Summer 2006 GeForce 7 Graphics Gear

[pschmid]

GeForce it is, but which model should you choose? We put mainstream and high-end models to the test to find the best 7 seven series graphics boards for your summer gaming sessions.

Speak out in the Toms's Hardware reader survey!

 

[1Tanker]

GeForce it is, but which model should you choose? We put mainstream and high-end models to the test to find the best 7 seven series graphics boards for your summer gaming sessions.

Speak out in the Toms's Hardware reader survey!

Are you guys in the process of building a Conroe based test system, or do you:

1. Have to wait like the rest of us to build a system.

2. Not feel that it's worth upgrading at this point.

 

[zornundo]

Thank you for the benchmarks!! I've been eyeing a new card to replace my old Radeon 9800 Pro. This helps extremely.

 

[IcY18]

It was a very good review but only proved what most of us already know, a 7600GT is good for mid, 7900GT is great for the price, and the 7900GTX is great but will set you back, and lastly thje 7950GX2 isn't worth the money, i'm not entirely sure why you would include the 7800 series, as you say their phasing out any you say

A 7800GT can be purchased for about $330 to $360. The 7800GTX models are about $380 to $500. If you seek a solid performer without the added cost, the 7800GT is the card for you--as long as you find a good deal.

why would you even think of buying a more expensive, out dated 7800 series card when a new, better performer and cheaper 7900GT is out...

hell could have just linked this topic...The Short List: the Best Gaming Videocards for the money

 

[Gary_Busey]

It would have been more helpful if they threw a couple ATI cards in the mix.

 

[zornundo]

why would you even think of buying a more expensive, out dated 7800 series card when a new, better performer and cheaper 7900GT is out...

It boggles the mind to walk downt he graphics card aisle at CompUSA and see all the really old cards that are still being sold. I don't know who would buy one, but they're selling them anyways! They still have crap like Radeon 95somethings or crap I don't even know.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

why would you even think of buying a more expensive, out dated 7800 series card when a new, better performer and cheaper 7900GT is out...

To SHOW what people think they already KNOW.

If they just said, bah, we're not going to put a GF7800 in it would diminish the review.

The inclusion of the GF7800 shows 2 things;

a) is it worth upgrading from a GF7800 to something more.

b) if you find a great deal on a GF7800 from someone getting rid of old stock, or eBay.

Without that information it's not a full review.

As for the ATi cards, it's better to divide them up for these buyer guides than to confuse the issue, since there's no way to pick a balancedset of benchmarks. These reviews should focus on each group individually and then the larger performance based reviews check the A vs B comparos.

 

[Skidd]

Good job guys, Just one question, when you ran the 3dmark bench's did you disable the cpu tests?

 

[QBiN]

One Question, Patrick:

Where'd the 7800GS go? TG included it in the feaure chart, but didn't put it through any of the benchmarks.

 

[boe]

Nice article.

Simply put to answer the title of the article - wouldn't think about getting a new card until a dual GPU such as the 7950 is offered with DX10 capabilities.

 

[caamsa]

Gee where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday I bought a Ti4200 for $150.00 bucks and was pulling down decent FPS in most games. Now it looks like the 7600GT is the Ti4200 of today. Nice article. I imagine they will do ATI cards next.

 

[DPolkowski]

@ Tanker1

We could not do this on the Conroe as it was being used for the CPU tests which came out last week. Conroe will improve scores and frame rates dramatically. We will have to come back and revisit it. For now we will have to run the ATI side on the same platform so we give similar performance on a single card setup. Then when we do the comparative analysis we can talk apples to apples as much as it is possible.


@ IcY18

We are always glad to see the community helping each other with lists like that. However, we have been getting emails asking us to do it and we wanted to have a reference article like this for others who have not asked specifically for this. As for the "why was GeForce 7800 included" comment, I think Grape answered that the way I would have. People need to see what is there. You can still buy them new from vendors and people need information to make purchasing decisions. Zornundo makes a good point. If you walk into Fry’s, CompUSA, Best Buy, or whatever major store, you will see older hardware at high prices. That is the way of retail when it comes to component pricing. We need guides general consumers can reference before they hit the isles or after they get home (So they can return it).

@Gary_Busey

Same thing Grape said. This was a look at Nvidia cards. It would have been harder to talk about what each Nvidia card is doing compared to other Nvidia cards when ATI results are mixed in. When we come back and look at the cards when the ATI article is done for the X1000 series we will look at where each stacks up in a overall comparative article… or look at our latest graphics chart which we are working on.

@QBin

7800GS is an AGP solution. There are rumors of other cards going to AGP. For the scope of this article, that is one AGP card against PCIe cards. The PCIe cards were run on a socket 939 and the AGP would have been on a socket 754. There is no way to do the AGP cards justice in a PCIe world. We have shown their performance against other AGP cards in an article (http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/02/13/nvidias_geforce_7800gs_becomes_a_better_buy/) but to put them in this review would have been a bit out of place. The same will apply when we do the ATI side. We will not include the Radeon X1600Pro AGP version.

 

[othercents]

Great Article and for those looking for an ATI guide there was one created a few months ago. Here is the link:

ATI Buyer's Guide - Part III

7800GS is an AGP solution

Actually I think the better one to include is the 7600GS. I have recommended this card to many people for low cost solution. Usually $50 less than the 7600GT.

