Hypersonic Aviator EX7: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX First Look
by Josh Venning on October 10, 2005 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The System and The Card
We mentioned earlier that there are some differences between the Go 7800 GTX and the 7800 GTX. The most important difference is the fact that the Go 7800 GTX is clocked slightly lower than a normal 7800 GTX, with a core clock of 400MHz and memory clock of 1.1GHz. Other than that, they are essentially the same, with 8 vertex pipelines and 24 pixel pipelines. The Go 7800 GTX does employ NVIDIA's PowerMiser technology in order to manage heat more effectively than its desktop counterpart, which is a good thing, given the limitations of a notebook in that regard. The power budget given to the Go 7800 GTX is the same as it is for the earlier Go 6800 Ultra.
For testing, we used a Hypersonic Aviator EX7 notebook fitted with a GeForce Go 7800 GTX. Here are its specifications:
P4 670 (3.8GHz)
2 Gigs DDR2-533 CAS4 RAM
2 100 Gig Hard drives striped in RAID 0
1920x1200 17" display
The system is fairly large, as are most notebooks with displays like this. Not only is it very heavy (about 13 lbs), it generates lots of heat and will burn your lap up if you keep it there for very long. That said, it has all the benefits of a mobile system and was made for serious gaming. The Aviator EX7 is easier to transport than even a small form factor system and packs quite a few high powered components.
We are very impressed with Hypersonic's offering. With a 3.8GHz Pentium 4, this system should outperform those other notebooks that run Pentium M parts. The Dell notebook in which the Go 7800 GTX launched for instance supports at most the 2.26GHz Pentium M, which does perform very well, but isn't quite as the desktop 3.8GHz part.
The one complaint that we have about the Hypersonic Aviator EX7 is that it gets incredibly hot. After long hours of operation, the surface on which it sits also gets very warm and just using the keyboard was able to make our palms sweat. Or maybe that was just the incredible performance that we were getting out of the notebook. For those interested in the system, we found it to be very stable when kept well ventilated, and you definitely get what you pay for with this one. We do also like the fact that Hypersonic includes a dead pixel guarantee that ensures your thousands of dollars will not be spent on something less than pleasing to look at.
The desktop system that we used is very similar to the one on which we test most of our graphics cards:
Radeon Express 200 based motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 Processor
1 GB OCZ 2:2:2:6 DDR400 RAM
Seagate 7200.7 120 GB Hard Drive
OCZ 600 W PowerStream Power Supply
Now, let's take a look at performance.
We mentioned earlier that there are some differences between the Go 7800 GTX and the 7800 GTX. The most important difference is the fact that the Go 7800 GTX is clocked slightly lower than a normal 7800 GTX, with a core clock of 400MHz and memory clock of 1.1GHz. Other than that, they are essentially the same, with 8 vertex pipelines and 24 pixel pipelines. The Go 7800 GTX does employ NVIDIA's PowerMiser technology in order to manage heat more effectively than its desktop counterpart, which is a good thing, given the limitations of a notebook in that regard. The power budget given to the Go 7800 GTX is the same as it is for the earlier Go 6800 Ultra.
For testing, we used a Hypersonic Aviator EX7 notebook fitted with a GeForce Go 7800 GTX. Here are its specifications:
P4 670 (3.8GHz)
2 Gigs DDR2-533 CAS4 RAM
2 100 Gig Hard drives striped in RAID 0
1920x1200 17" display
The system is fairly large, as are most notebooks with displays like this. Not only is it very heavy (about 13 lbs), it generates lots of heat and will burn your lap up if you keep it there for very long. That said, it has all the benefits of a mobile system and was made for serious gaming. The Aviator EX7 is easier to transport than even a small form factor system and packs quite a few high powered components.
We are very impressed with Hypersonic's offering. With a 3.8GHz Pentium 4, this system should outperform those other notebooks that run Pentium M parts. The Dell notebook in which the Go 7800 GTX launched for instance supports at most the 2.26GHz Pentium M, which does perform very well, but isn't quite as the desktop 3.8GHz part.
The one complaint that we have about the Hypersonic Aviator EX7 is that it gets incredibly hot. After long hours of operation, the surface on which it sits also gets very warm and just using the keyboard was able to make our palms sweat. Or maybe that was just the incredible performance that we were getting out of the notebook. For those interested in the system, we found it to be very stable when kept well ventilated, and you definitely get what you pay for with this one. We do also like the fact that Hypersonic includes a dead pixel guarantee that ensures your thousands of dollars will not be spent on something less than pleasing to look at.
