The Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX (also known as Nvidia GeForce Go 8800M GTX) is based upon the desktop G92 chip. It is the top DirectX 10 video chip from Nvidia as of 2007. The GPU was eventually renamed to the Geforce GT 9800M GT.
The most important feature of the GeForce 8800M GTX is the use of "Unified Shaders". There no longer exist any dedicated pixel- and vertex shaders. Instead, 96 so-called stream processors handle most of the graphics work previously done by pixel and vertex shaders. Furthermore, the shader units are clocked higher than the core GPU (1250 MHz versus 800 MHz).
The performance of the 8800M GTX is higher than the performance of the 8700M GT due to the 256 bit wide memory bus and the high amount of Unified Shaders. Up to 512MB GDDR3 VRAM is supported. As of 2007, the 8800M replaces the GeForce 7950 GTX as the top single GPU graphics card. This crown was eventually later taken by the 9800M GTX.
Current 2007 games should run fluently with highest resolutions. Additionally, DirectX 10 games from 2008 (with the exception of Crysis) can be played on the highest details for the very first time. Compared to more recent GPUs, the 8800M GTX is on par with a GTS 360M with GDDR5.
Another feature of the GeForce 8000 series is the integrated PureVideo video processor. The GPU is able to assist the CPU in decoding H.264-, VC-1-, MPEG2- and WMV9 videos.
The power consumption and heat output of the 8800M GTX (rumored at 35 Watt TDP) are clearly higher than with the 8700M GT. As a result, the demanding GPU is only suited for larger notebooks with powerful cooling.
Compared with desktop graphics cards, the 8800M GTX should be similar to the slightly faster clocked 8800 GS (600/900 MHz clock, 192 bit memory interface and 96 Unified Shaders).
The Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTS (also known as nVidia GeForce Go 8800M) is based upon the desktop G92 chip and is essentially a reduced (64 versus 96 Unified Shaders) 9800M GTX chip for DirectX 10.
The most important feature of the GeForce 8800M GTS is its use of "Unified Shaders". Dedicated pixel and vertex shaders are replaced by 64 Stream processors, which now do all the graphics workload previously handled by the two former discrete shaders. Furthermore, the Shader units are clocked higher than the core GPU itself (1250 MHz versus 800 MHz).
The performance of the 8800M GTS should be much greater than the 8700M GT because of the 256 bit wide memory bus and the higher amount of Unified Shaders. Most games of 2007 should run fluently on high detail settings, save for intensive titles such as Crysis and World in Conflict. Models are available in 256 MB and 512 MB GDDR3 versions. Compared to more recent graphics cards, the 8800M GTS performs similarly to the 40nm Nvidia Geforce GTS 250M.
The current consumption and heat output will likely be higher than the 8700M GT, thus making the 8800M GTS suitable for larger notebooks with more powerful cooling solutions.
Two Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX cards are combined in SLI. With this setup, users should be able to play DirectX 10 PC games on high detail settings and resolutions. Nonetheless, not every game supports SLI efficiently. As a result, only an increase of 0-40% is obtainable over a single 8800M GTX, depending on the application and driver support. Overall performance should still be similar to a 9800M GT SLI combination.
A particular feature of the GeForce 8800M GTX SLI is Unified Shaders. Dedicated pixel and vertex shaders have been replaced with 2x96 Stream Processors, which have now taken over much of the graphics rendering work. The Shader units are also clocked higher than the core chip itself (1250 MHz versus 800 MHz).
The performance of an 8800M GTX in SLI is much better than an 8700M GT in SLI and even the GeForce 7950 GTX in SLI.
The current consumption (about 2x35 Watt TDP) and created heat of dual 8800M GTX cards are much higher compared to the 8700M GT in SLI. This reserves the 8800M GTX SLI setup for larger laptops with more powerful (and possibly louder) cooling solutions.
1250 MHz Shader clock, PureVideo technologie (H.264, VC-1, MPEG2, WMV9 decoding acceleration), HDCP-capable, PowerMizer 7.0 energy administration (dynamic switching between performance and current consumption), HDR (High Dynamic-Range Lighting), designed for Windows Vista, Dual-Link DVI-D exits for TFT resolutions of up to 2560x1600, PCI-E 16x, OpenGL 2.1, Gigathread technology
1250 MHz Shader clock, probably: PureVideo technology (H.264, VC-1, MPEG2, WMV9 decoder acceleration), HDCP-capable, PowerMizer 7.0 energy management (dynamic switching between performance and energy saving), HDR (high dynamic-range lighting), designed for Windows Vista, Dual-Link DVI-D exits for resolutions from TFT up to 2560x1600, PCI-E 16x, OpenGL 2.1, Gigathread technology
1250 MHz Shader frequence, probably: PureVideo Technology (H.264, VC-1, MPEG2, WMV9 Decoder acceleration), HDCP-capable, PowerMizer 7.0 energy management (dynamic switching between performance and energy saving), HDR (High Dynamic-Range Lighting), designed for Windows Vista, Dual-Link DVI-D exits for resolutions of TFT up to 2560x1600, PCI-E 16x, OpenGL 2.1, Gigathread technology
Average Benchmarks NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX → 100%n=8
Average Benchmarks NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS → 78%n=8
Average Benchmarks NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX SLI → 138%n=8
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card - Average benchmark values for this graphics card * Smaller numbers mean a higher performance 1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
Game Benchmarks
The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.