ASUS EN7800GT
400/500 MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT, 256 MB GDDR3Core Clock : 405 MHz
Memory Clock : 501 MHz (1002 MHz GDDR3)
Overall Score: 82.5 points
One look at this card, you're forgiven if you think that's ASUS EN6800GT, the two really does look very similar to each other, down to the heatsink and blue PCB and LED. Make no mistake though, the EN7800GT packs more punch per dollar than the GeForce 6800GT. Since it's using the same cooling solution as their GeForce 6800GT, it does gets slightly hot, but still way below the 7800GTX. However, one thing that really stands out is the noise - the EN7800GT is fairly louder than ASUS own GeForce 6800GT and 7800GTX. It's not loud, but you can definitely notice the sound the fan emits. Since the card does not throttle down or up, the sound stays the same when you're viewing the desktop or playing games.
Just like the GeForce 6800GT, the cooling solution does not put that much pressure on the PCB, that's why ASUS can make do with just a core backplate. The absence of memory chips on the back of the card also negates the need for additional memory heatsink.
You can definitely see the heatsink making good, solid contact with both core and memory chips. ASUS opted to use thermal padding between the heatsink and memory to help transfer heat - we still think thermal paste and a more direct contact will be better. Thankfully, the memory does not get that hot to really matter. Unfortunately, there's one thing we have to nitpick - you can clearly see the PCB is slightly bent, more than the WinFast PX7800GTX TDH. Quite strange, since the purpose of the backplate is to avoid this very problem. We think ASUS should take a closer look at their mounting procedures to see whether or not this is a real problem or just this unit.
Looks like all vendors are just churning out reference cards nowadays. ASUS own SmartDoctor utility (again) does not feature hardware monitoring, so it's basically only an overclocking tool. We had to use RivaTuner to get temperature measurements (via the standard thermal probe on all GeForce 6 / 7 cores). As you can see on the graph below, the GeForce 7800GT maintains the same clock at all times. The temperature of this card is pretty stable and doesn't get very high - topping of at around 50 ° Celsius.
The bundle of this card is pretty standard - you have the bundled application and manual CDs, three games (Project Snowblind, Joint Operations and Expand Rally). The card is also equipped with TV/ HDTV output and video input features. The CD case (which is also present on their GeForce 7800GTX) is also included here, but we think it's more of a novelty than a bonus.
Gigabyte 7800GT
400/500 MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT, 256 MB GDDR3Core Clock : 405 MHz
Memory Clock : 501 MHz (1002 MHz GDDR3)
Overall Score: 85 points
The last card in our round up is the Gigabyte's GeForce 7800GT. This is the GV-NX78X256VP-B, which includes video input and HDTV output support. One look at the card, and we came to the conclusion that Gigabyte should've made some improvements to make this card really appealing. First of all, the air intake should have been wider. The absence of backplates is also a concern, but it is a minor point. One thing that we have to give kudos to is their fan control. Just like a GeForce 6800GT, the fan will spin up audibly during boot up but slows down to a whisper on entering the desktop. The noise levels stays the same both on the desktop and when playing a game. We think that this is an acceptable compromise considering the cost (around 5 to 7 ° Celsius.).
Even without the absence of a core backplate, Gigabyte still manages to avoid bending the PCB and of course, achieve good, solid contact with both core and memory chips. The standard thermal padding is again used to help heat transfer from the memory chips to the heatsink. Not too many manufacturers are aware of this matter it seems, nice to know Gigabyte care enough about this.
As to be expected, the Gigabyte GeForce 7800GT doesn't include any controllable hardware monitoring, relying on basic hardware monitoring functions in the Forceware drivers (core temperature monitoring only). Gigabyte's own VTuner 2 utility can change both core and memory clock, but for more serious overclocking (and temperature measurement) you definitely want to use third party utilities. In RivaTuner's hardware monitoring graph below, you can see again the GeForce 7800GT stays perfectly flat without clock changes indifferent to whether you're looking at the desktop or running 3D applications and games. Temperature does get slightly higher than the ASUS EN7800GT - we expected that since it has a narrower air intake.
The bundle for this card is not that different from their own GTX, sans the second DVI to analog dongle and Joint Operations is swapped by SpellForce: Order of Dawn (the second game remains Expand Rally). The TV / HDTV output and video input dongle and cables are present, but you'll have to find your own video capture / editing software.
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