GeForce 7900GTX Round Up
PCI Express x16 graphics cardsChipset GeForce 7900GTX 512 MB, 256 bit
When we first looked at the GeForce 7900GTX, we were both a bit disappointed and relieved, mostly because the GeForce 7900GTX is in most cases just a higher clocked GeForce 7800GTX. Relieved, because NVIDIA have successfully migrated the design of the GeForce 7 series from 0.11 to 0.09 micron without any major incident. In fact, according to them, they were able to set a lower transistor budget for each chip. However, claims of lower production cost didn't necessarily translated to lower prices for GeForce 7900GTX cards. In the first three months since its launch,the GeForce 7900GTX is sold at a premium compared to the GeForce 7800GTX in some countries. No doubt, many retailers and probably distributors in these countries still have some GeForce 7800GTX in stock, so understandably they were reluctant to quickly replace the aging card.
Unlike their rival ATI, NVIDIA has a much 'looser' policy and agreement with their AIB partners. Vendors are free to launch slightly higher clocked variants of standard SKUs. We've first seen this with the GeForce 6 series and the latest GeForce 7900 is no different. Right of the launch, vendors have also announced their own, slightly higher clocked variants of the GeForce 7900GT and 7900GTX. However, it seems all is not well with these higher clocked SKUs. Various reports of artifacts and display corruption with these cards became a subject of many forum posts. Is this a sign of trouble with the GeForce 7900 chip? NVIDIA says no - it seems many vendors didn't employ a more rigorous quality control when determining which GeForce 7900 chip can be used in higher clocked cards. Our take is a little different. The standard GeForce 7900 chip is already working at such a very high frequency, so understandably the chip is very near its theoretical MHz limit. Eager to please consumers (and score favorable reviews), some vendors clocked the chip beyond its margin of safety.
While the situation have improved with these higher clocked SKUs, no doubt its definitely safer to stick to standard, clocked cards. However, that made reviews and comparisons a little bit bland, like we saw with the Radeon X1900XTX. The situation we have with this GeForce 7900GTX is not that different. Of the three cards we managed to get for this round up, all three cards is based on the reference design - same board, cooling solution and core / memory clock speed. These cards are the ASUS EN7900GTX, Gigabyte GeForce 7900GTX and Leadtek PX7900GTX TDH. Both ASUS and Gigabyte didn't have higher clocked SKUs and Leadtek's famed PX7900GTX TDH Extreme was not available for testing.
So why write this article at all then? That's a valid question, but not one we really like to answer. Since many users will likely buy these cards, they certainly will want to know what they're getting, both in terms of performance and bundle. We also have another interest in testing these cards - the GeForce 7 series of cards have a peculiar nature - working at slightly different clocks. Will we get the same performance from different cards? We'll try to answer these questions and look at what these cards have to offer in this article.
Overview
ASUS EN7900GTX
650/800 MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 7900GTX, 512 MB GDDR3Core Clock : 650 MHz
Memory Clock : 800 MHz (1600 MHz GDDR3)
Overall Score: 85 points
The ASUS EN7900GTX is the second GeForce 7900GTX we had the opportunity of testing. Unlike other manufacturers, ASUS don't have a higher clocked version of the GeForce 7900GTX (though there is a GeForce 7900GT TOP), so this is their fastest NVIDIA offering at the moment (not counting the GeForce 7950GX2). Like any other high end ASUS graphics cards, the box is big. We mean big, like bigger than motherboard boxes big. However, once you look inside the box, the bundle is actually less than what they usually offer with their high end cards. You'll find the standard power cables, HDTV dongle / cable and a DVI to analog dongle. Yes that's right - one DVI to analog dongle. While those with LCD monitors or other flat panel displays won't need two analog connections, with the prices we're paying for these cards, you think manufacturers have nothing to lose by supplying a second dongle.
The CD bundle is the usual fan fare from ASUS: a driver CD, a manual CD and the standard applications - a DVD playback and a video editor / capture software. The games are once again the standard ASUS bundle: King Kong and Xpand Rally, definitely not our first choice for high definition gaming. Like we said, the bundle are noticeably less than their other high end cards. In the utilities CD, you'll find some ASUS utility fan fare like the GameFace Messenger, Game LiveShow and Video Security Online. If you install the included ASUS Enhanced Driver, you'll get to use their color enhancing utility, Splendid, and On Screen Display, which enables you to quickly adjust your display properties (brightness, contrast etc) via an OSD you can call with a hot key.
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