NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT Video Card Preview

The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

The GeForce 8800 GTs single-slot design encloses all board components behind a metal faceplate, allowing for exceptional thermal conductivity and protection. The board is cooled with an exceptionally quiet on-board fan; even when playing the most intensive 3D games, the GeForce 8800 GT is extremely quiet.

One 6-pin PCI-Express connector is required. The maximum power draw of the board is 105 watts, so it’s more than what the PCI Express slot can handle on older motherboards. If you look at the back of the card you can see the six pins for the PCI-Express power header on the side of the board.

The GeForce 8800 GT features two dual-link, HDCP-enabled DVI-I outputs for connection to analog and digital PC monitors and HDTVs, a 7-pin analog video-out port that supports S-Video directly, plus composite and component (YPrPb) outputs via an optional dongle.

HDCP over dual-link allows video enthusiasts to enjoy high-definition movies on extreme high-resolution panels such as the 30 Dell 3007WFP at 2560 x 1600 with no black borders. The GeForce 8800 GT also provides native support for HDMI, which can be implemented at the discretion of add-in board partners.

An example of a partner card is the MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E, which features the same design as the reference card.