The EVGA KO Edition Card

The GeForce 8800 GT is one of the most successful graphics chips in recent memory as it was able to marry high speed and low costs. Now if only you could find one! But if you do, how about any overclocked model like this one from EVGA?!


Introduction

Early last month we saw the first in a wave of new graphics cards in the form of the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB.  Built around the G80 architecture but using as smaller process technology, the G92-based GPU was a great performer that was made even better because of its price point – around $250 when you could find it.  Since then, we have seen AMD response to the 8800 GT: the Radeon HD 3800 series.  It also was a die shrink gone right.

It didn’t take long for NVIDIA’s partners to get on the overclocking boat with the 8800 GT 512MB graphics cards.  EVGA was the first to send an overclocked version of their 8800 GT known as the e-GeForce 8800 GT KO Edition. 

The EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT KO

I won’t bother going over the technical details of the 8800 GT GPU, but if you are interested or haven’t read about them previously, you should definitely check out our initial G92 review here.  The short, short version is that the 8800 GT uses 112 shader processors that run at 1500 MHz with a core clock of 600 MHz and a 256-bit memory bus that features 512MB of GDDR3 memory running at 1800 MHz. 

Compare this to the original 8800 GTS that uses 96 SPs and a 320-bit memory bus while the 8800 GTX used 128 SPs on a 384-bit memory bus and you’ll see that the performance of the 8800 GT wasn’t really the typical known quantity. 

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Click to Enlarge

The EVGA 8800 GT KO model being reviewed today is your standard 8800 GT card in appearance, but ups the ante with some higher clocks:
  • 675 MHz core clock vs 600 MHz reference
  • 1500 MHz shader clock vs 1500 MHz reference
  • 1950 MHz memory clock vs 1800 MHz reference
  • 512MB GDDR3
Higher is better, at least when it comes to clock speeds, so we’d expect performance slightly higher than that of the card we tested at reference speeds last month.

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The connectors on the EVGA model include an HDTV output and two dual-link DVI outputs. 

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The 8800 GT cards require just a single PCIe power connector and EVGA says users only require a 400 watt power supply to run it.  Obviously this depends on the rest of the components in your system but the power requirements are relatively calm here compared to other recent GPU launches. 

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In terms of extras in the box, the EVGA 8800 GT KO comes with two DVI-to-VGA adapters, an HDTV-to-component dongle and a power adapter as well.  Not only that, but this EVGA model comes with a free copy of Quake Wars: Enemy Territories; a great value if you don’t already have this title. 

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