XFX GeForce 7800 GT Video Card Review

Introduction

Today Legit Reviews dives headfirst into video card reviews. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll cover a bevy of cards to give you an idea of where your money is best spent. Today we’ll get up close and personal with XFX and it’s 7800GT.

While the GTX is the apple of NVIDIA’s eye, at well over $500 not many of us can can get our hands on one, let alone two of these premium cards. The 7800GT on the other hand is priced just right at around $375. This card is not only affordable, its a damn fine card in its own right. With widespread availability and unparalleled performance, the 7800GT is sure to be the most popular card on the market.

Lets look over a few of the features that the 7800 series cards bring to the table.

• NVIDIA SLI? Technology Delivers up to 2x the performance of a single GPU configuration for unparalleled gaming experiences by allowing two graphics cards to run in parallel. The must-have feature for performance PCI Express graphics, SLI dramatically scales performance on over 60 top PC games.
• NVIDIA PureVideo? Technology The combination of high-definition video processors and NVIDIA DVD decoder software delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for all video content to turn your PC into a high-end home theater. (Feature requires supported video software.)
• NVIDIA UltraShadow? II Technology Enhances the performance of bleeding-edge games, like id Software’s Doom 3, that feature complex scenes with multiple light sources and objects. 64-bit Floating Point Texture Filtering and Blending Based on the OpenEXR technology from Industrial Light & Magic (http://www.openexr.com/), NVIDIA’s 64-bit texture implementation delivers state-of-the-art high dynamic-range (HDR) visual effects through floating point capabilities in shading, filtering, texturing, and blending. Adaptable Programmable Video Processor PureVideo’s programmable technology adapts to new video encoding formats as they are developed to provide a future-proof video solution. (Feature requires supported video software.)
• Dual 400MHz RAMDACs Blazing-fast RAMDACs support dual QXGA displays with ultra-high, ergonomic refresh rates–up to 2048×1536@85Hz”>2048×1536@85Hz.
• High-definition MPEG-2 and WMV Hardware Acceleration Smoothly playback all MPEG-2 and WMV video–including WMV-HD–with minimal CPU usage so the PC is free to do other work. Also provides world-class TV-out functionality up to 1080i resolution.
• NVIDIA CineFX? 4.0 Engine Delivers advanced visual effects at unimaginable speeds. Full support for Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 enables stunning and complex special effects. Next-generation shader architecture with new texture unit design streamlines texture processing for faster and smoother gameplay.
• NVIDIA Intellisample? 4.0 Technology The industry’s fastest antialiasing delivers ultra-realistic visuals, with no jagged edges, at lightning-fast speeds. Visual quality is taken to new heights through a new rotated grid sampling pattern, advanced 128 Tap sample coverage, 16x anisotropic filtering, and support for transparent supersampling and multisampling.

Lets look at some specs before taking a closer look at the XFX 7800GT itself.

The above table shows the vanilla numbers for the individual NVIDIA cards, however most companies tend to add their own touches to their entries. XFX is no exception here as they bump the core speed from 400MHz up to 450MHz and the memory speed from1000MHz up to 1050MHz.

Although some people may not like a card that comes pre-overclocked, I love it. Most people want to just plug in their video card and go, not wanting to risk ruining a $400-500 investment for a modest performance boost. So, in my opinion, the XFX 7800GT already has a leg up on the competition. Add to all of this the “Double Lifetime” Warranty, and the end user has quite a deal on their hands.