It looks like NVIDIA will be laying an epic beatdown on ATI with the release of the GeForce 7800 GTX 512.
Tom’s Hardware Guide writes: “The bottom line is simple: the NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 512 graphics card is the new king of the hill. In our assessment, only 2 out of 24 tests (games and settings) went to ATI. This launch is shipping in volume, so system builders, retailers and E-Tailers have product on shelf today, which is a credit to the corporation from Santa Clara. The card is just in time for the holiday shopping season, so you better work at getting back on the “nice” list!”
Hard OCP writes: “The bottom line is that the 512 MB GeForce 7800 GTX is one incredible piece of hardware. It allows a better gaming experience in every game we tested over a 256 MB GeForce 7800 GTX. The 512 MB GeForce 7800 GTX provides a better gaming experience in all the games we evaluated than a Radeon X1800 XT. You can buy two 512 MB GeForce 7800 GTX video cards — today — and enjoy the best gaming experience on a consumer PC to date. It is amazing that NVIDIA can put this much punch in a video card and actually provide a cooling solution that is quieter than the slower 256 MB GeForce 7800 GTX.”
Testing notes / Toms Hardware:
3D Mark 2005 score at 1600×1200 with 4x AA and 8x AF = 10431 (ATI Radeon X1800 XT= 5743)
Half Life 2 at 1600×1200 with 4x AA and 8x AF = 104.6 FPS (ATI Radeon X1800 XT = 103.17 – although ATI beat NVIDIA at lower resolutions)
Overclock (single card): core: 621Mhz / memory: 1.81 GHz a 15% improvement in performance over default
Testing notes / Hard OCP:
Fear at 1600×1200 with 4X TR MSAA and 16XAF with all game settings at maximum = 65.4 FPS average ( ATI’s Radeon XT can only manage 2X AD AA at 1280×960.
Battlefield 2: Hard OCP writes: “Battlefield 2 performed great on a single 256 MB BFGTech GeForce 7800 GTX OC at 1600×1200 with 4X TR MSAA. However, the Radeon X1800 XT did provide a better gaming experience than a single 256 MB BFGTech GeForce 7800 GTX OC as it allowed for 4X Adaptive AA. Once we put in the 512 MB GeForce 7800 GTX, however, it managed to match the Radeon X1800 XT at 4X TR SSAA at 1600×1200, and it provided faster frame rates overall. Two 512 MB GeForce 7800 GTX cards in SLI simply dominated Battlefield 2 at 1600×1200 with 4X TR SSAA — performance was just stunningly fast.”
The GeForce 7800 will be in stores as early as today – but at a price point that is rumored to be around $650. That is a full $100 more than it’s closest rival, the ATI Radeon X1800 XT.
