My 7900GS Mini Review

MeatLoaf · 7 Sep 2006 at 14:01

Got myself a Leadtek 7900GS today.

Pic : http://img104.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1005824ex4.jpg

I chose the leadtek as it was the cheapest they had in stock and it had a better looking cooler that also covers the memory.

It came bundled with, a DVI adapter, molex to pci-e cable and a HDTV dongle.

Also camw with the following games : Trackmania Nations, Spellforce 2, and Serious Sam 2.

Default clocks are 450/660

Benchies at default settings ( X2 CPU @ 2.6Ghz ) :

3DM06 : 4222
3DM05 : 7518

Doom 3. High Quality @ 1152x864 ( closest res to 1440x900 ) 8xAA, VSync On, Max details Used the timedemo 1.

29FPS

FEAR. 1152x864, 4xFSAA, 8xAF, everything maxxed out. Used the built in benchmark.

Min 23
Ave 35
Max 60

OK, now on to the overclocked settings. Using coolbits it auto detected at 483/731

3DM06 : 4502
3DM05 : 8051

Doom 3, same settings as before : 30FPS. Looks like i will have to turn down AA to 4x

FEAR : Same settings as before

Min 25
Ave 39
Max 60

Overall im pretty pleased with this, and for £130 its a steal. Will most likley get another one in a couple of weeks and go SLI again.

Its pretty much the same speed as the 7900GT i used to have a while ago which isnt bad at all.

Its not quite as fast as the SLI 7600GTs that it has relaced but its more than powerful enough for now

The card was also a lot quieter than the 7600GT at full load

EDIT : Reducing the AF on Doom 3 to 4x increaced FPS to 52.7. a nice result, FEAR didnt make much difference.

MeatLoaf · 7 Sep 2006 at 20:02

Tried a bit more clocking.

Taking it to 500/750 bring the bencies up to 4639 for 06 and 8315 for 05.

Will try and up it a bit more later on

EDIT : Max overclock in sig, over 9k in 05 for a single card. Cant wait to go SLI

Gibbo · 7 Sep 2006 at 20:11

MeatLoaf said:
Tried a bit more clocking.

Taking it to 500/750 bring the bencies up to 4639 for 06 and 8315 for 05.

Will try and up it a bit more later on

Hi m8

The cores on these are good for 600MHz or so I am told, so see what you can do!

We are getting a card made for us exclusively that will have 512MB 1.2ns memory and fitted with Zalman cooler. We aiming for a stable easy 550MHz core and 1500MHz memory. Plus it will only be approx £129+VAT and it will kick 7900 GT's ass and be much cheaper.

These really are superb cards, still can't decide which is better though these or the X1900 GT as it really does depend on the games you play.

Cyber-Mav · 7 Sep 2006 at 21:50

already there are some reports on the xs forums of 7900gs cards dying. this is getting rather silly now. :rolleyes:

Mr Flibble · 7 Sep 2006 at 21:59

Gibbo said:
We are getting a card made for us exclusively that will have 512MB 1.2ns memory and fitted with Zalman cooler.

Which Zalman cooler? Please can it be the VF900, not the VF700? And will you include the zalman fanmate thingey that I think you get with the normal cooler package please?

Thanks

MeatLoaf · 7 Sep 2006 at 22:08

Cyber-Mav said:
already there are some reports on the xs forums of 7900gs cards dying. this is getting rather silly now.

Well this ones ok so far, touch wood :cool:

Cyber-Mav · 7 Sep 2006 at 22:17

any pipeline unlocking available in riva tuner?

MeatLoaf · 7 Sep 2006 at 23:18

Cyber-Mav said:
any pipeline unlocking available in riva tuner?

Havent tried that yet

I have, however managed to get the card stable at 573/760 and got 5104 in 3DM06

Raikiri · 7 Sep 2006 at 23:24

Gibbo said:
We are getting a card made for us exclusively that will have 512MB 1.2ns memory and fitted with Zalman cooler. We aiming for a stable easy 550MHz core and 1500MHz memory. Plus it will only be approx £129+VAT and it will kick 7900 GT's ass and be much cheaper.

Sounds interesting but always with the +VAT :/ Brings it ip to £150~ Will the cooler be an allu version of the VF900? Much like the vf700 on galaxy cards.

Edit: Guess not...Galaxy have beat you to the 512mb/1.2ns card with a zalman

MeatLoaf · 7 Sep 2006 at 23:41

Well another update..

573/760 is the max this card will do as it falls over doing any more.

Benchies in sig

DanB · 8 Sep 2006 at 00:56

already there are some reports on the xs forums of 7900gs cards dying.

Where's that then ? Linky ?

MeatLoaf · 8 Sep 2006 at 07:59

Cyber-Mav said:
any pipeline unlocking available in riva tuner?

Well i just tried rivatuner and its a no go

They seem to enable but when you restart its reset to 20x7

Firegod · 8 Sep 2006 at 10:21

MeatLoaf said:
Well another update..

573/760 is the max this card will do as it falls over doing any more.

Benchies in sig

Good score, :cool:

whips my 7800GTX's score quite easily, I just get over 8.5k in 3DMark05 (480/1300) so they look good for the price, and clock good on the core.

I'm guessing these in SLi will be a decent bang for buck setup, would you say?

MeatLoaf · 8 Sep 2006 at 10:32

Firegod said:
Good score, whips my 7800GTX's score quite easily, I just get over 8.5k in 3DMark05 (480/1300) so they look good for the price, and clock good on the core. I'm guessing these in SLi will be a decent bang for buck setup, would you say?

Deffo, it will be a week or two before i can get another but when i do im sure they will blast many single card solutions out of the water except maybe the 7950GX2

=assassin= · 8 Sep 2006 at 16:14

Hi! Just ordered the card with some other components (at least I hope I have - had a few problems getting it to work... ho hum

) - does it have the latest NVidia drivers on the CD? I'm only on dialup so it will be difficult to download them from NVidia's site - still waiting for my Broadband to be activated.

Cheers!

MeatLoaf · 8 Sep 2006 at 16:18

Im not sure mate, i used the ones off the website.

EDIT : Theres actually 3 versions on the CD :confused:

91.31
91.32
91.47

Hope that helps

=assassin= · 8 Sep 2006 at 17:00

Cheers! 91.47 looks like it's the latest one on the site too, so should work!

sunlitsix · 8 Sep 2006 at 17:27

MeatLoaf said:
Well i just tried rivatuner and its a no go

They seem to enable but when you restart its reset to 20x7

no pipes will unlock

they tried to unlock them in a review over at vr-zone, which ended up with the reviewer killing the card after a bios flash

no_1_dave · 8 Sep 2006 at 17:50

Gibbo said:
Hi m8

The cores on these are good for 600MHz or so I am told, so see what you can do!

We are getting a card made for us exclusively that will have 512MB 1.2ns memory and fitted with Zalman cooler. We aiming for a stable easy 550MHz core and 1500MHz memory. Plus it will only be approx £129+VAT and it will kick 7900 GT's ass and be much cheaper.

These really are superb cards, still can't decide which is better though these or the X1900 GT as it really does depend on the games you play.

But it wont beat the 7900 GT I have in my sig.
It also runs silent & cool

Only advantage is 512MB. But I run at 1280x1024

MoBo · 9 Sep 2006 at 12:50

is the 512 GS worth it?