Hypersonic Aviator EX7: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX First Look
by Josh Venning on October 10, 2005 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
Overall, what we have here is a very impressive mobile gaming part. Those looking for the highest performance in notebook gaming need not look any further than this. NVIDIA's GeForce Go 7800 GTX, while not quite as fast as the standard version, still lives up to its name and handles the native 1920x1200 resolution with ease, even with 4x AA enabled. This will make any unit that is fitted with one attractive to those who want a complete and compact package, offering the power that they need to run any game at the highest settings. While the limited battery life that you'll probably experience in a laptop like this is a drawback (these types of systems usually only have 1 or 2 hours of battery life), the portability factor makes it ideal for LAN parties, and it will be sure to impress, regardless of your gaming abilities. But with prices that can get as high as $5,000, you'll be paying top dollar for the performance.
The Hypersonic Aviator EX7 is one of the best laptops that you can buy for gaming right now, but many companies who offer desktop replacement laptops will most likely offer a version fitted with a Go 7800 GTX. With the Hypersonic, we were very pleased at how all of the games ran smoothly at even the highest settings, so you definitely wouldn't be disappointed with the performance of this card. Some people might not like the fact that it's not clocked quite as high as the normal version, and due to obvious reasons (heat, etc.), the card can't really be overclocked. But because most laptops don't incorporate screens larger than 1920x1200 and no games are going to truly bring the Go 7800 GTX to its knees at this resolution, there's not much else right now which would require you to do so.
It's interesting to note that in the past, ATI has generally been the leader in mobility parts over NVIDIA. Since the Go 6800 Ultra hit the scene (and the rest of the mobile 6 series line up), NVIDIA has been gaining ground in performance and desirability. We're curious to see how ATI will respond to the Go 7800 GTX, as this looks like yet another major blow from NVIDIA. Especially considering the fact that NVIDIA had availability of a mobile part the day it launched from multiple vendors including Dell and Hypersonic. ATI couldn't even pull that off with a desktop product launch.
At the same time, as we've seen with Intel hardware, leaner hardware with high clock speeds tend to scale less forgivingly with power than wider architectures with a lower clock speed. We are very interested to see if ATI will be able to drop anything like their 625 MHz X1800 XT into a notebook without melting the plastic casing. Power draw on the high end part is higher than their previous generation, and won't likely fit into the same TDP envelope as the X850 XT as easily as the Go 7800 GTX does.
But this industry is all about surprises, and we won't count out ATI until we see hardware. Of course, no matter how good their hardware is, the longer they take to bring a mobile part to market, the more ground they will lose.
Overall, what we have here is a very impressive mobile gaming part. Those looking for the highest performance in notebook gaming need not look any further than this. NVIDIA's GeForce Go 7800 GTX, while not quite as fast as the standard version, still lives up to its name and handles the native 1920x1200 resolution with ease, even with 4x AA enabled. This will make any unit that is fitted with one attractive to those who want a complete and compact package, offering the power that they need to run any game at the highest settings. While the limited battery life that you'll probably experience in a laptop like this is a drawback (these types of systems usually only have 1 or 2 hours of battery life), the portability factor makes it ideal for LAN parties, and it will be sure to impress, regardless of your gaming abilities. But with prices that can get as high as $5,000, you'll be paying top dollar for the performance.
The Hypersonic Aviator EX7 is one of the best laptops that you can buy for gaming right now, but many companies who offer desktop replacement laptops will most likely offer a version fitted with a Go 7800 GTX. With the Hypersonic, we were very pleased at how all of the games ran smoothly at even the highest settings, so you definitely wouldn't be disappointed with the performance of this card. Some people might not like the fact that it's not clocked quite as high as the normal version, and due to obvious reasons (heat, etc.), the card can't really be overclocked. But because most laptops don't incorporate screens larger than 1920x1200 and no games are going to truly bring the Go 7800 GTX to its knees at this resolution, there's not much else right now which would require you to do so.
It's interesting to note that in the past, ATI has generally been the leader in mobility parts over NVIDIA. Since the Go 6800 Ultra hit the scene (and the rest of the mobile 6 series line up), NVIDIA has been gaining ground in performance and desirability. We're curious to see how ATI will respond to the Go 7800 GTX, as this looks like yet another major blow from NVIDIA. Especially considering the fact that NVIDIA had availability of a mobile part the day it launched from multiple vendors including Dell and Hypersonic. ATI couldn't even pull that off with a desktop product launch.
At the same time, as we've seen with Intel hardware, leaner hardware with high clock speeds tend to scale less forgivingly with power than wider architectures with a lower clock speed. We are very interested to see if ATI will be able to drop anything like their 625 MHz X1800 XT into a notebook without melting the plastic casing. Power draw on the high end part is higher than their previous generation, and won't likely fit into the same TDP envelope as the X850 XT as easily as the Go 7800 GTX does.