Other

 

[niz]

You'd have to be crazy to invest in a new Geforce7 video card now, as the G80-based cards will be out around september:
http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32385

They will have DirectX 10 (i.e. Windows Vista) support, which the current cards don't have.

Hey guys at tomshardware. When are you going to review the G80, or are you under an NDA?

 

[caamsa]

FYI there are 939 boards that will run the FX chips. The major draw back to getting an AGP card to me is not the difference in the performance (which seems to be rather small or none at all in the benchmarks I have seen) but the price they want to charge for the AGP cards. (of course you can't have SLI in AGP so that is a dissadvantage) And these AGP cards seem to be slower versions of their PCI counter parts. Is it more expensive to manufacture AGP cards VS a PCI express? My AsusRock board supports both AGP and PCI-E so I am not too concerned about getting all the use out of my AGP card that I can.

 

[gomerpile]

Did Nvidia pay you people to keep ATI out of the picture.

 

[niz]

ATI Linux drivers suck big-time, thats why I'd never buy an ATI card.

 

[hijodeltiger]

i have a 256mb 7800gtx. is it woth upgrading to a 7900gt, i mean considering the lower power consumption, and sometimes better performance. or should i just wait for seriers 8?

 

[othercents]

ATI Linux drivers suck big-time, thats why I'd never buy an ATI card.

I was only showing the link. I don't like the ATI cards either especially since most of the high end cards are dual slot cards. The 7900gt is a very good card specially since it only uses one slot. Right now Linux works on my laptop (ATI 9600Pro), but not on my desktop (ATI x600). I'm still debating if I want to upgrade to the 7900GT or just wait it out.

i have a 256mb 7800gtx. is it woth upgrading to a 7900gt, i mean considering the lower power consumption, and sometimes better performance. or should i just wait for seriers 8?

I would wait. Performance is not that much better and overall your 7800gtx can play all the games that are out.

Other

 

[1337n00blar]

Did Nvidia pay you people to keep ATI out of the picture.

I can only hope you're kidding, as they previously printed out a three part series about only ATI cards. In the threads following that, people accussed them of being bought off by ATI. In light of that, I hope you were being ironic, but be careful what you say or people might think you're serious.

Where is it said that the current line of cards won't support DX 10? Can anyone post a link? (not doubting the validity, just wondering).

Everyone should also be very aware of the huge differences between brands of cards. It's not just about warranty length, it's also about if a system comes with a different cooler or overclocked. For instance, it might be worth it to get a card that comes factory overclocked and with a better HS/fan. Although the OC won't be extreme, it will still be guaranteed to be on warranty.

Finally, to anyone who just wants to be able to run games and doesn't care about resolution, my FX 5200 AGP could run everything up to Oblivion on low resolution, just fyi.

 

[niz]

Dude, CompUSA is the king of pushing old crap at over-the-top prices. They don't even stock the most recent stuff for months after its available and even then they never stock the premium versions.

For example, the GeForce 7950 has been out since April but its still not even listed on their website.

 

[skup]

I have been a fan of Tom's since its inception. This review was very helpful! Why complain about ATI being included when this was clearly designed as an NVidia test from the outset? Why complain about older cards seeing value when you've already made up your mind one way or another?

Here is a valid technical question: Which would providesbetter performance, with all other things being equal? Two (2) 7600GT cards run in SLI for $140 each, or one 7800GT for $250-$280? I have set a budget of $275 to $300 for my new card(s) and hope to get the best I can afford right now. I do not intend to upgrade within the next 90 days after my initial purchase. With comparable prices, I'm curious to know the benchmarks considering the differences in memory (2x128bit vs 256bit, 2x256Mb vs 256Mb) et al.

Any chance you'd report on that considering your findings from the summer 7 test?

And, while it doesn't help NVidia move items through the channel, is it honest to advise a wait until a September release of a brand new chip set? Would my $275 or $300 be MUCH better spent in 45-60 days?

 

[caamsa]

I remember when ATI was king. Where are all the ATI fans who owned the 9700pro series? I have mainly used Nvidia cards because over all they seem to be easier to use (driver support) and also seem to be cheaper. Of course I never over look a deal. I picked up an ATI X800GTO 256 mb AGP card for $100.00 and I love it. So far no problems. Ya gotta do what works for you. In regards to CompUsa wait for their sale the day after Thanksgiving. You need to get there at 6am and wait in line but they do have some good deals. I picked up a 6800 vanilla two years ago for $200.00 and it was going for $250-300 on New Egg. So you can get deals there every once in a while. Got my Super Lan Boy there too and after rebates it was $30.00 :!: I am gonna wait at least another year before upgrading my video card. And then I will probably get a 7950X2 for half of what it is going for now (one can dream)

 

[sojrner]

good article... my only complaint is the listing of the 7950 as having a 1 gig frame buffer. This is misleading as it is really 2 512 meg buffers, and in sli each buffer holds the same info. Thus it is never able to use anything more than 512. A simple caveat statement next to the couple of 1 gig references would clear it up, or listing it as "2x512" w/ a description... or something.

Many ppl just don't realize how sli uses memory, and if they see "1 gig" many out there will start thinking "if 512 is good, 1 gig must be better!" and in this case it is not better, but the same.

otherwise, it is a good review. Looking forward to the combination overview after the x1000 tests and when the gpu charts are refreshed. rock on.

 

[niz]

in sli each buffer holds the same info.

Umm.. I don't think you're right there dude. The RAM of each GPU only holds the input data for the stuff its rendering (i.e approximately half the screen). The driver takes care of that.