eVGA 7900GTO Review

[NienorGT]

With the G80 and other DirectX 10 cards coming up, nVIDIA as wanted to clear up his inventory of G71 and to do this, he have released the best performance/cost ratio card actually. This card is the 7900GTO. What is the GTO? It's on all points a simple GTX with the 1.32GHz RAM Chip of a GT card. So yes, you can expect big on this card. Let's see the numbers and compare it to other G71 cards.

From the Oct 14th!

The Card:

Nothing special, it looks exactly like a 7900GTX reference desing. It as 4 heatpipes an a 85mm fan. Though the fan should be PWM controled, it look like this one turn always at 100%. I didn't make the difference when I stopped it with my fingers, it's totally silent.

Overclocking:

RAM: It's simple, the since the GTO is a GTX with lower RAM chips, why not try to run them to the GTX Speed? It's working flawlessly. But unfortunately, since it's not a GTX don't think to raise higher the clocks of the RAM. In the drivers with Coolbits, the maximum that you can get is 800MHz nothing more. With RivaTuner I tried to get higher clocks but it wasn't possible. It disappointed me a little bit since I could get 810MHz on my 7900GT and the RAM chips wasn't protected on the GT. So it's not the heat that make them failing over this speed.

Core: Like the GTX, it was possible to get about 700MHz like overclocking. Over this RivaTuner tell me that it fail to pass the internal tests.

Tests:

Sorry, I didn't have both cards enough long to make all tests, but I have got 3DMark 2006 with various clocks settings in order to simulates others cards like the reference 7900GT, the 7950GT in 256/512MB flavours (ideal to see performance differences between the 256MB and 512MB) and the 7900GTX.

My computer actual Specs:

INTEL PentiumD 805 @ 3.7GHz (20?185)

OCZ Gold EL DDR2-667 4-4-4-12 @ DDR2-618 4-4-4-8

ASUS P5LD2 Rev1 Intel 945P Chipset

SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.9 Series 300GB Sata2 16MB Cache

Cards:

XFX 7900GT Xtreme 520M VIVO 256MB (520 Core / 750 RAM)

-Simulated cards:

7900GT Reference Speeds (450 Core / 660 RAM)

7950GT Reference Speeds (256MB Version) (550 Core / 700 RAM)

eVGA 7900GTO 512MB (650 Core / 660 RAM)

- Simulated cards:

7950GT Reference Speeds (550 Core / 700 RAM)

7900GTX Reference Speeds (650 Core / 800 RAM)

[/b]>(Oct 27)[/size][/font] (Will be more edited later):

I have worked on a friend's PC today at my home, he have a Asus x1900XTX VIVO so I have quickly did a 3DMark '06 on my PC (Same as before).

I didn't have more than 30minutes with the x1900XTX today, but the guy should come back next week to do more tests.

Global Score:5882>

Shader Model 2.0:2326>

Shader Model 3.0:2597>

Driver used: 6-9_xp-2k_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_35774.exe

From: 3DGuru

Option:No CCC installed!>

Interesting fact: The CPU Score raised at 1882 from 17XX with a 7900GTO / 7900GT:blink::

(Still, it didn't beat the 7900GTO @ GTX Speed)

Conclusions: >

Its obvious guys, the GTO at $250 getting the speeds and performances of the GTX so easily that cost normally $400 is without any doubts the deal of the year.

Pro: >

Same cost than the 7900GT for a GTX? Want to beat this?

Silent finally, it's not the mini vacuum on the 7900GT.

512MBCons:>

Dual slot solution, some won't like it.

No HDCP.

No VIVO for the eVGA Model.

Wait the DirectX 10 Cards or buy the 7900GTO now?>

All depends to you. So far we know that the G80 will be totally more powerful than the 7900GTX but this is not without bad things, first, only the 8800GTX will be launched in November. It will cost about $800USD listing to rumours. The first set of mainstream / value cards are rumoured to release only in March 2007. So it's up to you, but I say to grab this pearl before it run out of stock. Waiting for Direct X 10 cards for $250 more powerful than the 7900GTX will take you 6 months... Wait is good, but you need to buy something someday...

Where to buy a 7900GTO?>

There two brands that do it, eVGA and MSI MSI have the VIVO>)

USA USD:>

Newegg: eVGA $260 Out Of Stock

ZipZoomFly: eVGA $259 Out Of Stock

NCIX US: eVGA $291 Out Of Stock / MSI $288

Tigerdirect:

Edited October 28, 2006 by NI3NOR

[Rogue`]

I bought my 7950GT like 3 days before OCuk had their own OEM version of the GTO in stock, if I had known it was only going to be 3 days id of waited....but they said they wasn't expecting them for another month :(

Anyway, the GTO is probably the best-bang-for-your-buck card out atm, and for anyone wanting to buy an in-between card till DX10 comes out should definitely think about buying this card :D

btw, nice review :happy:

[RGSPro]

I love the cooler on that. I wish I could buy just the cooler and attach it to my eVGA 7900GT(s) running in SLi. I like how it vents the heat out of the back of the case. Best I could do was the Zalman heatpipe coolers, but that just blows hot air into the case.

[Dark Ride]

Would get a 7900GTO right now if I had $250 :(

[+shift. MVC]

Same here. I got a 7600GT. If I had more money, I would seriously consider this card.

[Dark Ride]

Same here. I got a 7600GT. If I had more money, I would seriously consider this card.

I'm on a Radeon 9550GE 128MB :(

[DELTETHISACCOUNT]

AGP ftw...

right...

[Amnesia]

nicely done.

[NienorGT]

Ok guys, just a little bit of update for now:

I have worked on a friend's PC today at my home, he have a Asus x1900XTX VIVO so I have quickly did a 3DMark '06 on my PC (Same as before).

I didn't have more than 30minutes with the x1900XTX today, but the guy should come back next week to do more tests.

Read the first post about it.

For theses that didn't brought it yet, be fast to get it ASAP, they are starting to fade away.

[Merter]

Just FYI about my experiences.

I bought the 512mb MSI version of the 7900GTO about 2 weeks ago, and although its not the eVGA card, its very similar.

This card is superb, its a 7900GTX with lower memory speeds, but at a bargain price!

I've tested a couple of the newest and older games on this card, and i have not been disappointed with this card on any levels. It is fairly quiet, so you dont need to worry about that.

For those of you who want to get a DX9 card now, this is definately the way forward, and despite what some people say about DX10 being just around the corner, its not going to be cheap on release, which could still take up to a year or so.

I did a lot of research on pricing for this card before i bought it, and i found that the best place to get it from (if you live in the UK) at the time was scan.co.uk, however this may well have changed.