Related Articles

The 8800 GTS has the highest idling power consumption out of all the competitors here -- it draws a full 27W more than the X1900 XT. On the other hand, it has the second-lowest power consumption when it's actually doing something useful. Props to NVIDIA for packing 2.5x as many transistors into this GPU, but still keeping power consumption while gaming at very reasonable levels!

Conclusion

Naturally it's quite difficult to judge a new video card technology in its entirety based on a card that isn't the representation of the best available in the series, however we will be looking at the bigger picture when we receive our 8800 GTX. What this review does give us is a look into the underpinnings of the 8000 series which will doubtless be expanding into the other price segments presumably next year. NVIDIA have put together an extremely competitive package and the value to be had in the future proofing through DX10 support as well as the current DX9 performance is really high.

The 8800 GTS is a very quick card and for the money (expected to be over or around $450) does offer alot of features.  As you've seen in the charts, performance is quite good even against the best of class from ATI.  You did also see that it's performance in current games doesn't necessarily outgun the current heavyweights.  Its worth noting that at the price range that is intended however, its hard to imagine a person choosing an X1950XTX over the 8800 GTS simply based on the performance and future proofing offered by the GTS.  This card is sure to shine in future DirectX 10 games and anyone in the market at this price range would be silly not to consider this card. Our verdict on 8000 series performance however will not come until we've had a chance to look at the 8800 GTX in the near future.

Retailers are expected to stock both cards today and despite rumors of a delay, there should be plenty of cards available on e-tail shelves.