Near the end of 2006 NVIDIA released the GeForce 8800 GTX, a high-end 3D rendering monster which bested every other video card out there. As usual, you had to pay a higher price to get the fastest frame per seconds in games, for the more budget minded people NVIDIA added the GTS to the G80 line-up. This slightly degraded video card still offers awesome performance, now NVIDIA is lowering the price of the GTS by cutting the available memory in half, the 320MB is introduced today, the original GTS comes with double the amount. How does this reduction affect gaming performance? So can the reduced GeForce 8800 GTS keep up with its memory loaded brother? - Madshrimps

Sparkle GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB SLI Ready Review

Sparkle has been into pc graphics for many years now. As an official NVIDIA partner they also released their version the GeForce 8800 sereies back in November 2006. Today Sparkle adds one more video card, which is the GeForce 8800 GTS with only 320MB memory. Both their GeForce 8800 GTS cards use the same PCB and heatsink, the only main difference is the amount of memory. While the older GTS comes with 640MB GDDR3, the newest version comes with only half if that. It helps to reduce the price, will it also reduce the performance?

In the end, while checking the new and old GeForce 8800 GTS it's hard not be charmed by them. The reference heatsink combined with a 7cm fan was an excellent choice for this heat monster, not only keeping temperature well within specifications, but also keeping noise level down. The GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB and 640MB require a 6-pin power connector from your power supply, so make sure your power supply is up to the task. Priced at approximately €350 the 320MB version shaves of €50 from 640MB's price, and becomes one of the most affordably high end video cards to date.

We wouldn't be surprised if the 640MB will be discontinued as the 320MB offers very similar performance at a more attractive price. If you're in the market for a DirectX 10 capable high-end graphics card, and don't want to shell out over €500 for the GTX, the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB is the next best thing.