PNY XLR8 8800 GTS 320MB Graphics Card Review

Today we are going back to the fantastic NVIDIA 8800 GTS 320MB watering hole with a totally stock clocked 8800 GTS 320MB graphics card from PNY. PNY has long been an NVIDIA partner and also makes some great RAM for gaming and flash drives. Does the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB have the goods to compete with the big names like XFX and BFG? Read on to find out.

Gallery

6 images

Benchmarks

Features & Specifications
As always with the later reviews of cards from the NVIDIA 8800 series I’m not going to go into lots of details about the features of the graphics card. Rather I will point you to the original review of the NVIDIA 8800 GTX where the features are discussed in more detail.

To date I have reviewed 8800 GTS 320MB graphics cards from XFX, BFG, and Foxconn. The important difference between the other cards I have reviewed and the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB graphics card I am looking at today is that all three of the earlier reviews featured cards that were overclocked from the factory whereas the PNY card is using stock clocks. The clock speeds for the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB are 500MHz on the core, 1.6GHz on the memory and 1200MHz on the shader clock.

The test machine I am reviewing the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB graphics card on has the following specs:

• CPU- Intel QX6700
• RAM- PNY XLR8 2GB PC2-8500
• OS- Windows XP SP2

3dMark06
To test the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB I used 3DMark06, FEAR, Oblivion, Quake 4 and Battlefield 2142. To start with I ran 3DMark06 at stock settings in the application and stock settings on the graphics cards. The 3DMark06 results are as follows:

• Total 3DMarks- 9344
• SM2.0- 3704
• HDR/SM3.0- 3687
• CPU- 3997
• Return to Proxycon- 30.558
• Firefly Forest- 31.172
• Canyon Flight- 33.812
• Deep Freeze- 39.926
• CPU1- 1.372
• CPU2- 1.862

Before I list comparative scores from the other manufacturers 3DMark runs please note that in addition to the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB being stock clocked, the graphics cards from XFX and BFG were reviewed on a much slower test machine based off an AMD FX-62 CPU. The other 8800 GTS Graphics cards scored as follows:

Total 3DMarks
• XFX 8800 GTS 320MB XXX- 9150 (on the FX-62 based test machine)
• BFG 8800 GTS 320MB OC- 8450 (on the FX-62 based test machine)
• Foxconn 8800 GTS 320MB OC- 9922 (on the same exact machine as the PNY card was reviewed)

Oblivion
The next test up for the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB was with Oblivion. While I was reviewing the PNY card I was also testing out a new display from HP, the 30 inch HP LP3065. As such I decided to see what the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB could do with Oblivion, one of the most graphically challenging games around at the super high resolution of 2560 x 1600. I used Fraps to record frame rate data while I played Oblivion on my favorite test location right out side the dungeon below the city next to the lake. Fraps recorded the following frame rate data at a screen resolution of 2560 x 1600 with HDR and all settings at max.

• Min- 11
• Avg- 37.884
• Max 63

I have to say I was impressed at the ability of the box stock PNY 8800 GTS 320MB to chug along playing Oblivion at these settings. The only time I noticed any lag or a frame rate problem was during fights when I was moving around quickly. Otherwise the game chugged along beautifully.

FEAR
The next game up was FEAR. Whereas I decided to forgo testing with Oblivion at 1920 x 1200, I opted to test with Oblivion at both resolutions of 2560 x 1600 and 1920 x 1200 with all other settings the same using 16x AA, 4x AF and everything at max. I used the in game test loop to record frame rate data starting at 2560 x 1600 resolution.

2560 x 1600
• Min- 7
• Avg- 13
• Max- 26

1920 x 1200
• Min- 15
• Avg- 37
• Max- 98

Percentages at 2560 x 1600 showed that a full 96% of the time frame rates were less than 25 fps and only 4% of the time did frame rates go from 25 – 40 fps and they never went over 40 fps. 2560 x 1600 with FEAR maxed out is too much for the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB, but in SLI it would be a different story. The percentages at 1920 x 1200 were much better with 9% of the time frame rates dropped below 25 fps, 54% of the time the were between 25 and 40 fps and 37% of the time frame rates were greater than 40 fps.

Battlefield 2142
Battlefield 2142 is a very popular game and was the next test up for the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB. I used Fraps to capture frame rate data while playing a single player lever called “Fall of Berlin” with all settings at max, 4X AA and 1600 x 1200 screen resolution. Fraps recorded the following frame rate data.

• Min- 60
• Avg- 74.202
• Max- 101

Quake 4
The final test game up for the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB graphics card was with Quake 4. I ran Quake 4 at 1920 x 1200, 8x AA and ultra quality settings while recording frame rate data with Fraps. At these settings the following frame rate data was recorded:

• Min- 10
• Avg- 36.232
• Max- 64

I was a bit surprised to see that Fraps recorded a frame rate so low for the minimum, I can’t say that I ever noticed stuttering during game play and I played for quite a while at these settings without any issues.

Overall the performance gap between the stock PNY 8800 GTS 320MB and the Overclocked cards on the market is pretty big. PNY still has a good performer on their hands with the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB which carries an MSRP of $329.99, though it can be had on Newegg for under $275 right now before a $20 mail in rebate. That makes the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB quite a bit cheaper than the $339 XFX 8800 GTS 320MB XXX card. The price for performance ration for the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB is quite good and if you are running anything other than an 8800 series card that is Overclocked the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB is one heck of an upgrade and certainly one of the most bargain prices 8800 cards you will find.

Verdict

Conclusion

Pros


• Lowest cost 8800 GTS 320MB currently around
• Good performance

Cons


• No bundled applications or software

Verdict
For gamers who want to step into the wonderful world of the NVIDIA G80 PNY has the lowest cost NVIDIA 8800 GTS 320MB graphics card on the market. Sure you can get faster cards that run the same GPU in the overclocked models from the other big manufacturers, but they can go for over $50 more than PNY’s offering. Plus you can still overclock the PNY 8800 GTS 320MB graphics card yourself and pocket the extra cash. The PNY 8800 GTS 320MB is the bargain shoppers 8800 GTS 320MB.

8.5
10
 

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