Ab Work Outs: PNY XLR8 GeForce 8800 GT 512MB PCIe SLI-Ready Graphics Card VCG88512GXPB Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The 8800GT series of graphics cards are well-known for being a great price/performance buy, so I'll just say a few words about the PNY version in particular.

Pros: This is the 512MB version of the card, which does squeeze out a bit more speed and also makes it more future-proof.I believe it has a 3 year parts+labor warranty, plus 2 years parts only which is fair (but not topnotch).

Cons: Most important, it runs EXTREMELY hot.In my case it idles at 65 Celcius and reaches about 95 Celcius at load.Although these chips are designed to handle a lot of heat, I must imagine that this will lower the life expectancy of the card in general.Part of the issue with the heat problem is that many of the 8800GT cards that use the nVidia reference design have a fault in the firmware that causes the fan to run only at 29% and it does not ramp up as temperature increases.This can be overcome with a program such as Rivatuner, but I was disappointed that PNY didn't release a fixed firmware for a known issue.The card also comes with somewhat limited accessories (HDTV breakout box, 2 DVI-VGA adapters, molex to PCI-E adapter, manual).

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Product Description:
The PNY XLR8 8800GT 512 MB Graphics Card offers the ideal combination of power, performance, and price. It offers full Microsoft DirectX 10 support for unparalleled levels of graphics realism and film-quality effects.This SLI-ready card also features GeForce 8 Series architecture, 112 stream processors, and a 256-bit frame buffer for awesome DirectX 10 gameplay at ultra fast frame rates. It offers 512 MB of 256-bit memory with a 57.6 GB-per-second memory bandwidth. It includes DVI+DVI+HDTV/S-Video outputs.
The card Other features include NVIDIA unified architecture that delivers up to twice the gaming performance of prior generation GPUs; GigaThread Technology, a massively multi-threaded architecture that supports thousands of independent, simultaneous threads, providing extreme processing efficiency in advanced, next generation shader programs; and PCI Express 2.0 Support, designed to run perfectly with the new PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture. PCI Express 2.0 products are fully backwards compatible with existing PCI Express motherboards for the broadest support.
NVIDIA SLI technology delivers up to twice the performance of a single graphics card configuration for unequaled gaming experiences by allowing two cards to run in parallel. This must-have feature for performance dramatically scales performance on today's hottest games. Lightning-fast, high-quality anti-aliasing at up to 16x sample rates obliterates jagged edges, while 128-bit floating point High Dynamic-Range (HDR) offers twice the precision of prior generations for incredibly realistic lighting effects. Blazing fast dual 400 MHz RAMDACs support dual QXGA displays with ultra-high, ergonomic refresh rates--up to 2048x1536@85Hz, while dual-link DVI support drives the industry's largest and highest resolution flat-panel displays up to 2560x1600 and with support for High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). Built for Microsoft Windows Vista utilizing NVIDIA's fourth-generation GPU architecture gives users the best possible experience with the Windows Aero 3D graphical user interface.