MSI 8800GT 512MB Continued

Naked Core

Taking off the cooler we can have a look at the core/chip itself. I've also lined it up next to our 8800GTS 320MB to show the difference between the G92 core and G80 one.

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Although there was quite a drop in die size from the G80 to G92, the latter is still quite a large chip.

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NB. Top: 8800GTS with G80 chip. Bottom: 8800GT with G92 chip.

Installation

Installing an 8800GT is practically a pleasurable experience in comparison with some of the trouble we've had with it's older brothers in the past (8800GTX and Ultra specifically). This is mainly down to the 8800GT being shorter than the previous high end 8 series cards, which means it doesn't overlap the motherboard and therefore doesn't cause mounting problems with front hard drive cages.

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The fact that the GT has only a single slot cooler also helps with mounting as it means you don't have to move any extra cards you have just to fit the monster in. Obviously, with a board like this we wouldn't have to anyway because of the wide spaced PCI-e sockets, but some motherboards would have issues with a dual slot GPU.

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