Point of View GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB EXO Edition u našem se testiranju pokazala kao vrlo zanimljiva kartica. U usporedbi s Gainwardovim modelom Bliss 8800GTS 320MB GS, POV EXO Edition nudi nešto viši tvornički takt GPU-a i memorije, a time i bolje performanse direktno iz kutije. Overclockerski potencijal je također odličan budući da smo karticu s tvorničkog takta od 575/1800 MHz (GPU/memorija) uspjeli podići na 621/2016 MHz što je vrlo blisko taktovima koje nudi GF 8800 GTX. Point of View se nažalost nije odlučio na overclockanje stream procesora što bi urodilo još boljim mogućnostima ove kartice. Općenito, uz brz procesor ova kartica je odličan izbor za igranje u rezoluciji 1280×1024 (s uključenim AA, AF i HDR efektima), a dobro se nosi i s nešto višom wide rezolucijom 1680×1050. Ipak, treba napomenuti da zbog manje količine memorije u odnosu na snažnije modele u novijim naslovima dolazi do osjetnog pada performansi s prelaskom na više rezolucije pa to svakako treba imati na umu ako posjedujete veći monitor.

Manje sjajna strana priče je slabašan bundle koji se u principu svodi na set TV-out kabela te DVI/D-SUB adaptere. S obzirom da se radi o kartici namijenjenoj gejmerima i zahtjevnijim korisnicima, ne bi bilo naodmet da se u kutiji osim kabela i adaptera nalazi i primjerak novije igre ili recimo podloška za miša. Cijena kartice je oko 2700 kn što odgovara osjetno većim performansama koje ima u odnosu na modele koji rade na frekvenciji specificiranoj od strane nVidije. Distributer Point of View kartica za hrvatsko tržište je tvrtke M SAN Grupa (tel.: 01/3654-900).

Conclusion

Through the course of our tests, Point of View GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB EXO Edition proved itself as a very interesting card. In comparison to Gainward Bliss 8800GTS 320MB GS, last 8800 GTS card we tested, POV EXO Edition offers slightly higher factory clock of GPU and memory and with that, higher "out of the box" performance. Overclocking potential of this card is also pretty good. We managed to overclock our test sample from factory clock of 575/1800 MHz (GPU/memory) to 612/2016 MHz which is very close to reference clocks of GF 8800 GTX. Unfortunately, Point of View decided against fiddling with clock of stream processors (this is also known as "shader domain" clock) what would undoubtedly yield even greater performance. In general, with fast CPU this graphics card is excellent choice for playing in 1280×1024 resolution (with antialiasing, anisotropic filtering and HDR turned on) and it handles even higher resolutions like 1680×1050/1600×1200 pretty well. Still, we need to emphasize that smaller size of video memory in comparison to GTS 640 MB and GTX models causes sharp performance drop at higher resolutions and you should have this in mind if you are owner of a larger monitor (21" CRT, 22"/24" LCD and higher).

Less shiny part of the whole story is rather weak bundle consisted of standard array of TV-out cables and couple of DVI/D-SUB adapters. Cosidering EXO Edition’s main customers are gamers and enthusiasts, adding one newer game or mouse pad with EXO Edition logo in the bundle would make this card stand out a bit more from the competiton. Price of the card in Croatian stores is about 2700 kn, slightly higher than the price of cards which are using reference NVIDIA clocks, but justified cosidering resulting performance boost. Point of View distributor for croatian market is M SAN Grupa.