NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT Video Card Review

All about the clocks

There are a lot of physical differences between the 7900GTX and 7900GT, the 7900GT has a shorter overall length, single slot cooler, and no cooling for the memory. The power circuitry is also much different between the two which gives the card an overall look that is somewhat under whelming because it looks so close to the 7600GT. Don’t let the pedestrian appearance fool you though, this card is packing some serious performance.

The GT still requires the additional power connector at the end of the card. The fan and heat sink do a surprisingly good job of keeping the temperature in check for a card of the caliber. The fan is the same as that of the 7600GT so there is a bit of high pitched noise with this cooler.

The 7900GT comes with dual Dual Link DVI and the new 7-pin HDTV-out mini-din connector. With the 7-pin HDTV-out mini-din, a user can plug an S-video cable directly into the connector, or use a dongle for YPrPb (component) or composite outputs. Our prior 9-pin HDTV-out mini-din connector required a dongle to use S-video, YPrPb, and composite outputs. This is something we have wanted for a long time and it has finally arrived. Kudos to NVIDIA for taking the time to upgrade the mini-din connector.

And a shot of the 7900GT core. Nvidia is using the exact same core but the 7900GTX are likely binned for higher operating speeds. The clock speed for the 7900GT core is 450MHz with the memory clocked at 1.32GHz. For reference the 7900GTX is 650MHz/1.6GHz respectively. Given the large disparity in clock speeds despite the use of the same core it’s likely there is quite a lot of room for overclocking the 7900GT.