When NVIDIA launched the GeForce 8800 GT late last year, an instant winner was born. It offered the perfect combination of performance and pricing and quickly became the choice for enthusiasts all over. Pair two in SLI and you have a truly powerful graphics system capable of handling the most demanding games at the highest resolutions supported today. Some wondered that the launch of NVIDIA's new GeForce 9600 GT would unseat the previous champion, but as found out throughout numerous articles last week, the GeForce 8800 GT has nothing to worry about. The fact is, this card is a fantastic performer and is priced right, some even as low as $200 which is not a bad deal. - Techgage

ASUS Extreme N8800 GT TOP Graphics Card Review

The card we are taking a look at today comes courtesy of ASUS. Their TOP overclocking products normally come pre-overclocked, and the Extreme N8800 GT TOP is no different. While the stock clocks for the GeForce 8800 GT are 600/1500MHz, ASUS pre-overclocks this model to 700/1800MHz. Of course it goes without saying that this is one impressive overclock to begin with, but to be pre-overclocked is even more so. NVIDIA's own competitor to the GeForce 8800 GT is the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, a video card that is also priced right for the performance, and can easily take on the GeForce 8800 GTX from a price point.

Similar to reference design, the GeForce 8800 GT employs a single slot cooler, which to us is a massive benefit. Though the card will still get warm, single slot coolers make SLI setup far more manageable since it leaves a lot of breathing room. The downside is that they will still get quite warm during long gaming sessions, but it's all kept within reason. When purchasing an ASUS product, you are usually paying a premium. What the premium gets you can be a variety of things. Extra care is taken with their products to assure you receive something that's top notch, all around and excellent quality is assured.

As we mentioned in the intro, NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GT is a winner all around. It comes in at a great price, offers stellar performance and is really the card to buy right now if you are looking for those things. For a little more oomph, the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB is also a fantastic offering, but where price is concerned, we feel the GeForce 8800 GT really hits the mark, especially if you plan to pair two of them in SLI. Although ASUS' TOP card proved to be better all around above the stock speed Palit offering, the downside is that it's difficult to find in stock anywhere and most e-tailers have the standard version in stock.

The upside is if you purchase a regular Extreme N8800 GT, overclocking should be superb, just like seen with the pre-overclocked version. Palit's card also offered great overclocking on the core, but not so much on the memory, so it appears the memory on these cards are hard to overclock and will be luck of the draw. Both of our cards here hit 700MHz on the core with ease though, so the overclocking room is there for the taking. So while it's hard to out-right recommend this card given that it's impossible to find in stock, we can however fully recommend any GeForce 8800 GT card, as performance and pricing is right.