The arrival of the NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GTX was close to a monumental event in the history of 3D graphics. It was the first card to support DirectX 10 and its associated unified shader model, it greatly improved image quality compared to NVIDIA's previous generation of cards, and it blew every other card on the planet out the water in terms of performance. Unfortunately all this power also demanded an enormous price tag and, considering expected competition from ATI and the imminent release of cheaper mid-range cards based on the same technology, the GeForce 8800 GTX was deemed a graphics card for the bleeding edge enthusiast only. - TrustedReviews

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB Video Board Review

To remedy this NVIDIA launched the GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB the following month and the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB a couple of months later still. They both offered close to the awesome performance of the GTX but at a much more reasonable price. However, at around $300-450, they were still a bit too expensive for the gamer on a budget, meaning these were lower high-end cards, not true mid-range parts. Of course, had we the benefit of hindsight we would have insisted that a GTS was worth saving every penny for because what followed throughout the rest of 2007 was one disappointment after another.

All of which brings us to now, a full year after the GeForce 8800 GTX first arrived, and the launch of the GeForce 8800 GT, the first true refresh of any of the DirectX 10 capable graphics card. It has been a long time in the making but with specifications that rival the GeForce 8800 GTS and high street prices hovering around the $250-275 mark, this could finally be the mid-range card we've all been waiting for. At least that is what we all have been hoping for, but before we evangelise the card too much, we should probably explain a bit more about what makes it so special.

It's this path that the GeForce 8800 line has followed with the G80 core at the heart of the GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS being made using a 90nm process and the GeForce 8800 GT being powered by the G92 core that's made using the newer 65nm process. Now the change may not seem like much but it actually equates to a third reduction in size for any given chip design, or conversely a third increase in space to manufacturer more chips on each wafer. The upshot of which is smaller, cheaper, less power hungry chips, and that can only be a good thing. However, the G92 isn't just a die shrink.

For a start, the video processing engine, dubbed VP2, that was featured on the GeForce 8600 range, has now found its way into the GeForce 8800 GT. So you can enjoy high definition video without your system grinding to a halt. The final display engine that's controlled by a separate chip on the GTX is also now incorporated into the G92. The result is a chip that actually has more transistors than the GTX, still has fewer stream processors, texture processing power, and ROP's than its more powerful brother. A new version of NVIDIA's transparent anti-aliasing algorithm has also been added to the GeForce 8800 GT's arsenal.

As was to be expected, in the benchmarks, the GeForce 8800 GTX is still top of the pile, except the Ultra version but overall the GeForce 8800 GT makes a good show of itself, most notably staying ahead of the GeForce 8800 GTS for the majority of benchmarks. At the highest resolutions and anti-aliasing settings, the reduced memory bandwidth of the GeForce 8800 GT lets it down and the GTS just creeps ahead on the odd occasion. However, considering the price difference, and all the other benefits of the new card, the GeForce 8800 GT would be the better bet every time.

While the NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GT doesn't beat the established GeForce 8800 GTX, it provides close to the performance for a fraction of the price and also packs in more features to sweeten the deal. Add to this it's small size, cool operation, and quiet running and you have a card that we can't recommend highly enough. It's simply phenomenal.