Hypersonic Aviator EX7: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX First Look
by Josh Venning on October 10, 2005 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Introduction
When thinking about the ideal gaming system, your first choice probably wouldn't be a laptop. It's common sense that desktop systems are better suited to meet the requirements needed for serious gaming. Lately though, we've been seeing some notebook systems that try to tackle this preconception, with interesting results. One of these systems, made by Hypersonic, does the job very well. While it is an excellent laptop, one part on the inside really caught our attention.
Any gaming system needs a good graphics card, and if you were thinking about the most powerful one right now, you'd be thinking about NVIDIA's 7800 GTX. (The X1800 XT might surpass it, but it will be another month before you can purchase such cards.) We've reviewed many of these cards and given their huge power draws, high heat levels, and generally monstrous size (for a graphics card), the thought of one of these cards in a notebook would have seemed a bit ludicrous. But it looks like NVIDIA has managed to fit one in there with their mobile version of the card, the GeForce Go 7800 GTX.
The system that we're reviewing is the Hypersonic Aviator EX7, and it appears to be the most powerful gaming notebook on the market at this time. The GeForce Go 7800 GTX does differ slightly from its desktop counterpart, and we'll be talking about those differences in the next section. We'll also be looking at some performance test results to give us a better idea of how the Go 7800 GTX compares with a normal 7800 GTX. Rest assured, the Go 7800 GTX lives up to its name and the results are impressive indeed.
Notebook gaming is, by no means, new. Both NVIDIA and ATI have been making quality mobile versions of their most popular parts, which we've looked at in the past. Specifically, the Mobility RADEON X800 XT by ATI and NVIDIA's GeForce Go 6800 Ultra. Now, we have a chance to look at the performance of the mobile version of the 7800 GTX: the most powerful mobile graphics card currently on the market.
When thinking about the ideal gaming system, your first choice probably wouldn't be a laptop. It's common sense that desktop systems are better suited to meet the requirements needed for serious gaming. Lately though, we've been seeing some notebook systems that try to tackle this preconception, with interesting results. One of these systems, made by Hypersonic, does the job very well. While it is an excellent laptop, one part on the inside really caught our attention.
Any gaming system needs a good graphics card, and if you were thinking about the most powerful one right now, you'd be thinking about NVIDIA's 7800 GTX. (The X1800 XT might surpass it, but it will be another month before you can purchase such cards.) We've reviewed many of these cards and given their huge power draws, high heat levels, and generally monstrous size (for a graphics card), the thought of one of these cards in a notebook would have seemed a bit ludicrous. But it looks like NVIDIA has managed to fit one in there with their mobile version of the card, the GeForce Go 7800 GTX.
The system that we're reviewing is the Hypersonic Aviator EX7, and it appears to be the most powerful gaming notebook on the market at this time. The GeForce Go 7800 GTX does differ slightly from its desktop counterpart, and we'll be talking about those differences in the next section. We'll also be looking at some performance test results to give us a better idea of how the Go 7800 GTX compares with a normal 7800 GTX. Rest assured, the Go 7800 GTX lives up to its name and the results are impressive indeed.
Notebook gaming is, by no means, new. Both NVIDIA and ATI have been making quality mobile versions of their most popular parts, which we've looked at in the past. Specifically, the Mobility RADEON X800 XT by ATI and NVIDIA's GeForce Go 6800 Ultra. Now, we have a chance to look at the performance of the mobile version of the 7800 GTX: the most powerful mobile graphics card currently on the market.
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Degrador - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
Yes, they are meant to be testing graphics. As you say, they should be minimizing the impact any of the other system components have on the results. Hence my point of why not keep the cpu and the memory the same - whether it's 1GB or 2GB, equal memory would make the results more applicable to finding the difference between the chips.Johnmcl7 - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
I fully agree - the review appears to be aimed at comparing the desktop 7800 to the mobile 7800, not the notebook as a whole against powerful desktop. If it was a Pentium-m system I can appreciate it's more difficult to match a desktop system but using an FX-55 against a P4 670 makes the performance figures almost useless, we have no idea if the performance differences are due to the faster processor or differences in the 7800.John
bob661 - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
I disagree. Although the 3.8 is slower than a FX-55, neither video cards would be CPU bound in those systems. And the difference in memory sizes doesn't have that great of an effect on performance.Johnmcl7 - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
The comments on the benchmark seem to imply AT are comparing the 7800s, not a complete system. If the latter was their intention, the review should have been written to reflect this.John
bpt8056 - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
This is a high-end notebook and it should be compared against a high-end desktop system. While it may not be a good indicator of raw graphics power, it does show what you'll get with this notebook compared to an uber-fast desktop system. Frankly, I'm impressed with the numbers that the GeForce Go 7800GTX put out in a system with obvious limitations.DerekWilson - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
This was our take on comparing the systems -- gamers will really want to know if a notebook will be able to perform as well as the highest end desktops. The tradeoff in performance is important even if mobility is helpful. That's a lot of money to drop on a notebook, and I could build our desktop box for much less.
The point is this: just because it's got a desktop processor and a Go 7800 GTX does not mean it will perform the same as the highest end desktops out there.
Note that this was also billed as a first look.
timmiser - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
"gamers will really want to know if a notebook will be able to perform as well as the h1ighest end desktops."Well, judging by the number of complaints I would say you're out of touch with your audience! Gamers already know that a high end desktop will be faster than a high end laptop. Give us a little credit please!
ElFenix - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
i agree. i've always thought there are two ways to go about making a review fair: use as similar components as you can, other than the one being tested, and get as similar a price out of each setup as you can. obviously, these types of notebooks cost probably as much as a high end desktop, so i think this comparison is fair and give you a good idea of what you give up if you choose to spend $2500+ on a portable rather than a desktop. of course, the portable is portable, so has all those benefits.a thought for portable/notebook reviews: a subjective review on using the system to take notes in class (on a little college desk), lugging around campus (whether it fits in backpacks, lockers, etc), that sort of thing.
yacoub - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
Well there are two reviews much more useful that AT will hopefully conduct with this laptop soon:*Comparison against the previous desktop replacement gaming laptop which I believe sported some sort of high-end ATI Mobile GPU. This shows how it compares to what else is up for comparison to potential buyers. Let's see just how much this new GPU boosts performance versus the previous champions.
*Comparison with a desktop with the same CPU, RAM count, and a real 7800GTX, to get a better idea how much performance is lost if someone goes with a laptop instead of a desktop for their next upgrade. Let's see just how much performance is lost and price is increased for the same parts in a laptop, because it's a joke how much they charge for those things. (okay the last bit is just my opinion.)
Warder45 - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
I have to agree. When I saw the desktop system I didn't understand what the point of the comparison would be. Also why not wait to throw the Dell machine in? Then compare the differences between the two, with heat, speed, and battery life.