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Benchmark Setup

For this we review, we used the following testing platform:

• CPU: E6700 Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.67 GHZ (333 * 8) 
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 
• Memory: 2 gigabytes of Corsair XMS2-5400UL DDR2 RAM (2 * 1024MB @ 833MHz 4-4-4-12/2T) 
• Power Supply: OCZ 850W GXS
• Hard Drive: 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA, w/16 MB cache
• CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U 12

Here's the family photo:

In order to get a clear idea as to how both 8800 GTS 512 cards relate to their brother GPUs, we threw in a bunch of representatives of the 8800 family, including a Asus EN8800 GTS 320, a BFG 8800 GTS OC2 640, a Asus EN8800 GTX, a G92 based NVIDIA 8800 GT (512 MB), and G92 based BFG 8800 GT OC. To get a representation of ATI's offerings in the category of performance, we also included a PowerColor HD 3850 Xtreme PCS 512 MB card, and a HD 2900 XT.

Usually we select cards with wider differences in performance levels -- but this time around we wanted to narrow the range a bit, and focus on the more recent, higher-end cards. Most of these GPUs in our benchmarks should offer fairly similar performance. We chose not to include any 8600 GTS/GT or HD 2600 XT/Pro class cards or lower, because frankly, they'd get killed by the competition.