Overclocking:

     As we highlighted in the features for the NX88T512HP, Gigabyte has built the card with only the highest quality electrical components. While this will surely lead to a product with high performance and longevity, it also means that we overclockers should have a little room to play.

     Gigabyte has even supplied a tool that we can use. Gamer HUD is an overclocking tool with a graphical interface that lets us adjust the cards Voltage, CORE GPU, Shader, and Memory clock speeds.  To enable overclocking, you simply select the Enable button next to the 2D/3D Auto-optimized label. There is even a temperature and GPU utilization monitor.

     Of course there are warning messages that pop-up to inform you that what you are about to do could damage your hardware.  If you really need a pop-up to tell you that, then you're in the wrong place. If you don't want to risk turning that nice shiny new card into a paperweight, just hit that big X in the top right of the application window.

    Having the right tool to peg down the highest stable overclock makes the job easier, but it's still pretty monotonous. I did it the old fashioned way, watching the benchmark runs myself and looking for graphical anomalies.  I used 3D Mark 2006 again and ran the same benchmarks as before. No matter how many times those folks on the ship get attacked, they still aren't smart enough to keep the door closed.

    Keeping in mind that Gigabyte has already raised the default clock values on this card, I was still able to push the clocks up even further. A GPU Core clock of 770Mhz and a Memory clock speed of 1066 were found first. Then I edged the Shader clock up to 1833. The results;

     Overclocking definitely helped increase the overall score. While a nice fat score may look good on paper, here is a look at the individual components to see where the gains took place.

     Conclusion:

      Generally, the $199 mark is where the majority of causal gamers will begin looking when it comes time to purchase a new video card. In the PC world, waiting for that next best thing usually means that all the older cards are going to get racked and stacked as the newer cards dominate the market and take on a higher street price. In this case, the Gigabyte GV-NX88T512HP is a new card - at least it's based on the new core revision.

     Gigabyte even took the card a step further by clocking it higher than the reference design 8800GT. While this is nothing new in the world of mainstream videocard manufacturing, the fact that we were able to squeeze even more performance out of the card really speaks for the quality of its construction.

     Seeing cards shipped with a software title usually means that the consumer has to pay a little more than if the card were offered in a brown box - OEM style. However, the other offerings in the box help to make the card more useful for those looking to build a home theater PC system that has some gaming potential. Not to mention the VGA/DVI adapters. It won't be long until we should start seeing DVI to HDMI adapters included with video cards, but that's still a little further off. First, we need to see Analog PC displays go away - and that in itself is still a long way off.

Note: Club Overclocker is now using a new rating system based on a score of 1 to 5.
Please go to our rating system page for more information.

Performance:	5 out of 5
Innovation:	4 out of 5
Quality:	5 out of 5
Stability:	5 out of 5
Aesthetics:	4 out of 5
Software/Drivers Pack:	3 out of 5
Overclocking:	4 out of 5
Value:	4 out of 5
Project Skill Level (5 being most difficult)	3 out of 5

Intro & Specs The 8800GT Up Close The Test System Testing Part 1 Testing Part 2 Testing - 3DMark06 Testing - 3DMark Vantage Overclocking Conclusion