Product Listing

MSI NX8800GT-T2D256E-OC (GeForce 8800 GT 256MB)

By Vincent Chang - 17 Jan 2008

Conclusion

Conclusion

A check with retailers both of the brick and mortar variety and their online counterparts showed that 256MB versions of the GeForce 8800 GT have not exactly dominated retail shelves or online catalogs. This is not surprising as the trend pushed by both hardware and software developers have been towards large widescreen display supported by more powerful computing hardware and amply demonstrated by the eye candy effects found in the latest games. Confronted by such photo realistic demos, enthusiasts naturally go for the hardware capable of reproducing such visuals and while the GeForce 8800 GT is a very capable chipset, the 256MB version is however constrained by its memory. This limitation becomes more glaring when we consider display sizes beyond the current 22-inch sweet spot, which is incidentally inching to become the next standard for new buyers with more dough. Up to 22 inches, native monitor resolutions don't go beyond 1680x1050, which the 256MB GeForce 8800 GT seems to tackle reasonably. At the next resolution stepping of 1920x1200, that's when 256MB cards start to falter.

This overclocked MSI GeForce 8800 GT has clock speeds that are more commonly found on the 512MB variant but the discrepancy in memory size severely handicaps it at the high resolutions we tested.

MSI has tried to put a positive spin on the product by overclocking it to quite an extent and essentially putting it on par with some of the overclocked 512MB cards in terms of clock speeds. To sweeten the deal further, there's also a decent cooler that managed to lower the temperatures found on the typical GeForce 8800 GT. What they can't do of course is to give it more memory and with only 256MB, the card naturally faltered at higher resolutions. Anti-aliasing will generally have an adverse effect on performance, though differences are not as significant for older games.

In short, the failings that we are complaining about are related to the chipset itself and not specific to this MSI NX8800GT-T2D256E-OC. The noise of the cooler may be a bit louder to our ears for the MSI and the bundle's disappointing lack of any third party games or applications but that's about the extent of its flaws. Unfortunately, with competition from its 512MB counterpart, price becomes a very crucial factor when it came to deciding which version to get. In fact, some vendors have also voiced to us the exact same issue - that the 512MB variants have dropped in price such that the 256MB models aren't really as competitive as it was first announced. Unless you're really strapped for cash, we highly recommend the 512MB for its longevity.

Alternatively, there are also ATI's Radeon HD 3870 graphics cards that can deliver more stable high resolution performance, albeit slower than this MSI card in less taxing game scenarios. If however you're certain you won't ever need HD resolutions, then by all means get a 256MB card. Given its retail price of S$349, the MSI NX8800GT-T2D256E-OC skates dangerously close to the average S$400 price tag for a 512MB, making it a niche product that will appeal to users unconcerned with heavy anti-aliasing or content with a 22-inch display or less for the near future.

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