforce 7950 GX2 and 27 percent faster than the fastest ATI. This gives you an idea about the future games performance as the Oblivion is the graphic card killer.

In Short
Leadtek WinFast PCX8800GTS is a great card for €/$450 and it will support DirectX 10 and will run super fast in all the current games including the new ones. The Geforce 7950 GX2 can give it run for its money but, in the end you can see that as a long-term investment 8800 GTS is a better card.

The best thing is that the 8800 GTS is not that much slower than the 8800 GTX. It is smaller, runs nicely stable and cool and will make a nice buy. Go and get it. It won't get faster than this at the price. We might try it in SLI and overclock it too, but until then we can easily recommend it. ?

Reviewed and tested by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic