Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS Video Card Preview

Performance Numbers

In terms of performance NVIDIA benchmarked their 7600 GS versus the ATI X1600 Pro using an AMD system with an FX-57 processor and 1GB of Corsair memory. The NVIDIA cards were benchmarked on the ASUS AN832 SLI Deluexe motherboard while the ATI cards were tested on the DFI RDX200 motherboard. It should be noted that while the DFI RDX200 is the most recent ATI board from DFI it does feature a dated chipset as the CrossFire Xpress 3200 is now out and features a better PCI Express lane configuration.

Before we look at the benchmarking results let’s take a look at the two cards features. As you can tell from the table below the 7600 GS has a 100MHz slower core clock and exactly the same memory clock as ATIs X1600 Pro video card.

The following benchmark data was provided by NVIDIA as a representative sample of scores and relative performance of the GeForce 7600 GS versus the Radeon X1600 Pro.

Judging by the numbers provided to us by Nvidia the 7600GS does a fine job against the X1600 Pro. While it is impressive we can’t wait to get our hands on a pair of these and do our own testing putting them up against the X1600 Pro in CrossFire.

NVIDIA also gave us this chart that shows it with the ATI Radeon X1600 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT videocards. It shows the NVIDIA 7600 GS beating out the Radeon X1600 XT on nearly every benchmark except for Futuremark 3DMark06 and Call of Duty 2. We are seeing very impressive numbers from NVIDIA’s internal testing.

In closing we now have the GeForce 7600 positioned at the lower end of the mid-range market and cards are available today from the major online retailers. From what we have seen on paper the GeForce 7600 GS is an excellent choice for those looking at getting into mainstream gaming at extremely affordable price-points. With the MSRP being $129-$149 we should see these cards dipping below $100 in future months and that is when they will sell like hot cakes.

In addition to the price point, users will find the GeForce 7600 GS to be an excellent match for Windows Media Center Edition system configurations with its passive cooling, and PureVideo MPEG-2 HD/SD and H.264 decode acceleration. We heard NVIDIA say that this was “The Ultimate Multimedia Solution” so many times we are still having dreams about it, but it might just be true. Using an HDCP-ready 7600 Series graphics card, users can playback HDCP-protected content to HDCP-capable monitors. HDCP versions of GeForce 7600 GS and 7600 GT graphics boards should be available from various board vendors in the near future.

The GeForce 7600 GS is Vista-Ready, and are great Vista upgrade solutions for millions of existing PCs using substandard integrated graphics or old and slow discrete graphics. Now we just need Vista to come out! On March 21, 2006 Microsoft told industry analysts that Vista would be delayed another three months, which means sometime in January 2007 we might see Microsoft launch the Vista OS. If you need to upgrade your system you still have plenty of time to do so.

That’s it from our end on this preview, but check out the FAQ that NVIDIA sent out on the next page if you have any more questions about the NVIDIA 7600 GS video card.