Gainward 8800GTS 640MB does SLI

Product: SLI Gainward Geforce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 GS, "BP8800GTS-320M-GS-TV-DD"
Website: www.gainward.de
System Requirements: Intel Pentium 4, AMD Athlon or compatible CPU, minimum 256MB system memory, minimum 400W system power supply with PCI-Express, connector or two unused HDD power connectors available, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, PCI Express compliant motherboard, Windows Vista/XP/2000/XP 64
Price: 2x£241.00, 2x€355.00

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WE DECIDED to try out a pair of Gainward 8800 GTS 320MB cards. It makes some sense, as two overclocked 8800 GTS 640MB cards will cost a bit more than a single 8800 GTX overclocked with 768MB memory. Each card works at 550MHz core speed and 1760MHz but some cards might even have the 560 MHz clock. Anything higher than that is risky.

Two Gainward Geforce 8800GTS 640MB at 550 / 1760 MHz

If you decided to buy them you will get two boxes packed with two cards 2x two DVIs, 2xSvideo out and a two times 3x2 PCIe power cable plugs. Each package also includes DVD solution video editing software, Power DVD 5 and a driver CD. There are no any games inside, and that is the bad thing about it.

Gainward Geforce 8800GTS 640MB Boxed

We compared a lot of cards. We started with Geforce 8800 GTS at reference clock and we included the 550 MHz scores. We also tested two 500 MHz clocked Geforce 8800 GTS versus two Gainward's Geforce 8800 GTS 320 MB, each running at 550 / 1760 speeds. Three of the four scenarios included 640 MB cards while the first card had 320 MB only.

What's inside

Benchmarketing

We used:
Intel Core 2 Extreme E6800, 2x 2.93GHz, 266MHz FSB, 4MB Cache
Corsair Dominator TWIN2X1024-8500 at 5-5-5-15 at 1066 MHz
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 400GB SATA NCQ hard drive
Akasa EVO AK 922 Blue Athlon 64/X2/FX cooler and Intel CPU's
Silverstone DA750W modular PSU

Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Game4
Reference 8800GTS 320 500/1600MHz	25147	190.1	150.9	152.0
Gainward 8800GTS 640 550/1760MHz	27345	208.9	165.0	164.7
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 500/1600MHz	43692	357.1	279.4	290.0
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 550/1760MHz	46982	389.9	303.2	317.3
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Pixel Shader 2.0
Reference 8800GTS 320 500/1600MHz	5010.5	11671.9	90.3	412.5
Gainward 8800GTS 640 550/1760MHz	5368.8	12512.4	98.4	456.4
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 500/1600MHz	9949.6	23120.0	157.0	810.1
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 550/1760MHz	10652.8	24785.9	169.8	859.9
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game1	Game2	Game3
Reference 8800GTS 320 500/1600MHz	14905	62.8	43.2	78.0
Gainward 8800GTS 640 550/1760MHz	15722	63.4	46.5	84.4
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 500/1600MHz	18431	63.5	49.5	127.6
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 550/1760MHz	18605	63.2	49.5	131.9
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Pixel Shader	VS/VS complex
Reference 8800GTS 320 500/1600MHz	5057.3	11651.0	361.5	121.9/95.0
Gainward 8800GTS 640 550/1760MHz	5419.2	12476.0	396.3	131.0/101.8
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 500/1600MHz	9976.8	22903.6	709.5	240.5/178.9
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 550/1760MHz	10687.3	24551.9	777.9	258.1/186.9
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06	?	?
Reference 8800GTS 320 500/1600MHz	8435	?	?	?
Gainward 8800GTS 640 550/1760MHz	9060	?	?	?
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 500/1600MHz	12464	?	?	?
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 550/1760MHz	12718	?	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
Reference 8800GTS 320 500/1600MHz	3599	29.419	30.559	?
Gainward 8800GTS 640 550/1760MHz	3923	32.189	33.202	?
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 500/1600MHz	5891	48.494	49.686	30.8
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 550/1760MHz	5983	48.927	50.789	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
Reference 8800GTS 320 500/1600MHz	3581	32.480	39.149	?
Gainward 8800GTS 640 550/1760MHz	3935	35.679	43.026	?
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 500/1600MHz	6041	57.751	63.061	30.8
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 550/1760MHz	6324	63.196	63.278	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
Reference 8800GTS 320 500/1600MHz	2515	0.804	1.260	?
Gainward 8800GTS 640 550/1760MHz	2515	0.806	1.257	?
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 500/1600MHz	2582	0.820	1.301	30.8
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 550/1760MHz	2567	0.813	1.296	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Reference 8800GTS 320 500/1600MHz	184	149	109	75
Gainward 8800GTS 640 550/1760MHz	183	150	112	76
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 500/1600MHz	224	203	170	126
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 550/1760MHz	222	212	181	134
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Reference 8800GTS 320 500/1600MHz	118	85	60	35
Gainward 8800GTS 640 550/1760MHz	121	87	61	37
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 500/1600MHz	184	146	105	66
Gainward 8800GTS 640 SLI 550/1760MHz	194	153	116	72

