XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB review

With the GeForce 8600 still some way off, the 320MB version of the GeForce 8800 GTS is currently the cheapest DirectX 10 graphics hardware available. The GPU itself is exactly the same, and you still get 96 stream processors running at 1.2GHz under the large but quiet heatsink. It was no surprise that Far Cry at 1,600 x 1,200 with 8x AF ran at a ludicrous 82fps. Even our tricky Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion test ran at 46fps, down just 7fps over the 640MB card.

This dip in performance is a result of the lack of local graphics memory; Oblivion at its highest settings uses a lot of high-resolution textures and performance is affected by the 8800 GTS 320MB resorting to shuffling data between the system memory and its own RAM. Things became slightly worse in our hardest Call of Duty 2 test, which uses the 512MB 'Extra' texture settings. Frame rates fell from 47fps on the 640MB GTS to a barely-playable 27fps on this 320MB card. Dropping the texture settings to the 256MB 'High' settings boosted frame rates back up to 47fps.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem; just be a bit careful about in-game texture settings and take the slight visual quality hit. But Vista's DirectX 10 gaming API has a raft of texture-based enhancements that means that games like Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 will open the gap between the 320MB versions of the 8800 and its higher-end siblings even further.

The GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB leaves us with an agonising choice. It's the cheapest DirectX10 card available, and will dispatch current games and imminent releases without too much bother. But, to achieve the tempting price point, the amount of RAM has been compromised, which means that releases further in the future will run slower. As such, we'd pay the extra £60 for a GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB and future-proof ourselves as much as possible while remaining within a sensible budget. But if you're unwilling to break the £200 barrier for a graphics card, this XFX card will serve you well for a reasonable period of time.

Author: Clive Webster