NVIDIA 7800 GT Mini-Roundup

by Josh Venning on December 8, 2005 12:05 AM EST
ASUS Extreme N7800 GT

ASUS is a company that is fairly well known for making quality parts, and their 7800 GT is no exception. There are, apparently, two versions of the ASUS Extreme N7800 GT and they are exactly the same except that the blue LED edition sports a different look than its competitors in this review. It's the only 7800 GT that we've looked at that has unique LED lighting in the heat sink, making the card glow a soft blue color. The heat sink itself is modified from the reference design by replacing parts of the sink with raised pins and ribs on the edges. This might mean more efficient heat dissipation for user- overclocking, and we were, in fact, able to get a high clock speed on this card when testing it, which we will talk about later in our review.

The box that the ASUS EN7800 GT came in was much larger than the boxes for the other two 7800 GTs, and we can't help but think that this is a bit wasteful. At any rate, the box, like the card, is impressive-looking, with a colorful image of a CG character's face wearing an intense expression above the card name (the “EXTREME” in the name adds to this effect).

The ASUS Extreme N7800 GT is factory clocked at reference clock speeds, with a core clock speed of 400MHz, and memory clock of 1.0GHz. This means that it won't be quite as fast as our other two cards, but as our performance tests will show, the card is anything but slow. The only thing extra bundled with the card aside from standard drivers and software was Project Snowblind, an older game whose graphics wouldn't even begin to tax the 7800 GT.

Index XFX GeForce 7800 GT Overclocked
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  • Sunrise089 - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    I appreciate this write up - the holidays are here, and many of us are in the market for a video card, so this comparison is helpfull. Your comparison of the cards, and your power and overclocking results were nice to see. Nice choice of games for a quick review as well. That said:

    1) Why did you overclock the cards, and then not test the overclocked cards in the three games you choose? This is especially important considering the plateau issue with OC'ing the cards - maybe the eVGA would have jumped to the next level of performance, making it the clear choice.

    2) Why oh why does Anandtech insist on not including any other cards in so many of its video articles. PLEASE PLEASE just add a 7800GTX and a X850XT to the chart. If you really went all out and showed us the 3 7800GTs, the same cards OC'd, the 7800GTX, the X850XT, a 6800GS, and either a X800GTO or an X800XL then this comparison might actually help someone decide whether or not to upgrade and what card they should buy to get their desired level of performance.

    Seriousely AT, just comparing the overclocked 7800GT to a GTX and a 6800GS would be so helpfull for someone buying a card this month, you all should have been able to realize that.
  • Zenbeatnik - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    Ditto. I also wouldn't mind seeing a few other processors that more or less reflect the average user thrown into the review. You know maybe like a 3700 E4, an X2 3800+, or an Opteron would be useful for a lot more people that are thinking about adding a 7800GT.
  • ksherman - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    I am NOT likin the little circuit city popup... dont tell me AT is getting into popups...
  • icepik - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    Agreed. The flashy adds on either side of the article are plenty and should generate sufficient revenue. There is no justification to throw annoying pop-up ads into the mix especially on an enthusiast site.
  • KristopherKubicki - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    Hi,

    The banner ad is rogue - some 3rd party advertiser has it inserted in one of their streams. We are working on getting rid of it ASAP.

    Kristopher
  • shabby - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    Firefox + adblock = no ads, period
  • bupkus - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    Ditto. I really hate those things. I tried to tell myself that it costs to run this site but can't help how I feel about pop-ups.
  • bupkus - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    I guess the close button on the pop-up is timed to stay open for a specified time. IOW, it doesn't work.
  • phaxmohdem - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    No sh8t I hate those stupid animated pops as well. Come on anand, WTF???

    Back on topic, that Asus card looks frickin sweet IMO. Would be a great centerpiece for a flashy system build.
  • toattett - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - link

    I don't think the picture of Anandtech's eVGA 7800GT CO is correct.

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