GeForce 7900GT Round Up
PCI Express x16 graphics cardsChipset GeForce 7900GT 256 MB, 256 bit
Ever since its launch, the GeForce 7900 strongest sales have come from the GeForce 7900GT series. Performance are virtually identical to a GeForce 7800GTX, the old king of the hill, with a much more affordable prices, below USD 400. Of course, it took some time till users all around the world actually enjoy the sub USD 400 price but they are finally here. ATI tried to counter the mass appeal of the GeForce 7900GT with their Radeon X1900GT, but performance was slightly lower and by the time the card was ready, GeForce 7900GT from various vendors have swarm the market.
It wasn't all roses for the GeForce 7900GT though. Ever since the GeForce 6 series, NVIDIA have loosened their policy regarding factory overclocked cards and the GeForce 7900GT has the potential to be another GeForce 4 Ti4200 - an affordable card with a good overclocking potential. Manufacturers quickly seize the opportunity to sell slightly higher clocked SKUs, however it seems that some manufacturers (or both manufacturers and NVIDIA, depending on who you talk to) miscalculated the margin of safety for higher clocked GeForce 7900GTs. Users began complaining about defective cards and after several weeks the issue was finally cleared. Manufacturers begin to adapt a more rigorous testing method in determining which cores can be used for higher clocked SKUs and just how high they can clock the card.
With these issues resolved, the GeForce 7900GT once again takes the spotlight. But this time in tandem - two GeForce 7900 cores is put into a single package and - boom - the GeForce 7950GX2 is here. Well, ok, maybe not as simple is that, but there's no denying that the GeForce 7950GX2 is basically two GeForce 7900GT cores in one card and through SLI, it is recognized as a single card. So now, you can actually have four GeForce 7900GT in a single system - the Quad SLI - even if you only have two PCI-E x16 slots.
What could be better for NVIDIA? By using practically the same chip, they and their partners can offer both an affordable and enthusiast only high end SKUs - the GeForce 7900GT and GeForce 7950GX2. There's no need to push the GeForce 7900GTX anymore and that means they don't have to validate which cores should be used for the GeForce 7900GTX or GeForce 7900GT. With this strategy, it will be easier to get rid of any GeForce 7900 chip still left in inventory. The hardest part of this strategy is not financial or even hardware - it's software and drivers. NVIDIA have to make sure existing and future games will work with SLI and the GeForce 7950GX2. But enough conjecture, let's get back to reality.
NVIDIA's strongest SKUs in the market today is undoubtedly the GeForce 7900GT and 7600GT. We already saw what the GeForce 7600GT, both reference and higher clocked SKUs can do in our last round up. The performance difference, while present, is minimal. The use of a 128 bit memory bus restrains the card from getting enough bandwidth to really stretch its 12 pixel shader units to its maximum potential. So could a higher clocked GeForce 7900GT offer more punch than reference clocked GeForce 7900GT? If it can, would it be significant or even 'just enough'? To answer these questions, we test four cards from different manufacturers: the ASUS EN7900GT TOP, Gigabyte GeForce 7900GT TurboForce (GV-NX79T256DP-RH), Leadtek PX7900GT Extreme and the reference clocked MSI NX7900GT (VT2D256E) to the test.
Overview
ASUS EN7900GT TOP
520/720 MHz
NVIDIA GeForce 7900GT, 256 MB GDDR3Core Clock : 522 MHz
Memory Clock : 720 MHz (1440 MHz GDDR3)
Overall Score: 84 points
The ASUS EN7900GT TOP comes in a box like many other ASUS graphics cards - big. It may be good from a marketing point of view, but it's certainly not that practical - the card is only about a quarter of the box. Looking at the card itself, the card is pretty, well, standard looking. However, a close look reveals some subtle things ASUS has thought thru for this cooler / heatsink design. At first glance, the fan seems quite small, but that's just because the intake is smaller than the fan behind it. The cooler itself is actually small, though the base is on par with any other card. The top and left side of the cooler is hollow, allowing air to quickly flow from the fan, through the fins of the heatsink and out. The secret to this design seems to be the use of a fan with a large number of blades.
Bundle wise, the EN7900GT TOP has more software than any other card or maybe just more CDs. The standard accessories are there: two DVI to analog dongles, a 6 pin ATX power cable and a HDTV dongle. Software wise, in addition to the obligatory driver and utilities CD and the two games bundle - King Kong and Xpand Rally, you'll find a DVD playback software, a video editor and a multimedia pack software. We find the bundle quite a bit odd, since the card itself has no Video input capabilities. Since this sample has made quite some rounds to other reviewers, it is possible the bundle got mixed up with another ASUS card, so it's best to check the website to see what you will be getting with the ASUS EN7900GT TOP.
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