Sparkle Calibre P880 LV
Once again, we have a Calibre card from Sparkle featuring a TEC combined with a heatsink and two fans rather than NVIDIA's stock HSF reference design. We love to see Sparkle taking risks with their cooling solution, as this is one of the best ways graphics card makers can differentiate themselves. Whether those risks pay off is a different matter, of course.
This card isn't the highest clocked card in the bunch, which we do lament. We would hope that the lower temperatures provided by the MACS Technology cooler would allow higher clock speeds than other vendor. As we will see in our analysis, this is the coolest card of the bunch, but we really think that end users would benefit more from a cooling solution that lowers temperature more dramatically (though remaining above the point where condensation would be a worry).
This card comes with Painkiller, which isn't really a significantly new or popular game. We would like to see something more recent or perhaps a gem that people may have overlooked, but bundles are really tough to do right though. Price is a bit tough to nail down, but we are seeing indications that the card may be priced at the $350-$400 price range. We would certainly like to see the card hit the streets at the lower end of that range.
Once again, we have a Calibre card from Sparkle featuring a TEC combined with a heatsink and two fans rather than NVIDIA's stock HSF reference design. We love to see Sparkle taking risks with their cooling solution, as this is one of the best ways graphics card makers can differentiate themselves. Whether those risks pay off is a different matter, of course.
This card isn't the highest clocked card in the bunch, which we do lament. We would hope that the lower temperatures provided by the MACS Technology cooler would allow higher clock speeds than other vendor. As we will see in our analysis, this is the coolest card of the bunch, but we really think that end users would benefit more from a cooling solution that lowers temperature more dramatically (though remaining above the point where condensation would be a worry).
This card comes with Painkiller, which isn't really a significantly new or popular game. We would like to see something more recent or perhaps a gem that people may have overlooked, but bundles are really tough to do right though. Price is a bit tough to nail down, but we are seeing indications that the card may be priced at the $350-$400 price range. We would certainly like to see the card hit the streets at the lower end of that range.
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gus6464 - Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - link
yeah same here, my first evga purchase was a 7800gt over a year ago and the next month the 7900gt came out so I sent my card to evga and they upgraded to a 7900gt at no extra charge. Shipping was fast and have had 0 problems with the card ever since. Now all I buy and recommend is evga.drebo - Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - link
From Page 12.
I don't quite agree with your conclusion here. Sure, the temperatures are only a few degrees cooler than the other stock cards, but the ACS3 card is also clocked higher than the rest of the cards. I think when you take that into account, the fact that the ACS3 solution cools better than nearly every other card is pretty impressive.
Other than some of the conclusions, very informative article. Definitely considering the eVGA card as an upgrade for my "aging" 7900GS KO.
RaistlinZ - Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - link
I usually enjoy AT's video card reviews, but this one seemed very rushed and with not much effort put into it at all. It reminded me of reviews you'd find from newbie review sites run by high-school kids.Sorry to say, but it's the truth. The whole "review" seemed like it only took you an hour to test the cards and post the review. :( Which is fine I guess, if that's what you were going for, but I expect more from Anandtech.
Anyone else feel this way?
yyrkoon - Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - link
You would probably be better served by waiting until nVidia irons out their drivers for these cards. However, I also must admit, I am tempted myself to buy one of these 8800GTS cards ( Titan Quest on my 7600GT does not seem to perform 'optimaly'). This being said, the games I play, for the most part play well enough, I think, for me to wait until nVidia gets their act together. Still, it IS tempting . . .