My precious! Damn, this card is expensive! My GeForce 8500GT stop working last month and I have no choice I need a card to power my HTPC while waiting for the warranty claim. Without much thought I bought a new card right there and than. I wonder if this is a marketing gimmick – You return a card and at the same time you have to purchase a new one!

I use to think that having high end card on a HTPC is wasting money and resources, I like to take it back! :p it’s so big different! Having high end Nvidia 8 series on HTPC is totally kick ass! Too bad I’m no gamer at all but I will wait for the new GTA to appreciate the adrenaline rush. (I love fast car on screen! LOL)

As soon as I fire up the card, one noticeable improvement was the card is lighting fast! I can change my TV channel on Windows Media Center much quicker. Time shifting & recording is totally smooth sailing, lesser noise, the color is sharper and eyes pleasing. Ah! My HTPC is one expensive toy with quality vitamin.

I set up my HTPC with duo screen display. One at a display resolution of 1680 x 1050 and another at 1280 x 1024 on a single card by connecting my wide screen ViewSonic 20.1 incher and Samsung SynMaster 192T 19 incher via 2 DVI on the card. So far there’s no conflict, ASUS EN8800GT handle both display resolutions simultaneously with solid performance. (The screen maybe off should game changes resolution during start up – happen only on old PC games)

ASUS didn’t bundle that much of stuffs for all their cards release, keeping price low and stay in competition maybe two of the reason or they just trying to cut cost. For this card however, in my opinion, consumer maybe consider lucky to have extra goody – ASUS CD holder! LOL (see box above)

Here are the down points

1. Not much of info provided on the hand book or on the box about this card. I have many Nvidia cards and I think Leadtek did better job in providing installation instruction and card specifications.
2. Very expensive but this is to be expected on all high end card! Even mid range is still a bit too pricey!
3. NO HDMI port. You still can use the converter for future proof but I guess, again it just another silly marketing gimmick to push more money out of consumer for their 9 Series cards.
4. When Windows Media Center on full screen, one other screen become useless. NVIDIA or MS should fix this part through their software. This error or limitation is consumer greatest loss of productivity. (you can fix this problem by not turning on full screen, silly I know, that’s how it goes)
5. ASUS own software is bad for eyes sight, Bad UI but usable. I do not recommend this software on Vista – crash and error to be expected. (Since most of you guys OC your rig on XP system, you should have less trouble. I hate it, the software just look ugly on Vista!)
6. NVIDIA is focusing more on 9 series card. You may now be in dilemma and caught in the waiting games for lower price on high end card which probably will not happen! It was never happen on 7 series card and it will not happen on 8 series and definitely will not on 9 series.

What I like most about the card

1. Big! The card is so big! Same reason you drive a big car. The bigger the better, psychologically! (LOL)
2. High end card! Support PCI-Express 2.0! HDTV-out, DVI x 2, HDCP compliant and most of all…
3. 512MB DDR3
4. PCIe 2.0
5. The card is powerful!

	GeForce 8800 Ultra	GeForce 8800 GTX	GeForce 8800 GTS	GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB1	GeForce 8800 GT	GeForce 8800 GS
Stream Processors	128	128	96	128	112	96
Core Clock (MHz)	612	575	500	650	600	550
Shader Clock (MHz)	1500	1350	1200	1625	1500	1375
Memory Clock (MHz)	1080	900	800	970	900	800
Memory Amount	768MB	768MB	640MB or 320MB	512MB	512MB	384MB
Memory Interface	384-bit	384-bit	320-bit	256-bit	256-bit	192-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec)	103.7	86.4	64	64	57.6	38.4
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec)	39.2	36.8	24	41.6	33.6	26.4

Here’s a snippet of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory game. I have DX10 game, Company of Heroes but my video recording of the games was not to my liking so I am not going to show you. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory however, caught my eyes after I have updated the game’s patch. Trust me, I have this game for a very long time, I never play em’

I am NVIDIA slave! I have bought many of them, from 4th series – 8th series. Strangely and luckily I’ve skipped 7 Series or else I will have almost all of GeForce and be made amusement! (Actually I’m already there! LOL)

2004, This is ASUS V9180 SE GeForce 4 MX 440 card (below), my very first GeForce 4 card. This card marks the first time I assemble my own hybrid PC. (I don’t really understand why people call it a clone PC – so if a PC wasn’t Dell or Toshiba or branded PC is a “Clone”?) In fact this is my very first HTPC. HTPC is my only source of entertainment watching 8TV when I was working in Kuala Lumpur and stay in a rented room.

2005, Galaxy Zeus 5200 although I have been using my HTPC for some “long” time, I did not bother to buy mid range card. I still stick with entry level card which really seem to enough for my DVD experience.

2006, WinFast A6600 GT TDH 20th anniversary Limited Edition is my very first mid range card! This card packed with 2 games Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory & Prince of Persia Warrior Within. This card is not cheap! It cost me bloody RM540! Just because it say special edition and I bought the card *grin*

2007, Last but not least my mid range 8 series from Gigabyte. I have to get this card due to my new motherboard work only with PCI express. Since all of my display cards are AGP version, it also spelled the end of it shelf life! This card is obsolete, killed by full swing production of socket 775 platform.

Any one seen my “Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade?” I think I’ve misplace it! Bummer!

Every living thing has it time and so do all none living thing! But misplace it before losing it is pathetic! *sign*

2008, please refer to my topic 🙂 I know I’m getting better and better with display card over time. I think I’ve learn so much over the years. If you have cross experience between ATI and GeForce, please do let me know your opinion about both cards strength/weaknesses and why you love them. If you lazy to type, oh well…

oOo ^_^ oOo Thanks for reading!