NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 512: More Than Just More Memory
by Derek Wilson on November 14, 2005 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
This week we have another successful hard launch from NVIDIA with parts available on the day of the announcement. We would once again like to commend NVIDIA on the excellent job they have done in setting the standard for handling product launches. The benefits to reviewers, vendors, merchants, and consumers alike are huge. We can talk about a product without having to worry if what we are playing with will ever exist or not, and consumers can avoid the confusion that vaporware and paper launches add to the market.
Not only was this another excellent example of how to launch a product, but NVIDIA has also recaptured the high end in performance with this latest product. In just about every benchmark the only solution (not including its winning SLI configuration) that could beat the 7800 GTX 512 was the 7800 GTX SLI setup. ATI parts do become much more competitive when looking at 4xAA tests, but in the end the 7800 GTX 512 still comes out on top.
While NVIDIA have suggested that the appropriate retail price for this part is $650, we are only seeing it listed for a whopping $700 in our price engine at the moment. We have said before that NVIDIA generally does a good job of meeting or beating their MSRP, but this time seems like it could go the other way. But there is always a price to pay for having the best of the best.
We would like to once again mention that the naming of this part could have been better. The focus should clearly have been on some aspect other than the increased framebuffer size and more on the increased clock speeds. But this is minor nitpick in the grand scheme of things. What is significant is the 7800 GTX 512's ability to outperform every other card out there in almost every test we ran. It seems that just as ATI comes out with a competitive part NVIDIA is right back out the gate with something to put themselves back on top.
At $700 we are a little wary of recommending this part to anyone but the professional gamers and incredibly wealthy. The extra performance just isn't necessary in most cases. But if you've got the money to burn, the added power can definitely make a difference in ultra high resolutions with all the settings cranked to the max. Hopefully the introduction of this part will further serve to push down prices on the rest of the cards out there this holiday season.
This week we have another successful hard launch from NVIDIA with parts available on the day of the announcement. We would once again like to commend NVIDIA on the excellent job they have done in setting the standard for handling product launches. The benefits to reviewers, vendors, merchants, and consumers alike are huge. We can talk about a product without having to worry if what we are playing with will ever exist or not, and consumers can avoid the confusion that vaporware and paper launches add to the market.
Not only was this another excellent example of how to launch a product, but NVIDIA has also recaptured the high end in performance with this latest product. In just about every benchmark the only solution (not including its winning SLI configuration) that could beat the 7800 GTX 512 was the 7800 GTX SLI setup. ATI parts do become much more competitive when looking at 4xAA tests, but in the end the 7800 GTX 512 still comes out on top.
While NVIDIA have suggested that the appropriate retail price for this part is $650, we are only seeing it listed for a whopping $700 in our price engine at the moment. We have said before that NVIDIA generally does a good job of meeting or beating their MSRP, but this time seems like it could go the other way. But there is always a price to pay for having the best of the best.
We would like to once again mention that the naming of this part could have been better. The focus should clearly have been on some aspect other than the increased framebuffer size and more on the increased clock speeds. But this is minor nitpick in the grand scheme of things. What is significant is the 7800 GTX 512's ability to outperform every other card out there in almost every test we ran. It seems that just as ATI comes out with a competitive part NVIDIA is right back out the gate with something to put themselves back on top.
At $700 we are a little wary of recommending this part to anyone but the professional gamers and incredibly wealthy. The extra performance just isn't necessary in most cases. But if you've got the money to burn, the added power can definitely make a difference in ultra high resolutions with all the settings cranked to the max. Hopefully the introduction of this part will further serve to push down prices on the rest of the cards out there this holiday season.
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Gogar - Saturday, November 19, 2005 - link
The only thing i'm still wondering about is what the performance difference between the 1800XT and the 7800GTX 512 would be if a dual core processor was used.Since Nvidia makes use of dual core with their drivers, the gap might be even wider.. but who knows?
Regs - Friday, November 18, 2005 - link
I doubt Nvidia cared about it's price/performance one bit. This card is just a spin-off to show what 512 MB's can do....(nothing). You give a GTX a 120 MHz core speed bump with a 200 MHz RAM bump and of course it's going to perform better than the GTX 256. Pure marketing. 700 dollars? What target market is this? And even better that they decided to keep the name to make it more confusing. Let's see how much money we can squeeze out of you by putting in more RAM which Vendors all ready have ordered in Bulk 8 months ago.Regs - Friday, November 18, 2005 - link
In other words you are paying 300 dollars more for a GTX with a better HSF unit.cryptonomicon - Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - link
awesome card, i'm a bit confused though as to what nvidia was trying to release it as though.the boosted clock speeds are typical of the mid-quarter 'refresher' products (same core, with boosted stats) but it also is posing as the same product but in a 512mb variation.
i think it should have a new model name (*agree* with derek!)
MadAd - Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - link
LOL! Thats what I thought, I wonder if he read the same review as we did? 2x GTs SLId are either within a couple of fps, or between 10-20 fps higher. Considering the GT is just over 200 here, I can get 2 and add an extra 50 for an sli board (over a non sli) and still save 50 notes.As for soundcards, well its not a soundcard review so I dont want sound complicating anything. If I was really perdantic i'd say ATs review of the motherboard showed the a8n32 to be several FPS above all the rest of the mobos currently and would skew the data higher than normal boards, but thats not the point, the point is about comparability on the same platform.
Finally, another thanks goes to Derek for the higher resolution coverage - although some here are mystified why resolutions above 1600x1200 are mentioned, well some of us have TFTs with native resolutions of 1920x1200 and anything lower has to be either stretched or windowed- thats not what I paid all that money to do, I want fullscreen lovelyness at full res and right now, thanks to Dereks patience, I can see that the minimum setup to enjoy all current games with FSAA at 1920x1200 is 2xGTs. Even the GTX512 isnt quite man enough.
MadAd - Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - link
OOps, that was in reply to:RE: Newegg has it!!!! by viciousvee on: Nov 14, 2005 10:53 PM
Might want to read the Review again (just a thought) but the GT SLI pretty much beats the GTX 512mb ("NON SLI") by a few FPS... So I stand by what I said, Get "TWO" GT's (7800) and Call it a day....
Eidolon - Monday, November 14, 2005 - link
I am guessing you cannot SLI this card with an existing 7800 GTX 256MB. Is this correct?Fluppeteer - Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - link
ISTR Tom's tried it, and no, you can't. (Presumably the core is tweakedjust enough that it doesn't work.)
Maybe nVidia will fix that in a new driver?
jeffrey - Monday, November 14, 2005 - link
Derek,I have been an open critic of some of your recent work, but this review was fairly solid. Don't sweat someone saying a sentence was a run-on. The review read as an unbiased work and was inquisitive where it needed to be.
Thanks for including the disclaimer for multiple-clocks on lowering the core clock. The addition of the 256mb vs. 512mb benchmarks was a welcome addition.
That's all,
Jeffrey
ElJefe - Monday, November 14, 2005 - link
Eh. I dont see the point of playing at 1600 yet, so I wouldnt be TOO concerned with needing to upgrade. Obviously, this is an amazing card though, so that cant be said enough.anything over 300 dollars for a non all-in-wonder vid card is a ripoff though. x800XL is still more than adequate. Dont listen to the hype.