For quite a while, NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GTX was the ultimate video card, and for good reason. It was plenty fast, offered an outstanding 768MB of GDDR3 memory and for quite a while, was the fastest card the company had. Put two together in SLI, and the drool began to flow uncontrollably. Not counting the GeForce 8800 Ultra card, the GeForce 8800 GTX first gained real competition when NVIDIA themselves released a GeForce 8800 GTS follow-up, in the form of the 512MB version. While the older GeForce 8800 GTS cards included either 320MB or 640MB of memory and a 320-bit memory bus, the 512MB version upped the stream processors and cut back to a 256-bit bandwidth. - Techgage

ASUS Extreme N8800 GTS TOP Edition Board Review

The corners cut sure didn't effect the cards performance, however. In all regards, the GeForece 8800 GTS 512MB proves faster than the older models, and also beats out the previous king, the GeForce 8800 GTX. In some of the benchmarks, each card swaps places for the top spot, but the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB proved to be an immediate great choice at launch, especially considering that GTX and Ultra cards were still priced much higher. By purchasing an GeForce 8 series card now, you are not holding yourself back in any way, with regard to a feature set. Although we haven't seen much with the GeForce 9800 GTS yet.

The GeForce 9800 GTX was released yesterday, and the various articles all over prove that it's not much faster than a GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, so where a GeForce 9800 GTS would fit in is beyond us. Perhaps it won't launch, after all. This particular card from ASUS is interesting, because of it's TOP status, which means this card is clocked higher than regular GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB cards. Because of their clock increases, this TOP card is faster than a GeForce 9800 GTX, as the core clock is set to 740MHz. However, a stock GeForce 8800 GTS versus the new GeForce 9800 GTX would reveal a different story.

The ASUS Extreme N8800 GTS 512MB is one of the best looking cards out there, in our opinion. It's clean, effective and looks great when paired in SLI mode. Since the entire card is covered, a leaf blower fan is used to push warm air off of the GPU and out towards the back. The 6-pin PCI Express connector can be found on the end also. Like most recent higher-end GPU's, the Extreme N8800 GTS 512MB includes dual DVI ports and also a TV-out. NVIDIA might have their GeForce 9 series here and new models en route, but the GeForce 8 series are still relevant and can stand the heat quite well.

Should you pick up a GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB now, with the GeForce 9800 GTX available? That can be answered a few different ways. Should you if you can get a great price on a GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB? Yes, most definitely. As mentioned, overclocking even a little bit will hit or exceed the GeForce 9800 GTX performance, so all you will be doing is saving money. However, dollar for dollar, the GeForce 9800 GTX makes more sense because it is faster. However, most GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB cards right now retail for $300 or less while the GeForce 9800 GTX almost universally retails for $330.

We checked out a higher clocked version of a GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB card, but the fact remains that any GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB is going to perform exceptionally well and even more so if it has an ounce of overclocking ability. It's a fantastic offering, and unless the GeForce 9 series offerings begin to come down in price, the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB remains a solid choice.