8800GT is king, DDR3 is prince: 8800GT roundup

IF YOU STILL don’t know which 8800GT to pick up, then HotHardware has some info wedeemworth reading. It’s an 8800GT roundup with ASUS, MSI and eVGA, that alsomixes some benches from Radeon HD3870, HD3850, HD2900XT and the HD2600XT. Theyalso did some overclocking just to see which one would blow first. Funny enough– they’re all winners.
DDR3 is to RAM what Prince William is to the royals – the next (andapparently the only) big thing. Taking that in mind, Tom’s boy - Thomas - has aDDR3 roundup with Aeneon, G.Skill, Kingston, Patriot, Super Talent, Wintec, OCZand Mushkin kit. You’ll have to hunt down the price yourself as most of this kitisn’t even listed online. This really is a matter of performance vs. cost, soreadthe results here.
PCStats has a review of theOCZPC2-6400 ReaperX HPC Enhanced Bandwidth 2x2GB kit. This high-performingmemory has the unusual heatpipe+fins combo. They focused on overclocking thememory, but remember we’re talking a higher density chip here, 2GB per DIMM –and they say they were very impressed with the overall performance. It could bea good way to stick 8GB on a 4 slot mobo and keep the performance above thepack.
Driver Heaven also has some RAM on review. More specifically two pieces fromdifferent memory vendors: OCZ and Kingston – a 4GB DDR2-800 and 2GB DDR2-1066kits respectively. They actually pit them against each other. Their greatestasset is their price – you can top your system for very little money (whencompared to DDR3, of course). You can look at the apples and orangeshere.
Aeneon also shipped out some DDR3-1333 memory toOverclockersClub, which they obliged with a review. This is XTune 2x1GB kit and OCC wasable to tighten the screws on the latency, getting a bit more bang-for-your-buckout of them. They also make for good overclocking, with an extra 180MHz squeezedout. No one’s naming their child after them, but their only real competitor inthe test is OCZ, thinks the reviewer.
Nikoat R&B Mods wrote up his take on the ASUS 8800GT Top. This littlebeastie outperforms the 8800GTS on test and at the resolution it was tested, itactually nibbles a bit of the GTX’s heels. If you game at 1024x768 or 1280x1024,the Top looks like a great deal. If you’re going above that, take a look at aG92 GTS, or possibly a GTX.
You all know what BFG stands for. Yes, graphics cards and mobos. Well, BFGalso has a less-known (in Europe, at least) PSU product line. Hardware Logictakes a look at the BFG Tech 800W PSU (no fancy names here!). It isn’t 80 Plus,but that’s not really the selling point. Want to know more?Wibblethis way.
ITReviews.co.ukthink DAAMIT is on track with the HD3870. They tested their first big red toy(RV670) and came up with a big thumbs-up rating. Not that it’s the bestperformer on the market, mind you, but rather the most adequately gifted in theprice/performance chapter. It’ll run you £160 online.