Test Setup and Performance
The EVGA 7800GTX KO is without a doubt the fastest 7800 that we've reviewed so far. As expected, our tests ran nice and fast, and our framerates were high. All of our games looked great and played smoothly, but we've come to expect this from any of NVIDIA's 7800 graphics cards.This is the test system that we've been using:
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 Processor
1 GB OCZ 2:2:2:6 DDR400 RAM
Seagate 7200.7 120 GB Hard Drive
OCZ 600 W PowerStream Power Supply
As we mentioned in the last review, we like to focus more on how these cards compare out of the box than with manual overclocking. This is simply because each card overclocks differently and you may not get the same results that we do when overclocking any given card. As expected, we saw that the EVGA 7800GTX KO reached the highest framerates of all the others, and we also saw the highest increase in performance from our reference card (which comes clocked at 430MHz, the same as the MSI's).
Manual overclocking is where the KO will, in a sense, break new ground. This is the first card that we've been able to test with its core clock set above 499MHz. We actually reached up to 515MHz initially, but dropped it back to 500MHz because of the issues that we mentioned earlier (it will give us the same performance). This high clock speed does allow quite impressive framerates and the numbers speak for themselves.
As has been the case with past 7800s that we've reviewed, there aren't any major leaps in performance between the cards. There is still somewhat of a tight grouping in framerates as you can see by the graphs. Just to summarize, in terms of performance (out of the box), we see the EVGA e-GeForce 7800GTX KO at the top, followed by the BFG 7800GTX OC, then EVGA's e-GeForce GTX (450MHz), and at the bottom is the MSI NX7800GTX (and NVIDIA reference card).
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rqle - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
I actually enjoy editors views on different issue, doesnt really bother me if it left or right or if i agree or disagree. It seems to make the website more of a discussion and community base site then a boring TECH newspapers. Same way i enjoy Anand blog, his views and how he sees things makes this site a whole lot friendlier . I'll admit, he does avoid certain 'heated' issue or doesnt want to be bother with them and i respect that. If plain tech info is all i want, i would be reading the manufacture website and graphs which get quite boring. Ill have to admit i do think the added heatsink(workable or not) and warranty does make it worth while. Probably going to end up disagreeing with Kyle, to me doesnt make him less of a person. I actually thinks it neat that he does express issue like this big or small.RaistlinZ - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
How can you say buying this card is not in your best interest? For those that want BF2 it's a decent buy, and the performance speaks for itself.These would make a good choice if you plan on running in SLI since you're GUARANTEED that you'll get 490core/1300mem out of the box.
SpaceRanger - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
You're paying extra and NOT getting BF2... This card sells for 60 bucks more, and all you get is a metal box around an old heatsink design, and no BF2..SpaceRanger - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Ohh. Sorry.. unless you have an extra $112 to burn, get the KO BF2 bundle;..BF2 costs 112 bucks?? I doubt it..
DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
You forgot to count the premium they charge for the highest clock speed we've tested yet. Out of the box this is the fastest 7800 GTX we've seen. XFX has a card clocked similarly which we will be testing soon.The EVGA KO with BF2 is now listed as http://labs.anandtech.com/search.php?q=evga+7800">$599 on our pricing engine. The 450/1.2 clocked EVGA with BF2 comes in at $529 making the overclock a $70 cost. Of course $540 could get yout the KO without BF2 now which is only $40 more than the 450/1.2 EVGA.
It's amazing how much prices can change in a day.
Anyway, RAM sinks on the back and a heatsink on the back of the GPU really do seem to make a difference in our overclock tests even if the HSF solution isn't revolutionary as a whole. At least EVGA is doing something different. And as someone who is constantly swapping cards, the fact that the entire pcb is protected is quite an advantage.
In the end it's up to the buyer. But our numbers show the performance advantages (both out of the box and in overclocking). Take it or leave it.
bob661 - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
You can get it at Monarch for $560 and on ZZF for $579. So I don't understand the price issue here.
DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
you're looking at the wrong product ... you can't find the KO with BF2 for less than 600 ... if you want the KO without BF2 its available for as low as 540 ... Those are the prices at Monarch. ZipZoomFly is more expensive ... I don't know what's up with your price info, but make sure you are looking at the KO version.SpaceRanger - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
http://www.hardocp.com/newsarchives.html?news=QXVn...">Link to HardOCP's calling out against EVGA.. It's down a bit in the news archive but its there.SignalPST - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
Does the EVGA e-GeForce 7800GTX KO come with Dual-Link DVI ports?DerekWilson - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
As we've said before, we haven't found a 7800 GTX card without a dual-link DVI chip.We'll keep you guys posted if we find one without this feature.