BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC 512MB PCI-E

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Kurtis Kronk
Brian
BFG
Jun. 6, 2006

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Performance Summary

Half-Life 2

All in all, the X1900 XTX performs slightly better than the 7900 GTX in Half-Life 2. However, the difference is marginal at best, with both cards running at over 80 fps at 2048x1536 with 4xAA/8xAF. As a matter of fact, you won't even notice a huge difference between these ultra high-end cards and some of the older high-end or slightly lower-end cards until you get up past 1600x1200. Also notice that the 7800 GTX SLI configuration does very little to improve performance in Half-Life 2 over a single card configuration. As you won't notice any difference between the two competing high-end cards in this game, I'm calling it a tie.

Verdict: X1900 XTX or 7900 GTX (tie)
SLI worthwhile? No

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

First we'll look at the SM3.0 tests. Both the 7900 GTX and X1900 XTX produce very playable framerates up to 1600x1200 with NoAA/NoAF, and they remain playable at 1600x1200 with 4xAA/8xAF, though on the 7900 GTX it's borderline (62 fps average) compared to the X1900 XTX (69 fps average). And when I say borderline, what I'm referring to is the fact that the 7900 GTX is going to dip below 60 fps in very graphics-intensive areas, producing a less playable, possibly stuttery, experience on occasion. Interestingly, we see the X1800 XT and the 7900 GT performing pretty close to the 7900 GTX up to 2048x1536, with the 7900 GTX ahead by around 10 fps with NoAA/NoAF, but with a much smaller gap when you crank it up to 4xAA/8xAF.

When we look at the SM3.0+ tests (HDR, soft shadows, etc turned on), we see basically the same performance trends, though you can expect some stuttering on occasion from the 7900 GTX and X1900 XTX at 1600x1200 even with NoAA/NoAF. I think you'd find that with soft shadows disabled, the 7900 GTX and X1900 XTX would provide smooth gameplay at 1600x1200 with a bit of AA and AF applied. Since we have seen that performance differences are marginal, I'm calling this one a tie as well.

Note: I didn't test the 7800 GTX SLI configuration in this game.

Verdict: X1900 XTX or 7900 GTX (tie)
SLI worthwhile? Not tested

Quake4

The results we see in Quake4 are interesting! The X1900 XTX kept on freezing when I would try to run the timedemos at 1600x1200, so it's sort of disqualified for that (0 recorded for scores). What I really thought was interesting though was that the 7900 GT trailed the 7900 GTX by only 3 fps, and the X1800 XT trailed by just a few more than that at 1600x1200 with 4xAA/8xAF (the highest resolution in the game with pretty high AA/AF settings). The 7800 GTX SLI configuration finally shows some real-world benefit in our benchmark arsenal, a full 15 fps faster than the 7900 GTX on average. If only it made such a difference in every game! Since we're comparing the 7900 GTX vs. the X1900 XTX, the verdict for this game is the 7900 GTX.

Verdict: 7900 GTX
SLI worthwhile? Yes

X3 Reunion Demo

In this game we see the X1900 XTX performing on par with the 7900 GTX with NoAA/NoAF at all resolutions, but then jumping ahead by as much as 7 fps at 2048x1536 with 4xAA/8xAF. I haven't played the actual game as this is just a rolling demo benchmark, so I can't attest to the playability of this game. If you need ~60 fps to play the game, even 1024x768 with 4xAA/8xAF is sort of pushing it as you'll average a little under 60 fps! If it's playable with around 30-40 fps (like Need for Speed Most Wanted for example), then both cards should be able to play decently at up to 2048x1536 with 4xAA/8xAF. Since this is a high-end card review I should mention that although the 7800 GTX SLI did well at Quake 4 at the highest settings, it yielded no benefit over a single card in this game. This one is a tough call, but I'm going to have to say the X1900 XTX wins because if this game is playable with around 40 fps, then 36 fps is noticeably slower than 42 fps, as I've personally noticed in racing games such as NFSMW.

Verdict: X1900 XTX
SLI worthwhile? No

Chronicles of Riddick

Hands-down, the 7900 GTX beats the X1900 XTX in Riddick, at every setting (that's what we have grown to expect in this game, NVIDIA pulverizing ATI). At 1600x1200 with 4xAA/8xAF, the 7900 GTX scores 23 fps higher. That's a pretty substantial amount, yeah? Granted, the 7900 GTX only scored 63 fps at this setting, but that's playable and I think you'll see that this game doesn't have a lot of areas where stuttering will be a problem (mainly when you toggle the super-duper-riddick-vision mode it will slow down for a second!). But I'm not done - the 7800 GTX SLI configuration goes for the win again, getting 88 fps at 1600x1200 with 4xAA/8xAF. It's amazing how SLI can make such a big difference in some games and do absolutely nothing in others. Once again, since we're comparing the 7900 GTX vs. the X1900 XTX, the verdict is going to be the 7900 GTX.

Verdict: 7900 GTX
SLI worthwhile? Yes

F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R. is one of those games that will take your system for all it's worth! Amazingly, it's only really playable at up to 1024x768 with 4xAA/8xAF on the 7900 GTX or X1900 XTX. The 7800 GTX SLI configuration performs a little better, letting you play at 1600x1200 with NoAA/NoAF. You're going to want to make some compromises when it comes to image quality to get the best gameplay experience in F.E.A.R. Since we're comparing the 7900 GTX and X1900 XTX, we're looking at another tie.

Verdict: X1900 XTX or 7900 GTX (tie)
SLI worthwhile? Yes

Need for Speed Most Wanted

Luckily, this game is playable with around 30-40 fps, so the fact that the 7900 GTX and X1900 XTX tie with 40 fps at 1600x1200 with FullAA/FullAF is good news. It's worth noting that the 7800 GTX, X1800 XT and 7900 GT will give similar gameplay at these settings with 31. 33 and 35 fps respectively. The 7800 GTX SLI configuration doesn't yield much of a benefit in this game, unfortunately.

Verdict: X1900 XTX or 7900 GTX (tie)
SLI worthwhile? No

3DMark '06

Um! 3DMark '06 is! pretty? As I mentioned earlier, I don't take 3DMark scores seriously, so I won't comment on performance there.

Verdict: Hooray for puddin' pops!

We'd like to thank Directron.com for donating the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 Motherboard which we used for testing.

<< Previous

Page 13 of 14

Next >>

Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: The Card & Bundle
Page 3: Test Setup
Page 4: Benchmarks: Half-Life 2
Page 5: Benchmarks: Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
Page 6: Benchmarks: Quake 4
Page 7: Benchmarks: X3 Reunion Demo
Page 8: Benchmarks: Chronicles of Riddick
Page 9: Benchmarks: F.E.A.R.
Page 10: Benchmarks: Need for Speed Most Wanted
Page 11: Benchmarks: 3DMark '06
Page 12: Overclocking & Stability
Page 13: Performance Summary
Page 14: Conclusion

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