But this industry is all about surprises, and we won't count out ATI until we see hardware. Of course, no matter how good their hardware is, the longer they take to bring a mobile part to market, the more ground they will lose.
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yacoub - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
Hey, here's one thing that would be really useful... a nice chart of all the crazy Intel mobile processors organized by speed and features. It gets a bit confusing looking at a laptop site that lists Pentium IVs and Pentium-Ms and whatnot with all their 3-digit numbers like 760+, 780. What is ideal for gaming?timmiser - Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - link
I agree. And maybe a simple benchmark number that gives you a general idea of how much faster/slower is a 2.2 GHz P-M vs. a 3.8 GHz P4, etc.Kung Lau - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
Why is there such a bitch and whine crowd for reviews? It's like Siskel and Ebert, if you don't like their reviews, go find one you like. Wait, do you pay for this service? I can see pointing out technically inacurracies to a point, but the majority of this complaining seems counter-productive.Is there a world wide recognized standard for reviews for geek gear or something? I'm not talking comparative analysis for the metric nazis here. Apparently, what a kid did out of fun and interest of the hobby years ago and gained worldwide notoriety for it has become, for better or for worse, a watering hole for all the "what if..." wannabes.
Make your own website and speak of things in the manner you want if you didn't like how it was said here.
To be semi-on topic, I can see why they reviewed it the way they did. And if I didn't, why whine about it?
If there is a bad review or information here, I should read/hear about it from Tom's or some other site, not a comments thread from hell. C'mon.
Honestly, the forums have mods, maybe the comments section should too.
/rant off
Johnmcl7 - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
Following your point of view, why should Anantech allow a comments system if people are not allowed to comment?I hold Anandtech to a higher standard than most because over the years I've enjoyed their articles and trust the site more than others, and I'm sure many people are the same, so when AT post an article which does not appear up to scratch it receives criticism.
As pointed out already, most people are aware that an FX desktop will beat a P4 notebook which is all this article shows - by comparing like for like we would have useful figures which showed the performance loss going with the mobile graphics card.
John
timmiser - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
We are simply providing feedback. In this case it is mostly negative but that is not necessarily a bad thing.I remember AT a few months ago did a review of a computer case that looked like a transformer robot! There was a lot of feedback of people complaining about AT doing reviews of these boxes that seemed like they were designed by kids for kids.
After the complaints, Anand himself posted in the forum and agreed with the viewpoint and promised that he would not allow any future reviews of these "toy" cases and focus more on "adult" cases.
Here is the link that I'm referring to that proves constructive criticism is good for everyone.
http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?...">http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?...
Now some people in this thread must get insulted at criticism somehow and resort to name calling which really detracts from the quality of the discussion. :(
Leper Messiah - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
IMHO, why is Tom's Hardware more important than our opinions? We are the ones who validate the acurracies or lack thereof of their reviews. Maybe our tone is a little harsh, constructive critsism goes much further than flames, but we have to hold the reviewers to a certain standard, otherwise, how do we know what products to buy? We instill a certain level of trust to the reviewers, and we expect that trust to be returned with fair reviews.Nothing Personal Jared and Crew. You guys are still the best on the web IMHO, but everyone makes mistakes.
gmyx - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
Now that you have reviewed a laptop, how about looking at others. Such as Eurocom laptops (http://www.eurocom.com">http://www.eurocom.com) and click on "Model Listings" for all of their models. They do have a laptop with the Go 7800 GTX and you choise of Proc. Intel or AMD (including the FX chips) (F-Bomb series for AMD chips and Phantom for Intel.) For the almost the same price has the revied model. Also interesting is their all-in-one Notebook PCs which uses 3.5 inch drives instead of 2.5inch. Also, all laptops are upgradable including proc, memory and hard drives. I was also told that they are working on SLI and may have it available soon. Despite the name, they are a Canadian builder (not reseller). It's worth a look. I've used their laptops before.Johnmcl7 - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
Eurocom are a Clevo reseller (as is Hypersonic) and many others - the Eurocom site actually copied text directly from one of the UK Clevo sellers (Rockdirect), they forget to change the laptop name though!John
gmyx - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
Thanks, I just learned something! They are still very good laptops. And I still think they (Eurocom or Clevo or other) should be looked at.jediknight - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
why not keep all of the other components the same?The relative performance of the desktop to the mobile part would be much clearer if you used a P4 3.8 (etc.) for the desktop benchies. As it is, we know that a high end desktop will perform better than a high end laptop.. no @$#() it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.