Final Words

Even though we didn't test as many games as we usually do, there is quite a bit of data to digest. On the high end, the 7900 GTX generally performs around the X1900 XT and X1900 XTX. This isn't a blow out victory for either NVIDIA or ATI as far as performance goes, and it looks like we have some very good competition here.

In general, SLI edges out CrossFire in most cases. Under F.E.A.R., Quake 4 and BF2 at high resolutions, SLI shows a larger performance increase than CrossFire. Splinter Cell does do a good job of showing the potential of Crossfire, but as of now we don't see as many games scaling as well with CrossFire as they do with SLI.

While the 7900 GT generally spent its time at the bottom of our high end tests, remember that it performs slightly better than a stock 7800 GTX. This puts it squarely at or better than the X1800 XL and X1800 XT. We didn't include these cards as ATI seems to be backing away from the X1800 lineup with the exception of the X1800 GTO that we were unable to obtain for this launch. As the X1800 GTO looks like a cut down X1800 XL, we can certainly expect the 7900 GT to outperform it as well.

The 7600 GT does quite a good job of splitting the performance difference between the 6800 GS and the 7800 GT. NVIDIA is hoping that we will concentrate on how well the 7600 GT does in comparison to the X1600 XT, but unless the price of the 7600 GT falls to about $150 really fast the comparison isn't really fair. The 6800 GS already performs better than the X1600 and can be found for about $170. It's clear the 7600 GT needs to be positioned against a faster offering from ATI such as their upcoming X1800 GTO. With the X1800 GTO poised to come in at between $250 and $300, we would expect it to compete more with the 7900 GT which will come in somewhere between $300 and $350. The next step up in ATI's lineup after the X1600 XT will be the X1800 GTO, so we need to take that into consideration when looking at the 7600 GT (even though it should be less expensive than the ATI part).

The bottom line here is that it all comes down to price. With the close competition at the high end, we still really don't recommend the X1900 XTX which generally comes in between $580 and $650. In order for the 7900 GTX to really look good compared to the X1900 XT, we will have to push below the $500 mark. NVIDIA has positioned the 7900 GTX as a $500 part, but we can already find X1900 XT cards for about $475; with the tight competition, we would really like to see NVIDIA take advantage of their cost saving die sizes and bring prices down.

The NVIDIA solutions use less power, generate less heat, and are cheaper to produce, but what matters in the end is the performance the end user gets for the price he or she pays. Yes, the 7900 GTX performs on par with the X1900 XT and XTX. With ATI's additional features, will NVIDIA's street prices be low enough to entice gamers? We'll have to wait and see.

Quad SLI and Purevideo
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  • 5150Joker - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link

    This article didn't state which drivers were used either - you'd think after having the cards for a few weeks your editors wouldn't have such obvious oversights.
  • Cygni - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link

    quote:

    you'd think after having the cards for a few weeks your editors wouldn't have such obvious oversights.

    Ya, cause you paid good money to read this review!
  • Griswold - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link

    That one is getting pretty old, its not really an excuse for a site with such high standards.

    Besides that, the ads on this page cost my bandwith. ;)
  • DerekWilson - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link

    I've updated the article with drivers used. I appologize for the omission.

    I absolutely do not mean this as an excuse -- drivers should not have been omitted no matter what the case -- but we have had the cards for less than a week. Again, not an excuse, just correcting your assumption.
  • dab - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link

    So will EVGA send me a 7900gt in the step up program to replace my 6800GS?
  • allometry - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link

    Is there any word as to when these cards will hit stores?
  • DerekWilson - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link

    check now :-)
  • allometry - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link

    Right on! I didn't see any posts for the card earlier, so I figure there might be a week delay.

    Too bad NewEgg already lost it's stock on the eVGA 7900GT's :(
  • inthell - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link

    so NEWEGG shows some of the XFX and EVGA cards with a 256bit mem interface?
  • inthell - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link

    why would anyone buy the 128bit version and how come anand didnt test or say anything abou this :confused:

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