As we already elaborated on Gainward 8800 GTS 640 MB Golden sample card versus a Geforce 8800 GTS 320 MB reference card we will focus more on a performance of a two cards versus one and overclocked SLI versus non overclocked one.

In 3Dmark03 adding another 8800 GTS 640 MB card will get you eighteen thousand marks compared with a reference card or sixteen thousands if we talk about two reference cards versus the overclocked one. In case you are lucky enough to buy two Gainward 640 MB 8800 GTS golden sample card you can expect 21000 marks higher performance. This is simply stoning score. Two Gainward Bliss 8800 GTS 640 MB cards in SLI are 86 percent faster than a single reference card. Now that is something. In composite numbers some scores tends to double.

3Dmark05 shows much less dramatic difference. In the total score two cards are just 25 percent faster than the single reference card. Still in most extensive game number three, two overclocked cards in SLI are sixty nine percent faster.

In composite numbers of 3Dmark05 test two cards simply rock. They double the number of pixels and vertices that they can process. Two overclocked cards are just marginally faster than two non overclocked one in SLI.

3Dmark06 shows some interesting SLI affection. There is less then 300 difference between 8800 GTS 640MB overclocked cards compared with non overclocked. However, the SLI setup is 50.7 percent faster than a single non overclocked reference card.

Both Shader model 2.0 and 3.0 with HDR are significantly faster on SLI in some cases up to 76 percent. Oddly enough SLI score on overclocked cards and SLI is better than the score with a single card. We are puzzled here why.

We only tested FEAR due the lack of good games and very limited time. This is actually where SLI plays off. There is a significant performance increase in every single resolution. In worst case scenario without the effects on we are talking about 20 percent difference at 10x7. At 16x12 and 20x15 the resolution of any serious gamers the difference can get up to magnificent 78.6 percent. We are talking about additional 59 frames at 20x15 and that is a lot.

FEAR with the effects on keeps the same trend. There is much more difference between overclocked and non overclocked cards. We are talking about 10 FPS difference in the SLI and the overclocked SLI is 64 percent faster then the reference card. At 1600x1200 we are talking about 93 percent difference compared to a single card. That is the biggest score we ever seen and it is coming from a game, still very advanced game.

Two cards in SLI mean more than 100 FPS at 1600x1200 and more than 60 FPS at 2048x1536, 72 to be precise. At this resolution two Gainward 8800 GTS 640 MB Bliss Golden sample cards are 94.6 percent faster then a single one. Things get even better if you compare two overclocked cards to reference ones. We got the amazing score of 105 percent performance incensement over the 8800 GTS 640 MB clocked at reference speeds.

In Short
If you have the money and you like Nvidia go on for buying these two cards. In this case SLI pays off in games and it can dramatically increase the number of frames on your screen. While I was writing this review I got an idea to compare two of these 8800 GTS 640 MB versus 8800 GTX with 768 MB memory as there is a big chance that these two cards might win. We already began with testing.

The only thing that might drive people off this setup is the total price. It will cost you somewhere around €650 just slightly more than 8800 GTX but if you are the hard core gamer and you have the money go for it. The SLI pays of in resolutions higher than 1600x1200 and if you have 22 inch or bigger LCD or TFT this is something you should consider.

We still have to wait and see R600 performance but you won't be able to buy this ATI card at least till the last day of March. If you want a card or two today, this should get high on your list. ?

The Good
Up to 95 percent faster than a single card
DirectX 10 support
Two cards Overclocked
The Bad
No Game bundle
The Ugly
Nvidia still lack of WHQL driver

Reviewed and tested by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic