Introduction

We've been looking at NVIDIA's 7800 GTX graphics cards lately, and the different vendor modifications have shown some impressive performance results. NVIDIA is still the reigning champion of graphics cards right now, and has been since the release of the 7800 series. While the 7800 GTX has more than proven NVIDIA's capabilities, it's also managed to make gamers on a budget cringe when thinking about buying one. With the lowest 7800 GTXs at around $500, many PC owners are finding it very hard to justify owning one, no matter how powerful it is.

But now there's some good news. Aiming for another group of consumers, NVIDIA has decided to release a slightly less powerful (and less expensive) version of the G70: the 7800 GT. This could mean lower prices for potentially not-so-much-less performance, and we're very interested to see what these cards are capable of.

We've already looked at how the 7800 GT ranks alongside the GTX and other graphics cards, including dual-card SLI setups, and you can take a look at the review here. We've seen how, performance-wise, the 7800 GT falls in between the 7800 GTX and 6800 Ultra, and in these next reviews, we will be looking at the different 7800 GTs and comparing them much like we did with the 7800 GTXs. There will be some changes, however, with fewer reviews that will cover more than one card.

In this article, the first of the NVIDIA 7800 GT reviews, we'll be looking at the XFX GeForce 7800 GT Overclocked. As with the 7800 GTX, we will be doing a series of articles focusing on individual aspects of each of the different vendor cards that we can get a hold of, and comparing them to each other as time goes on. We'll be looking at performance, as well as power load, heat, and noise levels, and also how the different cards overclock. As always, price will be one of the biggest factors in how these cards compare, and we'll be keeping you updated on price trends as we review each card.

The Card
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  • Leper Messiah - Thursday, September 1, 2005 - link

    I am SO buying one of these to upgrade my 9800np. The thing is starting to die in warhammer 40K and BF2, and my resolution sweet spot is 1600x1200, which means I can max everything with this card and run fine.


    I cool my 9800np with a zalman VF-7000 Al-Cu, or whatever it is...you know what I mean. I wonder if that will fit on there, would be nice to see a 480/1300 or something with my BGA ramsinks...
  • blckgrffn - Friday, September 2, 2005 - link

    Apparently the 7800GT cards are too cheap to warrant Nvidia requiring a temperature sensing fan like the 7800GTX cards. How about that.

    *owner of a BFG 7800GT from Dell for $345 w/25 pack spindle of CD-R's :)
  • NullSubroutine - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link

    Do we have to request 1280x1024 benchmarks still? I have to believe that alot of us out there have 19" lcd's that run native(max) at this res, so we dont really care what the speeds are at 16x12.
  • n7 - Thursday, September 1, 2005 - link

    NullSubroutine: There is a reason why AT doesn't bother testing at 1280x1024.

    With a 7800 series card, nearly all games are CPU-limited, meaning there will be basically no difference in performance, since the CPU is holding everything back.

    Something many people fail to compregend is that the 7800s aren't really necessary if you don't have a 1600x1200 monitor or higher.
  • Rocket321 - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link

    I think reviewing 2-3 cards per article would be best. That way we don't wait weeks for a huge roundup, and we also get to see the aspects of multiple cards at the same time. I don't mind the individual reviews either, but the first one is always less useful and the last one tends to be the most useful due to having more comparisons.

    --Rocket321
  • Houdani - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link

    I'm city folk, and don't have an ounce of cowpoke in me, but that won't stop me from expressing an opinion of what I think life is like out on the range.

    When herding cows, the preferred method is to gather them all up and move them as a group. In other words, ROUNDUP! Sure a stray bovine might wander off, in which case you may ride out and bring back that individual, but generally speaking it's best to round all the cows up en masse and move them as a collective group.

    Likewise, when herding video cards, the preferred method is...[wink]
  • UltraWide - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link

    How come the 7800GT is so noisy compared to the 7800GT-X.

    I did notice my BFG 7800GT is too dang loud. Maybe I should return it and get a 7800GTX???
  • Marlowe - Thursday, September 1, 2005 - link

    A friend recently bought a Gigabyte 7800 GT and that's very noisy as well! Looks like the same cooler. Mounting a Zalman vf700cu would fix it. Anybody got cards from other brands? Post in!
  • photoguy99 - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link

    Is there any conclusion on if this is true?

    Didn't see if the benchmarks used the driver that only reviewers have.

    According to the "reliable" source below, best case is you will lose 3% performance in high quality modes.

    http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25820">http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25820
  • Live - Monday, September 5, 2005 - link

    I think Derek and/or Josh really should write something about this. Since it really invalidates the HQ benches and puts questions on the review process here at AnandTech. Why wasn’t this spotted when the original reviews came out? If ATI has something like this in there upcoming products I would sure like to know when I read the review here at AnandTech.

    Hexus has a write up and an apology.

    http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dX...">http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dX...
    http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=53394">http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=53394

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