NVIDIA 7800 GT Mini-Roundup

Introduction

The NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series has been around for a while now and there's no denying that these are among the most powerful cards available right now. Only recently has ATI released a graphics card that could compete with the mighty 7800 GTX, and though the X1800 XT does compete, current prices still favor NVIDIA over ATI parts in terms of value. This is especially significant given the time of year, as sales, obviously, will be high for both companies, but it's value that will ultimately determine which parts the average consumer will buy.

As many already know, the 7800 GT was released by NVIDIA shortly after the 7800 GTX as a more cost-friendly version of the 7800, and while it's not as fast as the GTX, it's still a very powerful high-end card. We've enjoyed testing and playing a variety of games with this part, and we have a high regard for its capabilities. For those with monitors that are only able to display resolutions up to 1600x1200, the 7800 GT is more than enough to play just about any game at the highest settings possible with smooth results. For those with monitors that can handle higher resolutions, the 7800 GTX or ATI's X1800 XT might be needed to run certain games smoothly at those high settings, but that kind of elite performance is far from cheap.

We've seen some good quality mid-range parts from ATI and NVIDIA lately, like the X800 GTO and the 6800 GS, both of which offer good performance for around or under $200. The X800 GTO in particular at about $170 is an excellent graphics solution from ATI, especially given its overclocking potential. As Christmas gets closer, we will no doubt be seeing deals on other graphics cards as well, and we know many will be hoping for an upgrade under the tree this year.

NVIDIA's 7800 GT is a graphics card that stands out above the majority as being a top performer with competitive prices as well. Today, we'll be looking at three variations of this card: the ASUS Extreme N7800 GT, the XFX GeForce 7800 GT Overclocked, and the EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GT CO. Each of these companies have a reputation for quality, and we'll be comparing them to see how they rate to each other in different areas, such as performance and price. We will also be testing power loads and user-overclocking for each of these cards. The first of these 7800 GTs that we'll be looking at is the ASUS Extreme N7800 GT.