The desktop system that we used is very similar to the one on which we test most of our graphics cards:
Radeon Express 200 based motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 Processor
1 GB OCZ 2:2:2:6 DDR400 RAM
Seagate 7200.7 120 GB Hard Drive
OCZ 600 W PowerStream Power Supply
Now, let's take a look at performance.
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timmiser - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
We need a review of the Dell Inspiron XPS. You can get that with the cooler Pentium M and the 7800GTX and only costs about $2100. You don't get the dual hard drives for Raid 0 but for less than half the price, I could live with that.Now that would be interesting, a 3.8 Pentium vs. a Pentium M in a gaming laptop.
yacoub - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
Nah, it's more like $3500-3800 for a decent Dell for gaming. Still way out of phase with reality. A laptop should cost the price of a desktop plus maybe $250-500 max premium for the mobile design costs. A $1500 desktop will blow away a $3500 laptop. That's just not right to pay three times as much and come away with less. Yeah, you can carry it around. You carry around your Less that you can't game so well on, and I'll stick with gaming on a desktop in the meantime. Besides, if you're really gonna game on that laptop, it's gonna be plugged in to an outlet and sitting on a desk not on your lap, so really when it is mimmicking a desktop it's even more apparent how much you get ripped off for the laptop.timmiser - Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - link
Actually, Dell has coupon deals all the time. Most recently they had a 35% off coupon which drops 1 grand off the Inspiron XPS with the 7800GTX!No question that a gaming laptop won't be as fast as a gaming desktop but... Sometimes gamers can't always be at their desks when the need arises. For example, airplanes, camping, road trips, at work, staying with the inlaws, etc. (I could go on!)
ksherman - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
How bout some pics of the lappydragonballgtz - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
Redo! So why not us a system that is more comparable then? Also, more benchmarks please.
bldckstark - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
Although I don't like to be in the minority opinion most of the time, I have to be this time. The comparison was intended to show what this notebook that you would buy pre-built could do compared to the desktop system you would build yourself. I think the FX-55 system fits the bill as a control model quite well. First I need to know what the 7800 Go can do compared to a desktop system, then I need to know how several 7800 Go systems do compared to each other. That is the only way to get all the facts in this case. I must say that this does call for a DTR 7800 Go comparison, tho. I hope one is scheduled in the near future.JarredWalton - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
Let's take it one step further. The laptop as configured costs around $5000.FX-57 = $1000
7800 GTX = $500
Remainder = $500
24" LCD = $1000
So, we're comparing a $3000 complete desktop system against a $5000 laptop. HOW UNFAIR!
As Derek has already pointed out, we wanted to compare the best that both platforms have to offer. We didn't even use an FX-57 but went with an older FX-55. We ARE becoming GPU limited at 1920x1200 4xAA, though, even with these super GPUs. The performance hit from enabling 4xAA makes that very clear. Our CPU could be twice as fast, and the 1920x1200 4xAA numbers aren't going to go up very much.
Leper Messiah - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
way to go on the defensive...how hard would it have been to get a P4 3.8 system together? Honest, we would have waited another day or two if time is so important.Anyways, about the lappy. Nice, but why in god's name would you use a prescott in a mobile system? That just boggles my mind. A 2.4GHz Turion or a high end Pentium M would perform damn fine, and make the thing about 3 pounds lighter and get a hell of a lot more battery life.
And if you're looking for a decently priced gaming lappy, ABS makes some decent ones for around $1300-1400, Pentium M 1.7 1GB DDR2-533, 60GB HDD, 600gt Go, 15.4" widescreen, etc. Does about as well as my 9800pro based system in games.
bob661 - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
You're a dipshit! What is the purpose of this comment?Because not everyone runs an AMD system. Next dumb question.
Not part of the test. Now go into your bathroom and look in the mirror. Is there an orange light in the middle of your forehead? If yes, pull the power cord out of your ass and plug it into the outlet. Come back when your brain is fully charged.
Leper Messiah - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
Wow, way to have a stick up your ass.I'm sorry, maybe my supposed AMD fanboism is clouding my judgement, but please, PLEASE, give me a good reason why one would use Intel's hottest single core proc in a frickin' mobile chassis?! The thing probably draws more juice than a whole system with a pentium M in it.
And my brain is fully charged thank you very much. Might want to check your own though.