GeForce 8800 series round-up

EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTX KO 768MB ACS³ Edition:

Core Clock: 626MHz
Shader Clock: 1458MHz (according to RivaTuner)
Memory Clock: 2000MHz
Warranty: 10 years (parts and labour) in Europe & EVGA 90-day Step-Up programme
Price (as reviewed): £449.98 (including VAT)
Latest UK Pricing
Latest US Pricing


EVGA is one of the few partners to move away from the reference cooling solution, although we should use that term fairly loosely because, while the company has done something different to most of the other board partners, the underlying technology in its ACS³ cooling solution is the same as the reference cooler. ACS³ simply adds a bit more meat into the equation.

With its ACS³ Edition, EVGA has increased the clock speeds quite considerably over the reference clocks specified by Nvidia. The core clock has been increased by just under 9% and the memory clock has an equally healthy clock speed increase of 11%. Using RivaTuner’s clock monitoring utility, we also found that the card is running with an increased stream processor clock of around 1458MHz – that’s an 8% increase over the default 1350MHz clock.

In order to counter-act the increased heat that comes with the higher clock speeds, EVGA has beefed up Nvidia’s cooling solution with the help of Arctic Cooling. Instead of the plastic cover, there’s an oversized black anodised aluminium shroud that is said to help spread heat more effectively. On the reverse side of the card, there’s also a heatspreader covering the back of the GPU and memory chips to help radiate even more of the heat produced by the card.

Down the top edge of the card, there’s some EVGA branding that you’ll be able to see through your case window – it’s amazing to think that very few manufacturers actually do this, but it’s a good way for EVGA to get its name out there even more. Personally, I’m not a fan of the overly bulky look to the card, but that’s my own personal preference; it may float other people’s boats, though. With that said, it’s not really going to matter once the card is installed in your system so long as it performs well and is backed up with a solid support programme.

Thankfully, that’s something that EVGA does incredibly well. The company is renowned for its after sales support in much the same way as BFGTech is, and it manages to go one step further than BFG by giving its customers the opportunity to step-up in the first 90 days of ownership. With this being EVGA’s flagship product, there is currently nothing faster to ‘step-up’ to, but that’s not to say there isn’t the chance of faster cards turning up in the next three months.

All of EVGA’s boxes are functional, with information detailing the interface required and the features supported by the product – in the case of the 8800 GTX ACS³ Edition, the card requires a PCI-E interface and, as with all 8800-series cards, is HDCP compliant. Unlike most of EVGA’s cards, which come in a moulded plastic cam shell, the 8800 GTX ACS³ is packed in an anti-static bag inside a foam enclosure that helps to protect the card during shipping.

The selection of included extras is essentially the same as what came with the e-GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB Superclocked card, but there is one addition: a second PCI-Express power cable is added to the bundle because the GTX requires two to operate. In addition to the two PCI-Express power cables there is a pair of DVI-to-VGA converters, an S-Video cable and a component cable. The bundle is rounded off with a couple of EVGA case stickers, a user’s guide and a driver/utility CD.

Warranty & Support:

In the UK, EVGA offers a 10 year warranty (equivalent to lifetime) and it follows the same terms as the US lifetime warranty. You can find full details of the warranty programme on the EVGA home page. In addition, EVGA also has a lively message board, where you can ask EVGA representatives about anything you'd like to know before or after purchasing an EVGA product.

One thing that sets EVGA above other NVIDIA partners is its support programme. When you purchase an EVGA video card, the company gives you the chance to step up to something better in the first 90 days after the initial purchase. In order to qualify for this, you must purchase your EVGA video card from an authorised reseller – purchasing a card from eBay or another auction site does not qualify you for the Step-Up programme. You can read the full terms and conditions on EVGA's website.

Providing you meet EVGA's very reasonable terms and conditions, you will get the full amount you paid knocked off the cost of the card you're upgrading to. Obviously, you can't keep stepping up to something faster – EVGA allows you to complete one Step-up on each video card purchase; the Step-up doesn't count as a purchase.