http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_30230.html http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1182 Some reviews I got from the B3D forums: Beyond3d (7600) - http://www.beyond3d.com/previews/nvidia/g73/ Hardware.fr (7600) - http://www.hardware.fr/articles/611-1/nvidia-geforce-7600-gt.html Hardware.fr (7900) - http://www.hardware.fr/articles/612-1/nvidia-geforce-7900-gtx-gt.html Techreport - http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q1/geforce-7600-7900/index.x?pg=1 Hexus - http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4872 HotHardware - http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=791&cid=2 HardwareZone - http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=3&id=1839 Ixbt - http://www.ixbt.com/video2/g71-part1.shtml HardOCP - http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTAwMSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA Firingsquad - http://firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7900_gt_gtx_performance/ Bjorn3D - http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=891 Tweaktown - http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/880 Anandtech - http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2717 Guru3D - http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/326/ I haven't had a chance to get into all the reviews, but I think the 7900 cards are basically just like the 7800 (same number of pipes and stuff), only with much higher speeds. I think they have fewer transistors too, which combined with the 90nm process, might make it kind of cheaper than normal for a high-end card. I think I also read that they plan on offering dual-GPU cards based on the 7900 later (put two of them together in SLI, you get 4 7900 GPUs basically). I believe I read that ATI will cut prices on their cards in the next week or so IIRC, as well as introduce a new card (x1800 GTO) pretty soon that will basically be in the same price/performance range as the new GF 7600. So if you're looking on getting a new video card (maybe for a particular PC/360 RPG that is very demanding ), it might be about time to start looking.
RC, you're mostly right about the differences between 7900 and 7800. The 90mm process gives them higher yields and subsequently lower production costs. Other than that, mostly higher frequencies on the engine and memory clock. In SLi mode, I personally couldn't tell any difference between the two types of cards. The GL71-based 7900 uses a similar cooling solution and dissipates only a few more watts of power. I haven't yet had a chance to try out the R580-based ATi cards in dual, but in normal operation, I was pretty impressed while playing Counterstrike.
BTW, from what I've seen, I believe the 7900 GT is basically like a slightly faster 7800 GTX (256 MB version); I think it has the same setup for vertex/pixel pipelines, but the core and memory clocks are at higher frequencies (so it performs a little better). Just a FYI since the 7900 GT at newegg currently costs ~$100 less than the 7800 GTX (~$300 vs ~$400). Might change later (or maybe not since the G71 is cheaper to make), but that's something to look at I guess.
Yeah I didn't understand any of this. I guess they're pretty good though? Hopefully this leads to drops in the 7800 line. Otherwise Newegg might be getting more of my money.
Basically, from what I understand, Nvidia just found out ways to make cards similar to the 7800 series at a much cheaper price. The cut in transistors (think I read it was like from ~300M to 280M) together with the shrink to 90nm means they can make a lot more than they used to (and at lower costs). To top things off, Nvidia just overclocked these cards to get better performance out of them. I guess an example of this is what I said in my previous post about the 7900 GT vs the 7800 GTX (better performance at a much cheaper price). So the 7900 series is a cheaper, slightly better version of the 7800 series. That is pretty nice if you want a good video card, but don't want to spend too much on it.
It makes me feel good to be getting out of PC gaming with the price of video cards.. PS3 here I come.. if it ever comes out
The day after I finally finished up my 7800gtx SLI setup this comes out !! I told myself no more computer parts for the next 3-4 years...dunno how long thats gonna last
I hope so, I really hope so. I know I dont need it from a logical and reasonable standpoint, but since when did logical and reasonable play into building a gaming rig . Its time for me to ban myself from newegg or something.
BTW, here's the X1800 GTO that I was talking about earlier: http://ir.ati.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=105421&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=829521&highlight= One review here: http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=793&cid=2
Fellas, My video card needs updating bad (Raedon7000). My friend let me borrow Civ. V and it wont run properly. Give me some advice. Best bang for buck. Best place to get bargain basement prices. I'm not a heavey gamer but occasionally I'll play strategy and rpg games. I don't really need the biggest baddest card available.
Looking at Hardware Device Manager. When I click on Display Adapters I see thelocation of the card says PCI bus 1. So I'm assuming the motherboard can handle PCI-E
^ it could be a pci slot and not pci-e. i'm not positive on whether or not you can figure it out through systems hardware.
Yeah, it might be just a PCI slot. After a quick search, I noticed there is a Radeon 7000 card for PCI (not PCI-E). That's probably what your current card uses. See if you have an AGP slot (4X/8X) at least. I think there might be some cards you could upgrade to using PCI, but you'll have better options if you could also use AGP (or PCI-E for that matter).
In terms of performance the 7900 GTX is about on par with the X1900 XT and the 7900 GT is a bit faster than the 7800 GTX if you guys are looking for new cards. I have a 7800 GT and think I'll stick with it for now... although seeing Oblivion makes me want to get the baddest card out there. Must resist... must resist... especially when these things cost $500+ (nutty!).
